The Wrong Rite

By Charlotte MacLeod

Out of jurisdiction, but in his element, Madoc investigates a Welsh murder.

For mounted policeman Madoc Rhys and his wife, Janet, the pains of traveling with an infant are worth taking young Dorothy to Wales for Great-Uncle Sir Caradoc's ninetieth birthday. Along with every other member of the Rhys clan, they make the pilgrimage to the ancestral pile, to enjoy a few days of drinks, dinner, and -- as it turns out -- demonic sacrifices.

On their first morning at the family manor, Madoc stumbles upon a concussed shepherd and a dismembered ram. It appears to be a botched attempt at an ancient rite, executed by one of those Welshmen who still carry a torch for the religion of the druids. For a spot of fun, the Rhys family decides to stage its own ritual -- recreating the fertility ceremony of the Beltane bonfires. But when the flames turn a member of his family into a fireball, Madoc springs to action. Even five thousand miles from Canada, a Mountie always gets his man.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Release date: Jun 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781784086978

Charlotte MacLeod

Charlotte MacLeod (1922–2005) was an international bestselling author of cozy mysteries. Born in Canada, she moved to Boston as a child and lived in New England most of her life. After graduating from college, she made a career in advertising, writing copy for the Stop & Shop Supermarket Company before moving on to Boston firm N. H. Miller & Co., where she rose to the rank of vice president. In her spare time, MacLeod wrote short stories, and in 1964 published her first novel, a children’s book called Mystery of the White Knight. In Rest You Merry (1978), MacLeod introduced Professor Peter Shandy, a horticulturist and amateur sleuth whose adventures she would chronicle for two decades. The Family Vault (1979) marked the first appearance of her other best-known characters: the husband and wife sleuthing team Sarah Kelling and Max Bittersohn, whom she followed until her last novel, The Balloon Man, in 1998.