From the Private Files of Scotland Yard Commissioner Rushworth Ramsgate - Part 21:

A Woman of Mystery...

While ensconced on the escarpments of the clock tower, Lady Dorrington, left a five-pound note secured to one of the clock's huge hands. As her ascent remains a secret, the eventual discovery of the fiver by workmen when the clock is next cleaned will create a mystery. The  precise opposite of Lady Dorrington's usual riddle solving modus operandi.

As to solving the mystery of the found money...  my lips are sealed. 

Go to Part One: The World on the Brink of War... 

Go to Part 20 "Never Wager with a Woman..."

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From the Private Files of Scotland Yard Commissioner Rushworth Ramsgate - Part 20:

Never Wager with a Woman...
 

Tasha never ceases to amaze me. When she claimed that she could scale any structure in London, I scoffed and said in jest, "Why don't you climb Big Ben!" She asked, "Day or night?" I replied, "night,"  never dreaming she'd consider the wager genuine. I now owe her dinner at Simpsons...  perhaps not a bad bargain at that.

Go to Part One: The World on the Brink of War... 

Go to Part 19 "A Bicycle Built for One..."

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From the Private Files of Scotland Yard Commissioner Rushworth Ramsgate - Part 17:

What is a Holiday Without a Corpse?

 

This is one of my favorite photographs of Lady Dorrington, taken and hand-tinted at Elliot & Fry's celebrated studio (oddly situated on Baker Street... an address all too familiar to those of us at Scotland Yard).

She had just returned from a summer holiday in Brighton. Her relaxed and contented countenance was not due, as one might expect, from the charms of sea-air, but the successful conclusion of the "Case of the Fatal Bathing Machine."

The unwary victims entered and were never seen again. Tasha ended the deadly career of this diabolical contraption and the sinister inventor who created it.

Go to Part One: The World on the Brink of War...

Go to Part 16 "The Gang's All Here"

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From the Private Files of Scotland Yard Commissioner Rushworth Ramsgate - Part 15:

...  is Much More Accurate Than a Man's Certainty...

Lady Dorrington,  examining the crime scene found evidence of  another set of footprints indicating an unaccounted third man at the crime scene. The footprints offered subtle indications of  a recoil, intimating that a weapon had been fired.  

There was a Canadian also staying at the Inn, claiming he was visiting for sport hunting. His boots matched the footprints. She secretly examined his shotgun and deduced he was indeed the culprit.

As it turned out, he was a distant and forgotten relation to the family.   Traveling under an assumed identity, he had framed the young peer for murder - a hanging offense - with the scheme of coming forth after the demise of the parents to claim the inheritance.

Go to Part One: The World on the Brink of War...

Go to Part 14: A woman's guess...

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From the Private Files of Scotland Yard Commissioner Rushworth Ramsgate - Part 14:

A Woman's Guess...

While all the evidence pointed in one direction, Lady Dorrington was convinced something had been overlooked.   A poacher had been killed with a shotgun of the caliber used by the accused young peer - who maintained he had only fired a warning shot.   There was a well-known and long history of animosity between the two and that further counted against the alibi of a warning shot.

Tasha, keeping the candle burning at the local inn,  pondered well into the night... and the next morning, convinced that there were hidden forces at work, embarked to widen her net.

Go to Part One: The World on the Brink of War...

Go to Part 13: When Money is no object

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From the Private Files of Scotland Yard Commissioner Rushworth Ramsgate - Part 13:

When Money is No Object...

Upon arriving in West Sussex, Lady Dorrington went directly from the train station to the noble family's estate (I must for the present conceal their identity). While all the evidence pointed to the young scion as the murderer, Tasha withheld any judgment until the completion of her own investigation. The family offered her a considerable sum to clear the lad -- he was their only son, and all parental affection aside, was needed to continue the line. Tasha politely refused, tactfully reminding them she was consulting for the official force.

Go to Part One: The World on the Brink of War... 

Go to Part Twelve: She slips the bonds of Earth

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From the Private Files of Scotland Yard Commissioner Rushworth Ramsgate - Part 12:

She Slips the Bonds of Earth....

The French have a phrase about a woman not being a woman without surprises. While I believe the phrase was created before the birth of my friend Lady Dorrington, it might have been penned to describe her. A request for Scotland Yard assistance came from West Sussex  regarding a grisly shotgun murder implicating a young noble. Given the ancient family involved I determined to invite Tasha to consult on the case.

Imagine my astonishment when delivering the request to find Tasha not at home but at the controls of an aeroplane!  She is learning to fly!  I can only hope that each excursion into the clouds will end with a safe return to terra firma. Her assertion that "any landing you can walk away from is a good one" is not reassuring.

Go to Part One: The World on the Brink of War... 

Go to Part Eleven; But Kill Not for the Pleasure of Killing...

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From the Private Files of Scotland Yard Commissioner Rushworth Ramsgate - Part Nine:

The Stalker Becomes the Stalked...

The Case of the Grinning Skull Slasher - cont.   I have promised Tasha to not share the details of this singular and macabre adventure until a later date, for she insisted that Scotland Yard take full credit for its successful conclusion.   

But in fairness, I must admit that her deductive abilities discovered a subtle pattern to the blood-soaked carnage that had  escaped the notice of  the entire official force.    She was able to bait a trap, but her foe was even more formidable than anticipated and the tables were nearly -  decidedly fatally - turned. 

Go to Part Eight: The Circle Constricts

Go to Part One: The World on the Brink of war 

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From the Private Files of Scotland Yard Commissioner Rushworth Ramsgate - Part Eight:

The Circle Constricts! 

The Grinning Skull Slasher took singular delight in humiliating Scotland Yard, but the contest became a personal duel when Tasha was called in to consult on this case. The murderous scoundrel became more brazen, but also more careless, underestimating just how formidable an opponent he now challenged. 


Go to Part One: The World on the Brink of War... 

Go to Part Seven: The Slasher's Sordid Souvenirs!

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From the Private Files of Scotland Yard Commissioner Rushworth Ramsgate - Part Six:

The Gruesome Affair of the Grinning Skull Slasher

This abominable case was one of my earliest encounters with the formidable Lady Dorrington. A latter-day, and gruesomely theatrical, Jack-the-Ripper terrorized the East End for weeks.  The Yard's inability to end his reign of horror was a source of bitter complaint by both the public and the press. The murderer prowled the foggy alleys like a creature of prey, and even I began to wonder if our lethal opponent was more than human. 

It was with some trepidation for her safety that I called upon Tasha for assistance. My fears were well-founded, for as Tasha hunted this wraith, she herself was being stalked.

Go to Part One: The World on the Brink of War...

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From the Private Files of Scotland Yard Commissioner Rushworth Ramsgate - Part Two:

Nothing Is As It Seems!

My remarkable friend Tasha has keen powers of observation and a logical, inventive mind.  I note with some amusement how she takes offense when men attribute these abilities to “feminine intuition.” 

While thoroughly female, Lady Dorrington is singularly physically powerful.  She increases her strength by lifting weights and indulges in rugged gymnastics. Tasha appears to know several obscure and potent techniques of hand-to-hand combat, and is a formidable fencer.   She has been known to thrash several larger male opponents at the same time with ease, and relishes doing so.  

Go to Part Three: A Mystery Within a Mystery...

Go to Part One: An Ancient Curse...  

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