Death at the Dance: An addictive historical cozy mystery (A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery Book 2)

by Verity Bright

  He handed her a leather travel bag. ‘I took the liberty of bringing you a change of clothes, my lady. Funeral attire is perhaps not best suited to a celebration.’

  Having changed into her olive-green twill trousers and emerald blouse, she rejoined the others to find them busily unpacking a mesmerising amount of food from a series of wicker hampers.

  ‘Gracious!’

  Lord Langham took her arm. ‘The memsahib had the spiffing idea of throwing a special bash to show how grateful we are. She had a host of elaborate ideas and then telephoned Clifford to bring him in on the surprise.’ He leaned in and whispered, ‘I believe he may have saved you from something with posh frocks and canapés, masterfully dropping the hint that a picnic by the lake in easy togs is more your thing, old girl.’

  ‘Good old Clifford,’ she whispered back.

  ‘Damn fine butler. Anyhow, Lancelot was coming, but the blasted police nabbed him at the last minute. Something about signing another statement, I think.’

  By the time Clifford had restrained Gladstone from jumping into the lake for the fourth time, the party had eaten heartily and Lady Langham seemed finally to have banished the worry she had carried during the ‘terrible business’ as she referred to it.

  ‘So, my dear, Mr Seaton and Lady Coco Childs, will they…?’

  Eleanor nodded as she swallowed a delicious piece of egg and bacon flan. ‘They will both stand trial next month. Inspector Seldon was sure he’d find more than enough evidence now he knows where to look. Coco won’t say a word, but Johnny gave a full confession.’ Eleanor shook her head. ‘He was infatuated with Coco. Bizarre what some men fall for. Of course he loved the excitement of the jewel thefts and the notoriety they gained in the press. I think he saw himself as some sort of Raffles, pathetic really.’ She patted Lord Langham’s arm. ‘I’m so sorry about the colonel. That was Coco’s idea, she knew he was on to them and cajoled Johnny into ridding them of him.’

  ‘Poor old Pudders. Good man, underneath all his bristles, of course.’

  Lady Langham put down her plate. ‘But, my dear, what has become of Lady Millicent Childs? Was she in on it? I always heard the sisters were very close.’

  Eleanor drummed her fingers on her cheek. ‘She is either the most incredible actress or she really wasn’t aware of the whole scheme. She has sworn to Inspector Seldon that she only met me at the Pike and Perch to pass on the information about the phone call she’d overheard in order to help Lancelot. She said she was too scared to go to the police. And Coco did confirm that Albie was trying to blackmail them, so…’ She shrugged. ‘I imagine we’ll never really know.’

  Lord Langham swallowed and wiped his mouth. ‘Speaking of actresses, your performance at that am-dram affair was first rate!’

  Lady Langham nodded. ‘Indeed it was. But tell us, what about that prince fellow they were all running around with?’

  ‘Lucas? I agree with Inspector Seldon, I don’t think he had any inkling of what Coco and Johnny were up to. However, the whole thing’s obviously shaken him up. He’s decided to pack in all this bright young thing business, finish his studies at Oxford and return to India before he ends up losing his life or his father’s trust, which he said was worse.’

  Lady Langham squeezed Eleanor’s hand. ‘Well, that seems to be that. Our son’s back at home and that’s all that matters.’

  ‘Of course. Only…’

  Lady Langham looked at her quizzically. ‘My dear Eleanor, after all you’ve done for us, I hope you’ll never hesitate to ask for our help… or tell us what is on your mind?’

  ‘No, no, it’s just that… well, this whole thing kicked off because you were in a spot of bother, financially speaking…’

  Lord Langham chuckled. ‘Kind of you to try and save our blushes as ever, but no need. We were indeed in a dashedly awkward spot financially, and you’d think we still were, what with the police returning Augusta’s jewellery, so we never did get the insurance money.’

  Lady Langham released Eleanor’s hand and patted her husband’s. ‘Your prince wasn’t the only one, Eleanor my dear, to be shaken up by this terrible affair. Harold and I had a long talk in the rose garden. Our actions put our son, and you, the two people we care about most in the world, in grave danger.’ She waved aside Eleanor’s attempt to interrupt. ‘Don’t deny it, we acted selfishly and immorally. So the minute the police returned my jewels, we sent them up to London to be auctioned.’

  Lord Langham grunted. ‘And the rah-rah set can look down their sniffy noses and gossip behind our backs as much as they like.’

  They all turned at the roar of a motorbike racing up from the direction of the Manor. Lancelot appeared, standing up on the foot pegs and waving wildly. Eleanor rose and ran to meet him as he skidded to a halt and threw his bike against one of the horse chestnut trees.

  ‘Sherlock!’ he cried, scooping her into his arms.

  ‘Hello, Goggles.’ Eleanor beamed, unable to keep the silly grin from her face.

  Lancelot fished in his jacket pocket. ‘You really are the cat’s pyjamas at this sleuthing lark, you know. Thanks, darling fruit.’ He kissed her and held out a small tissue-paper-wrapped package.

  Eleanor took it and peeled off the paper. ‘Oh, a leather notebook.’

  Lancelot grinned. ‘Like that Holmes fellow had. In case one day you might need to help some other chump who was too much of a fathead to pull himself out of a hole he’d dug himself.’

  They joined Lord and Lady Langham and Clifford handed everyone a glass of champagne.

  Eleanor raised her glass. ‘To true friends!’

