Please tell Mrs. Reese that if she ever visits Britain to be sure to stop by Lancashire.
With regards,
Inspector Reginald Cropsey, Lancs. Constabulary
That night we went out as a sort of celebration. Harry was quite generous in his praise, and I reciprocated by pointing out it was the tontine that proved the crux of the matter.
“But what was your question, Emmie?”
“I asked the Inspector what became of Mr. Brinker. I thought that if he had in fact existed, he might have been a member of the tontine. And if he were imaginary, the reason for his invention might provide a solution.”
That spring, I was called on to help with the case in which Harry was then involved. And M. E. Meegs took a well-deserved holiday.
~~~ ~~~ ~~~
The End
~~~ ~~~ ~~~
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If you’ve enjoyed this book, I hope you’ll take a look at the others in the series:
The Harry Reese Mysteries
A Charm of Powerful Trouble
Kalorama Shakedown
Crossings
Always a Cold Deck
Emmie Reese Mystery Short Stories
Psi no more…
Hidden Booty
The Birth of M.E. Meegs
For more information on the books—including a glossary, list of characters, maps and chronology—please visit my Web site at: StreetCarMysteries.com
Characters, etc.
Joseph Brayton: A member of a tontine.
Arden Coombs: A man found dead in a Lancashire canal.
Inspector Reginald Cropsey: A policeman in Lancashire.
Mr. Larabee: An authority on gambling at racetracks, poolrooms and resorts.
Mr. Leverton: An operative of the Pinkerton Detective Agency.
M.E. Meegs: A pen name used by Emmie.
Alice Mulvihill née Hooper: Arthur's wife.
Arthur Mulvihill: A member of a tontine.
Mr. Noakes: A representative of the British Consulate in New York.
Terms
policy shop: an establishment that takes bets on numbers; an illegal lottery.
Raines Law hotel: a saloon that has added a minimum number of hotel rooms so as to circumvent the restrictions of New York State’s Raines Law, a law meant to limit the consumption of alcohol. For instance, only a hotel could sell liquor on Sunday. Raines Law hotels were often (not incorrectly) seen as friendly to prostitutes and their clients.
For more on this book and the series, please visit:
streetcarmysteries.com/meegs
The Birth of M.E. Meegs (Emmie Reese Mysteries, Story #1) Page 4