Games of Bones (Rafferty & Llewellyn British Mysteries, Book 18) by Geraldine Evans
Release date: February 1, 2018
Subgenre: British mystery
About Game of Bones:
Sergeant Llewellyn's remark that, perhaps, 'Someone ELSE had made
them a gift of Professor Anthony Babbington' as the murderer, was just
sour grapes, in Detective Joe Rafferty's opinion.
But Llewellyn could plant a doubt where none had existed before. And Rafferty, sure in his own mind that they had the culprit, disregarded Llewellyn, who was known to greatly admire Babbington. They had so much proof it was embarrassing: Babbington's fingerprints on the murder weapon; the victim's blood on his shirt; and his DNA on the dead man.
Rafferty couldn't believe it when his 'sure thing' began to slowly unravel. He refused to admit his growing doubts about Babbington's guilt to Llewellyn, who championed the professor, and was as convinced of Babbington's innocence as Rafferty was of his culpability.
But gradually, all Rafferty's certainty vanished into dust, and he was left to prepare himself to face the music when Superintendent Bradley came back from his expensive holiday, to find that the 'sure thing' he had left with Rafferty, had inexplicably become anything but.
Unless Joe Rafferty could find some way to turn defeat into triumph…
But Llewellyn could plant a doubt where none had existed before. And Rafferty, sure in his own mind that they had the culprit, disregarded Llewellyn, who was known to greatly admire Babbington. They had so much proof it was embarrassing: Babbington's fingerprints on the murder weapon; the victim's blood on his shirt; and his DNA on the dead man.
Rafferty couldn't believe it when his 'sure thing' began to slowly unravel. He refused to admit his growing doubts about Babbington's guilt to Llewellyn, who championed the professor, and was as convinced of Babbington's innocence as Rafferty was of his culpability.
But gradually, all Rafferty's certainty vanished into dust, and he was left to prepare himself to face the music when Superintendent Bradley came back from his expensive holiday, to find that the 'sure thing' he had left with Rafferty, had inexplicably become anything but.
Unless Joe Rafferty could find some way to turn defeat into triumph…
Excerpt:
Chapter One
‘He’s certainly
made a gift of himself; it’s almost as if he wants to be caught.’
Rafferty didn’t know whether Professor Anthony Babbington was
incredibly careless, or incredibly stupid, for all his fancy-dancy degrees.
Either way, they’d bring him in, interview him, and charge him.
At his most prim and proper, his back straight as if he
had half a tree trunk stuffed up his jacksie, Llewellyn replied from his corner
desk. ‘Mm. It’s certainly odd.’ His gaze fixed quizzically on Rafferty. ‘Did
you ask yourself why such an educated man would make so many elementary
mistakes?’ Loftily, he added. ‘It makes one wonder whether someone else
has made us a gift of Professor Babbington.’
Rafferty’s eyes narrowed. Trust Llewellyn to put a wasp in his beer. Of
course, his educated sergeant spent a lot of time at the university. His wife,
Maureen was a lecturer there, and the pair were often at some evening function
or other. He’d got to know Babbington, and whether Babbington was drunk or
sober, he greatly admired him.
Rafferty fixed Llewellyn with a lofty look of his own, and demanded, ‘How
can you say that, when we’ve got his fingerprints at the scene, when he was
seen with the victim just a few short minutes before he was killed? We’ve even
got his bloodstained shirt, and the murder weapon, also with his fingerprints
on it. All it needed to clinch it was his DNA, and now we’ve got that. What
more do you want?’
Llewellyn was just narked because their murderer
was a university man; a classics man, like Llewellyn himself. His intellectual
sergeant had even gone back to university specially to study the subject. Rafferty,
who had been glad to leave school at sixteen, and who had completed his
education in the university of life, found his sergeant’s willingness to
embrace half a decade or more of extra schooling incomprehensible. His face
went stiff as, from deep in his belly, a bubble of resentment reformed, and
whooshed upwards in the sound of disgust that burst from his lips. ‘Do you
think that over-educated smart-arses like Professor Anthony Babbington aren’t
capable of committing murder like the proles? I’m just grateful that he lacked
even basic common sense – like
so many intellectual types – and failed to cover any of his tracks.’
Right at the start of the investigation, he’d requested
that the staff, students, and anybody else who’d been at the university reception,
provide fingerprints and a DNA sample, using the shame factor to encourage
compliance. It had worked like a dream. Of course, none of the staff had wanted
to look like they weren’t co-operating fully with the police to catch the
killer of the Administrator.
A few of the students had made difficulties, but even
they had given their samples in the end. Not that they’d been necessary after
all – owing to the cost factor, and the Bradley factor where costs were
concerned – he’d had to wait awhile to reduce suspect numbers to single
figures. But it quickly became apparent who was the guilty party, and he’d sent
Babbington’s sample off with a priority request. The results of the DNA had
come back this morning, and that had clinched it.
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About Geraldine Evans:
Geraldine Evans is a British novelist. She
turned indie in 2010 after many years and eighteen novels in the traditional
publishing world. She is the author of two mystery series: The now 18-strong
Rafferty & Llewellyn Mystery Series and the 2-strong Casey & Catt
Mystery Series, as well as an historical novel about Mary Rose, the little
sister of King Henry VIII, Gentle Romance and Romantic Suspense.
Apart from her novels, she’s also had
non-fiction published in numerous magazines, on subjects as varied as
historical biography of people and places (Horatio Nelson, Nurse Edith Cavell,
Whitehall Palace), New Age (Palmistry and Your Love Life, Astrology and Your
Writing Life).
She spent most of her life in London (UK),
where she was born and brought up, the youngest of four children, but moved to
a market town in Norfolk (UK) in 2000, with her late husband.
Her working life includes stints working in
a psychiatric hospital, a public library, running their own vehicle repair
workshop with her mechanic husband, an au pair, a hair salon’s skivvy, she’s
been sacked from jobs twice: once by the now defunct Woolworths, where she
worked as a Saturday girl and made a hash of managing the till, and once by her
local District Council just before her probationary period came to an end. But
she didn’t care as she didn’t like either job. She had stints working behind
bars, in factories, for the legal world, the energy world and the insurance
world as an office temp. She’s helped out in the Constituency Office of her
local Member of Parliament and looked after other people’s dogs while their
owners took a holiday.
Her interests include photography, getting
God-like in the greenhouse, learning keyboards and painting amateur portraits
of unwilling victims.
She spent most of her life in London (UK),
where she was born and brought up, the youngest of four children, but moved to
a market town in Norfolk (UK) in 2000, with her late husband. She has three
nieces, four great nieces and nephews (two of each), two grown-up step-children
and is a step-grandmother three times over. She has visited many countries,
including, the United States, Australia, North Africa, Spain, Greece, Italy,
France, Belgium and Ireland. She looks forward to exploring many more and
learning something of their cultures and peoples.
Her dream for years was to be a published
novelist, a dream she achieved in 1991, after six failed novels. Her ambition,
after traditionally publishing eighteen novels, was to earn a living as a
writer. It took turning indie to do it, but she now works full-time as an
author.
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