  Over in the folly, Clifford ruffled Gladstone’s ears as if needing a distraction. Harold poured another glass of champagne and insisted Clifford take it. Raising his glass, Harold cheered, ‘To true friends!’

  His wife leaned against his shoulder, staring at Lancelot as he wrapped his jacket around Eleanor’s shoulders. ‘And maybe… just maybe, more than friends. Cheers.’

  Can’t get enough of Lady Swift’s crime-solving adventures? Fear not! Don’t miss her unputdownable first case A Very English Murder – Move over Miss Marple, there’s a new sleuth in town!

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  A Very English Murder

  Move over Miss Marple, there’s a new sleuth in town! Meet Eleanor Swift: distinguished adventurer, dog lover, dignified lady… daring detective?

  England, 1920. Eleanor Swift has spent the last few years travelling the world: taking tea in China, tasting alligators in Peru, escaping bandits in Persia and she has just arrived in England after a chaotic forty-five-day flight from South Africa. Chipstone is about the sleepiest town you could have the misfortune to meet. And to add to these indignities – she’s now a Lady.

  Lady Eleanor, as she would prefer not to be known, reluctantly returns to her uncle’s home, Henley Hall. Now Lord Henley is gone, she is the owner of the cold and musty manor. What’s a girl to do? Well, befriend the household dog, Gladstone, for a start, and head straight out for a walk in the English countryside, even though a storm is brewing…

  But then, from the edge of a quarry, through the driving rain, Eleanor is shocked to see a man shot and killed in the distance. Before she can climb down to the spot, the villain is gone and the body has vanished. With no victim and the local police convinced she’s stirring up trouble, Eleanor vows to solve this affair by herself. And when her brakes are mysteriously cut, one thing seems sure: someone in this quiet country town has Lady Eleanor Swift in their murderous sights…

  If you enjoy witty dialogue, glamorous intrigue and the very best of Golden Age mysteries, then you will adore Verity Bright’s unputdownable whodunnit, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Downton Abbey!

  Get it here!

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  Books by Verity Bright

  The Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery Series

  1. A Very English Murder

  2. Death at the Dance

  Available in Audio

  1. A Very English Murder (Available in the UK and the US)

  A Letter From Verity Bright

  Thanks so much for choosing to read Death at the Dance. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it. If you’d like to follow more of Ellie and Clifford’s adventures – and maybe find out if Ellie and Lancelot’s romance blossoms – then just sign up at the following link. As a thank you, you’ll receive the first chapters of Ellie’s brand-new adventure and be the first to know when the next book in the Lady Swift series will be available. Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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  And I’d be very grateful if you could write a review. Reviews help others discover and enjoy the Lady Swift mysteries as well as providing me with helpful feedback so the next book is even better.

  Thank you,

  Verity Bright

  www.veritybright.com

  A Little More about the Lady Swift Books

  We’re often asked where the ideas come from for the Lady Swift books. Well, Verity Bright is actually a wife-and-husband writing team, so we are very fortunate to have two minds to dream up our ideas. And two people to research them, because many of the events and places mentioned in the books are real.

  For instance in book one, A Very English Murder, Ellie arrives in England having taken the first commercial flight from Cape Town to London. This was a real flight (although it actually went from London to Cape Town), that did actually take forty-five days with all but five of them spent in deserts where they’d crash-landed trying to fix the plane and get supplies.

  In Death at the Dance, while Little Buckford is a fictional village, Ellie and Clifford travel to the real ancient university town of Oxford and visit DCI Seldon in the magnificent town hall built in 1897. And in the upcoming book, Ellie takes advantage of a real change in the law of the time that allows her to stand for Parliament, but not vote.

  The characters are also a mixture of fact and fiction. For instance, I (the husband of the duo) actually used to be a butler and a little of that may have come out in Clifford, although I was never as cheeky! And my wife was something of an adventurer in her younger years, so there’s definitely a touch of her in Ellie.

  We live in a small village in the Chilterns on the edge of the Cotswolds where life does seem to have gone on unchanged in many ways since Ellie’s time. There’s still a Lord of the Manor, they shoot and play polo every weekend the rain allows, and the local café serves traditional Buckinghamshire dishes like Bacon Badger Pie. All this seeps into the settings and feel of the Lady Swift books and hopefully adds to your enjoyment.

  Best

  Verity

  Acknowledgements

  Huge thanks to my editor, Maisie, and the team at Bookouture who guided Death at the Dance through to publication in difficult times.

  We – both author and publisher – hope you enjoyed this book. We believe that you can become a reader at any time in your life, but we’d love your help to give the next generation a head start.

  Did you know that 9% of children don’t have a book of their own in their home, rising to 13% in disadvantaged families*? We’d like to try to change that by asking you to consider the role you could play in helping to build readers of the future.

  We’d love you to get involved by sharing, borrowing, reading, buying or talking about a book with a child in your life and spreading the love of reading. We want to make sure the next generation continues to have access to books, wherever they come from.

  Click HERE for a list of brilliant books to share with a child – as voted by Goodreads readers.

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  *As reported by the National Literacy Trust

  Published by Bookouture in 2020

  An imprint of Storyfire Ltd.

  Carmelite House

  50 Victoria Embankment

  London EC4Y 0DZ

  www.bookouture.com

  Copyright © Verity Bright, 2020

  Verity Bright have asserted their right to be identified as the author of this work.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-83888-754-4

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.