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...

Order Lady Sherlock: Circle of the Smiling Dead at Amazon

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

Order "Lady Sherlock: Circle of the Smiling Dead" at Amazon

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...

Order "Lady Sherlock: Circle of the Smiling Dead" at Amazon