| abstract
| - Luke Fitzwilliam happens to share a London bound train carriage with Lavinia Pinkerton, an elderly lady who informs Luke that she is travelling to Scotland Yard to report a serial killer, responsible for the deaths of three people: Amy Gibbs, Tommy Pierce and Harry Carter, and that another man, Dr John Humbleby, will be the next victim. Luke, unsure of how to respond, feels that this is unimportant and pays lip service only. However, he is soon surprised to find the obituaries of not only Miss Fullerton, who has been killed in a hit-and-run car accident, but also a Dr Humbleby, who has died of septicemia. Luke travels to this seemingly quiet village and poses as a researcher for witchcraft and superstition to try and uncover the true murderer. Staying in a large estate with the wealthy Gordon Whitfield and pretending to be a cousin of Bridget Conway, Whitfield's fiance, he makes inquiries into the deaths. He and Conway receive the assistance of Honoria Waynflete, an elderly but observant spinster whom they believe may knows the identity of the person behind the deaths. By asking several villagers, including Mr Abbot, a solicitor who fired Tommy Pierce from his service due to an incident with a letter, the Rev Wake, local preacher, Mr Ellsworthy, an antique shop owner who appears to be mentally insane, and Dr Thomas, Humbleby's medical partner (who had had several rows with Humbleby and would have benefited from his death), it becomes apparent that the deaths were all accidents – Amy Gibbs died after confusing her cough remedy with hat paint in the dark, Tommy Pierce died from falling off the library roof after cleaning the windows, Harry Carter fell from a bridge while drunk and drowned in the mud, and Humbleby died from a cut becoming infected. Luke learns that Mrs Lydia Horton was another victim to these "accidents" – she was recovering from acute gastritis in hospital and was progressively getting better before she had a sudden unexpected relapse and died. Luke believes Ellsworthy to be the killer – he had shown signs of mental instability, and Luke's suspicions are further aroused after he sees Ellsworthy arriving home with blood on his hands, though this later is proved to be blood from a hen he sacrificed with his friends as part of a pagan ritual. Later on in that day, Luke and Miss Waynflete witness Whitfield arguing with his chauffeur, Rivers, who had taken his Rolls-Royce for a joyride. Shortly after this event, Rivers is found dead, with his skull caved in by a stone pineapple which Whitfield had outside his house for decoration. Later on Luke and Bridget realise they are in love with each other, and Bridget tells Gordon of her decision to break off the engagement. Gordon, ordering Luke to his study, makes a very suspicious statement. He claims that he has divine right of people's lives and that he can call upon God to kill any people that do wrong against him – Mrs Horton had argued with him, Tommy Pierce did mocking impressions of him, Harry Carter shouted at him while drunk, Amy Gibbs was impertinent to him, Humbleby disagreed with him on the village water supply, and Rivers stole his car without permission, and all of them died. As a last warning, he tells Luke that he and Bridget, having wronged him, will soon meet their fates too. This sudden turn of events makes Luke change his mind on the subject, instead believing Whitfield to be the murderer. He consults Miss Waynflete who confirms his suspicions, and tells him of how she knew he was insane – Waynflete and Whitfield used to be engaged together, but one evening Whitfield killed one of her canaries that she kept as a pet, with the appearance that he enjoyed doing it. She knew from that moment on that Gordon went too far on subjects – so far that he would kill even those who wronged him slightly or trivially. Luke and Bridget decide to stay at Miss Waynflete's house to be protected from Gordon. Luke goes off onto the village to collect their luggage and prepare to leave, while Bridget and Honoria go for a walk in the woods. It is at this point that a sudden twist in the plot occurs – Honoria, of whom Bridget has had a nagging suspicion – reveals herself to be the murderer. During their engagement she killed the canary after it bit her, which prompted Gordon to abandon the engagement. She vowed revenge on Gordon, and decided to have him hanged for crimes he did not commit. She came up with the plan to kill anyone with whom Gordon had any trouble, eventually leading his ego to become inflated and he began to imagine that he had divine powers. Honoria regularly visited Lydia Horton, to whom Whitfield had sent grapes in hospital, and was able to poison her tea. Honoria next killed Amy by swapping the bottles around in the night and locking the door from the outside using pincers – the fact that she died from hat paint would have suggested an old-fashioned touch, linking it to Gordon. She killed Carter by pushing him off the bridge on the day he had a row with Gordon, and pushed Tommy Pierce out of the window while he was working. Whitfield was the one to assign this job to Tommy, so that made him look suspicious. Lavinia Pinkerton observed Honoria staring at Humbleby and Whitfield arguing, realising Honoria to be the killer. Honoria followed Lavinia into London and after Lavinia and Luke had parted ways, Honoria pushed the other woman in front of a car that happened not to stop. Honoria framed Whitfield by giving a nearby witness the registration number of Whitfield's Rolls-Royce. After inviting Humbleby round to her house she was able to cut his hand with scissors and then convince him to let her apply iodine to the wound, which she had infected with pus seeping from her cat's ear. He died a few days later from blood infection. After witnessing Rivers being sacked, Honoria hit him with a sandbag and caved his skull in with the stone pineapple – it would have appeared suspicious as it was a decoration that only Gordon chose. Finally, she drugged Bridget's tea and took her into the woods, where the two of them were talking. Honoria then reveals a knife covered in Whitfield's fingerprints, and informs Bridget that she will kill her and leave the knife at the scene. The fingerprints on the knife, combined with the fact that Whitfield was seen in the woods earlier after receiving a phone call from Honoria, will provide enough evidence to convict him of murder, and he would be hanged. Bridget reveals that she did not drink the drugged tea and fights with the older woman, who has the wiry, mad strength of the truly insane. Luke arrives on the scene and saves Bridget. With the case over, Bridget and Luke decide to leave the village once and for all, to live their lives together as a married couple.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)