The Tragedy at Siddlecombe Manor

By Ruby Binns-Cagney

Not your typical mystery short story:

When a wealthy woman mysteriously disappears from Siddlecombe Manor - seemingly from her lover’s bed, Detective Inspector Blanchflower investigates.

With his trademark fedora and handsome sidekick Inspector Ferraud, Blanchflower is contacted by the woman’s Father, desperate to find her.

Ferraud doesn’t want to take the case but Blanchflower insists that they have to track down the missing woman; although there is no apparent motive for her disappearance, and there are no indications she has been kidnapped and held for ransom, despite her wealth and status in Society.

Never one to turn away from a case, Blanchflower examines the woman’s past to establish why she has disappeared, and what he finds is truly unexpected; and leads Blanchflower down a different path to reveal the real motives of the people in the woman’s life.

Meanwhile, Inspector Ferraud considers the merits of his recent promotion, and why he’s always a few steps behind Blanchflower in solving the case.

The dynamic between Blanchflower and Ferraud entertains without detracting from the mystery which only this duo can solve.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BinnsCagneyPublishing Co
• Release date: Sep 2, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311683212

Ruby Binns-Cagney

Keep in touch - sign up for new releases and save on publication day:http://books2read.com/author/ruby-binns-cagney/subscribe/1/41373/Ruby Binns-Cagney is a successful independently published Author who writes women's fiction (chick-lit) and American-based crime thrillers.Ruby's 'Detective Macaulay' crime series has a following on Twitter https://www.twitter.com/detmacaulay (@DetMacaulay)Ruby has a website and blog - read more details of her publishing services.Through her publishing company - BinnsCagneyPublishing Co - Ruby empowers others to become self-published Authors, and her Team also mentor new Authors.Free Marketing Help Signup:http://eepurl.com/3IsJPAdd her to your Google+ Circles https://plus.google.com/+RubyBinnsCagney/postsPlease visit her website:http://author-tales-of-self-publishing-books.blogspot.co.uk

Book preview

The Tragedy at Siddlecombe Manor

Ruby Binns-Cagney

© Copyright BinnsCagneyPublishing Co

All rights reserved. The reproduction, transmission or utilization of this work by any means is prohibited without written permission from the Author and publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the Author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual person’s is purely coincidental.

© Cover Image Copyright BinnsCagneyDesign Co

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

About The Author

Chapter One

Siddlecombe Manor was a generations-old family Estate, set in acres of lush green fields nestled between the Chiltern Hills of the Cotswolds. The previous owner, Harold, had lovingly landscaped the gardens and had intensively developed the fields at the rear of the property. At the moment Harold found his final resting place, his relatives were later surprised to learn he’d left explicit instructions for the upkeep of the property.

Herbert Siddlecombe, the current occupant – or Bertie as he was endearingly known - was a miserable Financier on the London Stock Exchange who had mortgaged the Manor to the hilt several times to enable the launch of several poorly-executed business enterprises. His attempts to rectify his dire financial situation had only served to leave him virtually destitute; his predicament now well-known among his circle of close friends. Each knew of the others’ secrets and therefore equally posed the threat of exposure should their friendships ever sour.

In fact, Herbert was being blackmailed; but he had no idea by whom. While he hung on to dear life by a very fragile thread, an unknown entity persistently goaded him into a rage about his misfortunes, and threatened to expose him as a fraud.

The Manor was in desperate need of renovation if it was to be returned to its former state; ready for the next in line to inherit. Bertie’s meager salary from his work at the London Stock Exchange barely kept him stocked in his beloved brandy and fine cigars. Yet he continued to work there to feather his ailing fortune.

He’d long since accepted that he had an incurable gambling addiction and thought he had kept the solemn news to himself. Yet, within days of the grim realization, he’d begun to receive unsigned letters demanding he pay for their silence, or have his secret exposed.

Oh, the scandal would kill Bertie and rob him of what little dignity he had left. The letters were cowardly attempts to oust him out of his home. He just had to figure out the culprit and quickly - before time ran out. He was determined not to pay a single cent to his blackmailer, no matter the dread of the gossip that would run rampant in the City.

His only saving grace was the love of his life, Penelope Hempstead (nee DeBrett); a bored housewife who’d inherited a personal fortune from her late Mother, and was besotted with Bertie.

He’d previously been married to Penelope’s sister Simone until the summer of 1959 when she’d caught him mid-fling with the latest in a series of dark-eyed women who’d rented the guesthouse from them. Simone had risked the scandal of announcing the end of her marriage and had tearfully filed for divorce.

Her amiable connections helped prevent the Norfolk Herald from splashing the details of the demise of her marriage across its pages. A sizeable sum had been paid to silence the Editor, and in part contributed to Bertie’s uncomely financial predicament post-divorce.

Penelope was married to Rutland Hempstead, the Matriarch of the Norfolk Herald newspaper empire, and was a wealthy heiress to the DeBrett diamond mining family fortune. It was her night for supper with Bertie, and she’d worn a silk gown he liked.

That particular evening she was bored, and idly toyed with her cold potatoes, which lay beside a slab of well-done Porterhouse steak; while Bertie had talked all evening. All she’d wanted was a quiet evening with him. Rutland was away on business, and she was relieved to be free of him, now she’d escaped her husband’s half-hearted amorous advances.

She had to tell Bertie, but how? There wasn’t enough time but she would still try.