The Curse of the House of Foskett is available here.
3 – Death Descends on Saturn Villa
LONDON, 1883
125 Gower Street was once a house of justice, truth and perspicacity. Now madness, murder and scandal lurk in its empty halls. It is rumoured that its owner Sidney Grice – London’s foremost personal detective – has been driven to the brink of despair.
But, as with all good stories, we must begin at the beginning. With Sidney Grice journeying to Yorkshire to solve a mysterious death. And with March Middleton, his ward, left to her own devices in a London swarming with danger and vice.
Curiosity, as we know, has a dark edge. So when an intriguing letter leads March to the gates of the palatial Saturn Villa, and into the nightmarish world of her long-lost uncle, it could be the beginning of an end, for all...
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The story starts here.
First published in the UK in 2015 by Head of Zeus Ltd
Copyright © M.R.C. Kasasian, 2015
Cover illustration: Jim Tierney
The moral right of M.R.C. Kasasian to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
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, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
9 7 5 3 1 2 4 6 8
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN (HB) 9781781859711
ISBN (XTPB) 9781781859728
ISBN (E) 9781781859704
Head of Zeus Ltd
Clerkenwell House
45-47 Clerkenwell Green
London EC1R 0HT
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Contents
Cover
Welcome Page
Display Options Notice
Dedication
Preface to First Edition
Part I: Extracts from the Journals of March Middleton
Chapter 1: The Delivery of the Soul
Chapter 2: The Portrait of Marjory Gregory
Chapter 3: The Death of Dom Hart
Chapter 4: The Dog and the Letter
Chapter 5: Past the Necropolis
Chapter 6: Sherry and the Magpie
Chapter 7: The Donkey and the Quill
Chapter 8: Guns and Pickles
Chapter 9: Pigs and Portholes
Chapter 10: Meat, Charles Dickens and Murder
Chapter 11: The Night Ritual
Chapter 12: The Pier and the Smoke
Chapter 13: Solid Shadows and White Slave Traffickers
Chapter 14: The Howls and the Porcelain Handle
Chapter 15: The Taste of Murder
Chapter 16: The Hanging Hand
Chapter 17: The First Mrs Rochester
Chapter 18: The Frozen Bicyclist
Chapter 19: Musical Mice
Chapter 20: The Land of Angels
Chapter 21: The Quirry
Chapter 22: The Kidney Dish and the Ring
Chapter 23: Chimpanzees and Emetic Tartar
Chapter 24: The Amber Book
Chapter 25: Christmas
Chapter 26: The Man with the Twisted Ear
Chapter 27: Anthrax
Chapter 28: Umbrellas and the Double-headed Fox
Chapter 29: The Death of Hope
Chapter 30: The Six Dwarves of Streatham
Chapter 31: The Dead Moth and the Dust
Chapter 32: Shrews and the Submariner
Chapter 33: Billy, Danny and Exotic Plants
Chapter 34: Soppy Girls and the First Baron Lytton
Chapter 35: Mr Snuffly and the Skull
Chapter 36: Empty Sockets
Chapter 37: Charred Bones and Vices
Chapter 38: Shelley and the Seagull
Chapter 39: Trombones and Liver Flukes
Chapter 40: Pistols and Lies
Chapter 41: Violins, Coffins and Toothache
Chapter 42: Facing the Wall
Chapter 43: The Stolen House
Chapter 44: Harems and Hunting Dogs
Chapter 45: Dogs and the Art of Persuasion
Chapter 46: Pounce and the Dandelion Clock
Chapter 47: The Drowning of New York
Chapter 48: The Black Pool and the Terrible Crater
Chapter 49: Resisting Arrest
Chapter 50: Cleopatra
Chapter 51: The Confines of a Bullet
Chapter 52: The Tortured Tree
Chapter 53: The Listener
Chapter 54: The Shade of Merry Murray
Chapter 55: The Bloomsbury Butcher
Chapter 56: Haddock and Tonsils
Chapter 57: The Glistening, Growing Lake
Chapter 58: Hiawatha
Chapter 59: The Woman from Over the Beacon
Chapter 60: The Flat Stone
Chapter 61: The Nun with a Hatbox
Chapter 62: Flannels and Being Damned
Chapter 63: The Diamond Dull in the Midday Sun
Chapter 64: Imaginary Horses and Grown-up Writing
Chapter 65: Prize Fighters and Custody
Chapter 66: The Toad and the Righteous Dust
Chapter 67: Admiral Nelson’s Hat
Chapter 68: The Hoop and the Snail
Chapter 69: Beef Tea and Dr Zenith
Chapter 70: Messenger Bags and the Twickenham Triplets
Chapter 71: Goat Moths and Brick Dust
Chapter 72: Flat-footed Peter and Her Majesty’s Mail
Chapter 73: Prejudicial Handling and the Steel Rule
Chapter 74: Pork Pies and Votes for Women
Chapter 75: The Picnic at Jacaranda House
Chapter 76: Blankets, Buckets and Changing Walls
Part II: Extracts from Mr Sidney Grice’s Notes
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Chapter 94
Chapter 95
Chapter 96
Chapter 97
Chapter 98
Chapter 99
Chapter 100
Chapter 101
Chapter 102
Chapter 103
Part III: Extracts from March Middleton’s Notes
The Lost Ones
Silence
The Unredeemed
Every Night
The Carpenters
Repentance
The Remains of a Life
The Dark
Drowning in the Dark
Waiting
Lancelot
Gloves and Dead Mice
Follow
The Rainbow
The Night of the Storm
The Shadow of Sadness
Part IV: Extracts from the Journals of Ma
rch Middleton
Chapter 104: The Last Day
Chapter 105: The Ring in the Flames
Chapter 106: Beside the Grandfather Clock
Chapter 107: Goldilocks and the Man in the Furnace
Chapter 108: The Rope and the Number
Chapter 109: The Sunset
Postscript
About Death Descends on Saturn Villa
Reviews
About M. R. C. Kasasian
About the Gower Street Detective series
An Invitation from the Publisher
Copyright
Death Descends On Saturn Villa (The Gower Street Detective Series) Page 41