Serialized Stories

Welcome back for more In Her Image, a work in progress, a regency mystery story I’ve been sharing on my website.

The story so far: Lord Wade is investigating the death of a young woman. Her body is found in Grosvenor square with no identification and no immediate explanation of how she died.

If you’re new to the story, you can read the beginning here and then follow on with the sample below.

The woman shrugged. “I do not, but her situation is familiar to me. I know nothing of her killer or their motives.”

Damn. He was exactly back to where he’d begun, except—“Why do you believe she was in someone’s employ?”

The woman glanced at the body and then rubbed her arms. “Her shoes don’t match her gown’s quality.”

Damon blinked and looked at the girl again. He’d been so caught up with the manner of her position, the sightless fright in her eyes that he’d failed to notice the scuffed quality of the shoes. He moved closer to them. Short half-boots, more suited to strident walking than the party the dress implied, and well used. The left heel worn down lower than the right. He’d assumed her returning from an evenings entertainment and set upon. But often the smallest detail led him on a divergent path.

The girl did not come from money, but she might work for a well-to-do family and be wearing cast off clothes. “Thank you.”

“She’s long gone.” Andrew chuckled. “Said her peace and left you to ponder it, and ponder it you have for several long minutes.”

Damon spun about but the veiled woman and burly servant were no longer in sight. He’d been too wrapped up in his thoughts to notice that she’d taken her leave. “Damn. She might have had further insights to share.”

Andrew closed the distance between them. “Do you not even notice the living anymore? Your obsession with solving every act of villainy is robbing you of your life.”

 Thanks so much for reading.

In Her Image is a work in progress, a regency mystery I’ve been writing on and off and sharing during Weekend Writing Warrior posts. Unfortunately, I’ve not been able to keep up enough reciprocal visits through the hop but I’d like to continue the story to share what happens next in longer posts.

The story so far: Lord Wade is investigating the death of a young woman. Her body is found in Grosvenor square with no identification and no immediate explanation of how she died.

If you’re new to the story, you can read the beginning here and then follow on with the excerpt below.

“What happened here,” a soft feminine voice murmured at his side.

Damon startled at the sound and spun to face a veiled newcomer he’d not noticed approaching. Her height placed her a little below his chin. Bundled in a dark cloak and hood, she was dressed richly for this time of the morning. However, no matter how he tried, he could make out little of her features. The sun rose behind her, obscuring everything else. But that was neither here nor there. His heartbeat sped a little. This woman may have come to claim the body. If she had a connection to the girl Damon would have his answers this day. “What do you think happened?”

Not a sound followed his impatient question. The woman kept her attention on the girl on the ground to the exclusion of all else. After years among the tons finest and often emotional feminine circles in his own family, he was a little surprised by this woman’s calm in the face of such a tragedy.

After a time, the woman turned away. “You’ll need to find her mistress.”

“Do you know her?” He grabbed for the woman’s arm and found it slender and strong beneath the cloak. It was then he noticed the woman was followed by a large servant, a burly fellow who’d easily pound a man into the ground for slighting his charge. When the man bared his teeth, Damon decided prudence was the better path and let the woman go. “Please. Anything you can tell me will help find her killer.”

Welcome back for another excerpt from my regency mystery wip, In Her Image. I hope you enjoy this weeks piece with continues from previous posts. Weekend Writing Warriors is a weekly meme by authors to share 8 sentences of their writing, published or unpublished on their blog or website. Comments are very much appreciated. 🙂 Be sure to check out the other fantastic participating writers at http://www.wewriwa.com this weekend. If you’re a new visitor to my blog and would like to catch the beginning of this story, In Her Image, please click here.

 

He’d discovered too little about the dead girl to give him the satisfaction of making any real progress. There may be nothing else to be gained, save to cart the girl off and be done with his investigation, but there had to be a reason for this body being here.

He drew out his notebook and added a few additional lines to the sketch he’d already made. As frustrating as he found it to be, not every death had a reason. Not every death was suspicious. Sometimes people just died. He had a trunk full of unsolved villainy in his study to prove that point but the young woman’s age and appearance niggled at him. He found it hard to believe she’d simply passed on without assistance.

 

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KEEPSAKE–Distinguished Rogues, 5:

The Marquess of Taverham married young and fast with his eye firmly on his bride’s dowry as the means to repair the family fortunes for the next generation. Too late he discovered his new wife wasn’t going to make achieving all of his dreams that easy.

OUT SEPTEMBER 8, 2014.