by A. E. Moorat
'Oh,' said Quimby, smiling sweatily, 'I'm sure that won't be necessary.'
He opened the door to the library and all three of the men walked in. A man was already in the library, and was sitting in a leather chair eating what the two policeman took to be breakfast from a plate on a side table.
'You see, my friend here will be able to vouch for me, whatever the circumstances, isn't that right?' Quimby indicated Lord Melbourne, who sat still eating. Quimby added, 'Isn't that right, Prime Minister?'
With great relish, the Prime Minister took a bite from something that looked like a large length of meat, and the juices glistened on his chin.
He looked at Quimby, and smiled.
A note on historical accuracy
Though I have of course played fast and loose with history, the main action of the book adheres as closely to the real-life events of Victoria's life as was humanly possible, given the demands of weaving in the fictional elements-though I have conflated some events and massaged certain timelines. Meanwhile, all anachronisms are intentional, even those that are not.
Acknowledgments
Firstly thanks so much to Kate Howard and Carolyn Mays at Hodder. Not only were they the book's midwives, but they excelled at being there when needed and not there when not. I hope I've repaid their faith. Also at Hodder I'd like to say thank you to Katie Hall and Katie Davison for their work on this book, but also to Henry and Jocasta and Fenella and Cecilia and Helen for being wonderful and supportive in past lives. A million thanks to my agent Antony Topping for, well, everything. To Justine Taylor for a great copy-edit. To Dave Taylor for overcoming his fear of rats to read on and give me invaluable feedback. To David Granger and Toby Tennant for being inimitable. To families Holmes, Oakley and Harrison for endless, endless help. And lastly to Dylan, for bringing me so much joy, and then more joy.
About the Author
In another incarnation as a more serious (though still satirical) author, A. E. MOORAT has won critical acclaim and been shortlisted for awards. Here, however, he was chained in the dungeon, fed tea and ghost stories, and kept busy writing the adventures of Queen Victoria, Demon Hunter.
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Credits
Cover design by Richard Aquan
Cover illustration by Roberto Parada
Copyright
QUEEN VICTORIA: DEMON HUNTER. Copyright (c) 2009 by Andrew Holmes. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.
EPub Edition (c) December 2009 ISBN: 978-0-06-199133-2
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Table of Contents
Dedication
Contents
Part One
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX
Part Two
X
XI
XII
XIII
XIV
XV
XVI
XVII
XVIII
XIX
XX
XXI
XXII
XXIII
XXIV
XXV
Part Three
XXVI
XXVII
XXVIII
XXIX
XXX
XXXI
XXXII
XXXIII
XXXIV
XXXV
XXXVI
XXXVII
XXXVIII
XXXIX
XL
XLI
XLII
XLIII
XLIV
XLV
XLVI
XLVII
XLVIII
XLIX
A Note On Historical Accuracy
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher