A Very Private Murder

  ‘Right,’ I replied. ‘Half an hour. I’ll look forward to seeing you.’

  ‘Will you, really?’

  ‘Of course. More than you’ll imagine.’ I can smooth-talk for Heckley when it suits me.

  ‘I’m on my way.’

  ‘Bye.’

  Ah well, I thought. Bruges will still be there tomorrow. I was climbing the stairs to clean my teeth and have a squirt of Givenchy Pour Homme when the phone rang again. It’s a murder! I thought, my hopes raised. Please be a murder!

  ‘Hi, it’s me again,’ she said. Her voice had developed a certain huskiness since our previous conversation, thirty seconds earlier. ‘I’ve been thinking.’

  ‘Thinking,’ I repeated. ‘That sounds dangerous.’

  ‘No! It’s fun, not dangerous. How about if I wore my uniform? Would you like me to wear my uniform, Inspector?’

  Ah well, I thought, in for a penny, in for a pound. ‘Yes,’ I replied. ‘I think I’d like that. I think I’d like it very much, Superintendent.’

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  This story is fiction and all the relevant characters in it are imaginary. I have used some real places and institutions to create a sense of location and distance, but any implied criticism of these is without foundation. Throughout the writing of this book I was received as always with courtesy and cooperation wherever I made my enquiries.

  The real Alice Hawthorn is in the village of Nun Monkton, and well worth a visit.

  If you enjoyed A Very Private Murder look out for

  the other books in the Charlie Priest series.

  To discover more great crime novels and to place

  an order visit our website at

  www.allisonandbusby.com

  or call us on

  020 7580 1080

  About the Author

  STUART PAWSON had a career as a mining engineer, followed by a spell working for the probation service, before he became a full-time writer. He lives in Fairburn, Yorkshire, and, when not hunched over the word processor, likes nothing more than tramping across the moors, which often feature in his stories. He is a member of the Murder Squad and the Crime Writers’ Association.

  www.stuartpawson.com

  By Stuart Pawson

  IN THE DI CHARLIE PRIEST SERIES

  The Picasso Scam

  The Mushroom Man

  The Judas Sheep

  Last Reminder

  Deadly Friends

  Some by Fire

  Chill Factor

  Laughing Boy

  Limestone Cowboy

  Over the Edge

  Shooting Elvis

  Grief Encounters

  A Very Private Murder

  Copyright

  Allison & Busby Limited

  13 Charlotte Mews

  London W1T 4EJ

  www.allisonandbusby.com

  Copyright © 2010 by STUART PAWSON

  Hardback published in Great Britain in 2010.

  Paperback edition published in 2011.

  This ebook edition first published in 2011.

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  All characters and events in this publication other than those clearly in the public domain are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent buyer.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN 978–0–7490–1066–9

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Epigraph

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  About the Author

  By Stuart Pawson

  Copyright