‘Talking of books,’ says Benedict. ‘I’ve discovered something.’
Natalka suppresses a smile. There’s nothing Benny enjoys more than a bit of detective work and, like his favourite screen sleuths, he likes to make the revelation as dramatic as possible.
‘What is it?’ says Edwin. ‘I think I’ve had enough shocks to last me a lifetime.’
‘It’s not a shock exactly,’ says Benedict. ‘But it is a surprise. I’ve been doing some research into Sheila Atkins. You know, the author of Thank Heaven Fasting.’
‘We’re not going to forget that book, Benny,’ says Natalka.
‘There’s nothing about her on the internet,’ says Benedict, ‘but I found this book in the library.’
He’s brought it with him just so that he can flourish it now.
‘It’s called Heroines of the Golden Age,’ says Benedict, ‘and it’s about forgotten women crime writers. One of them is Sheila Atkins. Well, listen to this. “Atkins wrote many books while still in her twenties. During the Second World War she is popularly believed to have been in the secret service. In 1955 she married David Foster and they had one child, Lancelot.” ’
He pauses for effect. Edwin gets there first: ‘Oh my goodness. Lance Foster. Sheila Atkins was his mother.’
‘Yes. Later on it says, “Lancelot later became a writer and his first novel Laocoön was longlisted for the Booker Prize.” ’
‘Why didn’t he tell us?’ says Natalka.
‘Maybe he would have,’ says Benedict. ‘If we’d ever met up for that drink. I remember he laughed when I asked if he’d read Sheila Atkins and said that she was very dear to him. I think Sheila came to live here and was friends with Peggy. Sheila was older, of course. She lived to be a hundred.’
‘It was one of the first things I heard about this place,’ says Harbinder, ‘that one of the residents celebrated their centenary.’
‘Lance got his writing skills from his mother,’ says Edwin. ‘Even though he only wrote one book.’
‘Actually,’ says Harbinder, ‘Pippa Sinclair-Lewis told me that Seventh Seal are publishing Lance Foster’s posthumous novel. It’s called The Bow Window Set and it’s about a group of old ladies in a care home who solve crimes. Pippa thinks it’ll do very well. Cosy crime, she called it.’
‘Cosy crime,’ says Edwin. ‘That’s an oxymoron, if you like.’
‘Peggy would be pleased though,’ says Benedict. ‘I’ll always think of her, sitting at this window, writing things down in her Investigation Book.’
‘It was that book that helped solve her murder,’ says Natalka.
‘Well, it was Harbinder really,’ says Benedict.
‘No, it was Peggy,’ says Harbinder. She raises her plastic champagne flute.
‘To Peggy,’ she says.
‘To Peggy,’ the others reply. And the sun streams in through the bay window.
Acknowledgements
The Postscript Murders is, in a way, a book about acknowledgements and I have many people to thank. First my wonderful editor, Jane Wood, and all at Quercus Books who worked so hard to produce this book while in lockdown. Particular thanks to Hannah Robinson, Ella Patel, Katie Sadler, Bethan Ferguson, David Murphy and Florence Hare. I mention in the book that copy-editors hardly ever get acknowledged so I’d like to thank the meticulous and all-knowing Liz Hatherell. Thanks also to Naomi Gibbs, my editor at HMH in America, for her contributions and support. Thanks to my amazing agent Rebecca Carter and all at Janklow and Nesbit. Thanks also to Kirby Kim at Janklow US.
The Postscript Murders contains a number of real places and entirely fictional events. Shoreham is real, as is Aberdeen and all the places in between. There is a wonderful crime-writing festival in Aberdeen called Granite Noir but there is no resemblance to the festival in this book. The Majestic Hotel is imaginary. I do have wonderful memories of the silver city, though, and my visit there on a book tour with Olivia Mead. Neither of us will ever forget Jimmy the taxi driver who told us about ‘education, salvation and damnation’.
There is also a lovely Catholic church in Shoreham but Benedict’s church, and its parish priest, are imaginary. Many thanks to my old school friend, Father David Parmiter, for telling me about the path to priesthood.
I have tried to make my characters’ backgrounds as believable as possible. In this respect, heartfelt thanks to Rhadhika Holstrum, Harpreet Kaur and many others. Any mistakes or inaccuracies are mine alone.
Visit hmhbooks.com to find more books by Elly Griffiths.
About the Author
© SARA REEVE
ELLY GRIFFITHS is the author of the Ruth Galloway and Brighton mystery series, as well as the standalone novel The Stranger Diaries, winner of the Edgar Award for Best Novel. She is the recipient of the CWA Dagger in the Library Award and the Mary Higgins Clark Award. She lives in Brighton, England.
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