The worst of it was that I didn’t know how to answer.

I wasn’t in Crete. I wasn’t with Andreas. I was tempted. Why not? Craig represented a metropolitan lifestyle, parties, bestselling books … everything, in fact, that I had left behind. He was also handsome, good company, civilised and rich. And if one little voice whispered in my ear that this was what I had been afraid of from the moment I had invited myself into his home, another reminded me that it was what I’d actually wanted and advised me to grab it with both hands.

‘No. I was with someone but we broke up.’

That was what I wanted to say. That was what I could have said. It would have been so easy. But right then it wasn’t true. Not yet. And maybe I didn’t want it to be.

‘Are you with anyone, Susan?’ he asked

‘Yes. Didn’t I tell you? I’m engaged.’

I watched as he took that in. ‘Congratulations,’ he said. ‘Who’s the lucky man?’

‘His name is Andreas. He’s the co-owner of the hotel in Crete.’

‘I have to say, it’s the last thing I’d have expected you to get up to but that’s wonderful. So – shall we have a coffee?’

‘No, thanks. It’s been a lovely evening, but I’ve got an early start if I’m going to get back to Suffolk.’

‘Of course.’

‘Thanks for dinner, Craig.’

‘My pleasure.’

We were like two actors in a play, reciting lines that had been written by someone else. He gave me a peck on the cheek and then – exit stage right – I went upstairs on my own.

Page One

A large gin and tonic. A club sandwich held together by a cocktail stick flying a miniature Stars and Stripes. A packet of cigarettes. And the book.

I was ready.

I had driven back to Suffolk in time for lunch and after unpacking and taking a quick shower in my room, I had deposited myself at one of the wooden tables in the area outside the bar. I was right next to the stretch of grass – the east lawn – where Aiden and Cecily’s wedding marquee had been pitched. The main entrance to the hotel was round the corner and I thought of Helen, the house manager (I imagined her as elderly and serious in a well-cut uniform), running breathlessly across the gravel to find Lawrence and tell him what Natasha had just found in room 12. How horrible it must have been for all of them that day! All the guests in their smart clothes, Aiden and Cecily married barely an hour, and then suddenly police cars and photographers and questions from the unlovely Detective Superintendent Locke and finally the body brought out on a stretcher …

The sun was shining but I shuddered. I’d have been more comfortable indoors, but I’m afraid reading and smoking have always gone together for me and even though it was a disgusting habit (the smoking, obviously) I needed to concentrate. The book was Atticus Pünd Takes the Case. It was the copy that Craig had given me in London. The time had finally come to confront not just the text but my memories of its creation. It felt strange. I was about to read one murder mystery while sitting inside another.

I had put off reading it for reasons that I have already explained. I was perfectly well aware of the identity of the killer in the novel and I remembered all the clues. I think it would be fair to say that a whodunnit is one of the very few forms of literature that rarely merit a second read.

But by now I had a good idea of what had happened at Branlow Hall on the 14th and 15th of June. I had met most of the characters involved. Alan Conway had come to the hotel. Perhaps he had even sat where I was sitting now. And he had seen something. ‘They’ve got the wrong man.’ That was what he had said to James Taylor. He had come here in search of inspiration but he had left with much more. And yet he hadn’t gone to the police. He had hidden the answer in his book. It was the only way to make sense of Cecily’s disappearance and I was going to find it.

The paperback was in front of me. I ran my finger across the raised letters of the title, feeling them as if they were in Braille. It was extraordinary how much damage Alan Conway had managed to do in his career. Magpie Murders had almost killed me. Had this prequel killed Cecily Treherne?

I lit a cigarette. I turned to the first page.

I began to read.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alan Conway had not written anything before his first published novel, Atticus Pünd Investigates, which became an overnight sensation and won the Gold Dagger award given by the Crime Writers’ Association for the best crime novel of the year. It was to be the first in a series of nine books, all featuring the German detective, which only ended following the sudden death of the author at his home Framlingham, Suffolk, in 2014. Formerly married, with one son, he came out as gay six months after Atticus Pünd Takes the Case was published, by which time he had become an internationally recognised bestseller. In his obituary in The Times, Conway was compared to Agatha Christie for the ingenuity of his plotting, and he has been frequently mentioned as a late arrival to the ‘Golden Age’ of detective writing. More than twenty million copies of his books have now been sold and the BBC 1 adaptation of Atticus Pünd Investigates, starring Sir Kenneth Branagh, will soon be aired.

The Atticus Pünd Series

Atticus Pünd Investigates

No Rest For the Wicked

Atticus Pünd Takes the Case

Night Comes Calling

Atticus Pünd’s Christmas

Gin & Cyanide

Red Roses for Atticus

Atticus Pünd Abroad

Red Roses for Atticus

PRAISE FOR ATTICUS PüND TAKES THE CASE

‘Lock the door, curl up in front of the fire and get into the latest Alan Conway. It won’t disappoint.’ Good Housekeeping ‘I love a whodunnit with a real sucker punch and, boy, this absolutely delivers. I can’t wait for the next one!’ Peter James ‘Once again, Conway serves up a vision of a gentler, long-forgotten England. And he does it murderously well.’ New Statesman ‘Number three in the series and Atticus Pünd is still going strong. A terrific, twisty story that will leave you guessing all the way.’ Observer ‘A new Atticus Pünd has almost become an annual event. Will you guess the ending? I didn’t!’ Publishers Weekly ‘Atticus Pünd has become even more famous than Angela Merkel. And he’s more entertaining too.’ Der Tagesspiegel ‘A famous actress is strangled and who’s the suspect? Everyone! The latest Atticus Pünd is a real blast.’ Lee Child

‘Murder and skulduggery beside the English sea. Atticus Pünd Takes the Case could be my favorite so far.’ New Yorker

Alan Conway

* * *

ATTICUS PüND TAKES THE CASE

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

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Copyright ? Alan Conway 2009

The moral right of Alan Conway to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

All the characters in this book, except for those already in the public domain, are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual ersons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

An Orion paperback First published in Great Britain in 2009 by Cloverleaf Books

This paperback edition published in 2016 by Orion Fiction,

an imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd,

Carmelite House, 50 Victoria Embankment,

London EC4Y 0DZ

An Hachette UK Company www.penguin.co.uk

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 9781473572591

For Frank and Leo: in remembrance

Contents

List of Characters

One: Clarence Keep

Two: Algernon Marsh

Three: The Queen’s Ransom

Four: Secrets and Shadows

Five: The Ludendorff Diamond

Six: Crime and Punishment

Seven: A Question of Time

Eight: Taken by the Tide

Nine: Scene of the Crime

Ten: Come, Sweet Death

Eleven: Darkness Falls

Twelve: An Arrest is Made

Thirteen: Post-Mortem

Fourteen: Hit-and-Run

Fifteen: The Girl on the Bridge

Sixteen: Pünd Sees the Light

Seventeen: At the Moonflower Hotel

Eighteen: Situation Vacant

CHARACTERS

Melissa JamesA Hollywood actress living in Tawleigh