Fear on Friday
Authors: Ann Purser
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DIABOLICAL DAYS OF THE WEEK
THEFT ON THURSDAY
“Clever, engaging, and suspenseful … [The] best Lois Meade adventure yet.”
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Booklist
WEEPING ON WEDNESDAY
“An inventive plot, affable characters, and an entertaining look at village life.”
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Booklist
TERROR ON TUESDAY
“Skullduggery of all sorts greets housecleaner Lois Meade when she opens a cleaning service in the village of Long Farnden … Notable for the careful way Purser roots every shocking malfeasance in the rhythms and woes of ordinary working-class family life.”
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Kirkus Reviews
“This no-nonsense mystery is competent, tidy, likable, and clever.”
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Booklist
MURDER ON MONDAY
“A refreshingly working-class heroine, a devoted wife and mother of three, plays reluctant sleuth in this winning cozy … A strong plot and believable characters, especially the honest, down-to-earth Lois, are certain to appeal to a wide range of readers.”
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Publishers Weekly
“First-class work in the English-village genre: cleverly plotted, with thoroughly believable characters, rising tension, and a smashing climax.”
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Kirkus Reviews
(starred review)
“For fans of the British cozy, here’s one with a different twist. Purser’s heroine is not one of the ‘traditional’ apple-cheeked, white-haired village snoops … The identity of the killer—and the motive—will be a shocker. Fresh, engaging, and authentically British.”
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Booklist
“Fans of British ‘cozies’ will enjoy this delightful mystery with its quaint setting and fascinating players.”
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Library Journal
Titles by Ann Purser
Lois Meade Mysteries
MURDER ON MONDAY
TERROR ON TUESDAY
WEEPING ON WEDNESDAY
THEFT ON THURSDAY
FEAR ON FRIDAY
SECRETS ON SATURDAY
SORROW ON SUNDAY
WARNING AT ONE
TRAGEDY AT TWO
Ivy Beasley Mysteries
THE HANGMAN’S ROW ENQUIRY
F
EAR ON
F
RIDAY
ANN PURSER
BERKLEY PRIME CRIME, NEW YORK
THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc
.
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Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
FEAR ON FRIDAY
A Berkley Prime Crime Book / published by arrangement with Severn House Publishers Ltd.
PRINTING HISTORY
Severn House hardcover edition / 2005
Berkley Prime Crime mass-market edition / September 2006
Copyright © 2005 by Ann Purser.
Cover illustration by One by Two.
Cover design by Lesley Worrell.
Interior text design by Kristin del Rosario.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
For information, address: Severn House Publishers Inc.,
595 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10022.
EISBN: 9781101567470
BERKLEY
®
PRIME CRIME
Berkley Prime Crime Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,
a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
The name BERKLEY PRIME CRIME and the BERKLEY PRIME CRIME design are trademarks belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
10 9 8 7 6 5
If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen properly. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
Deceive boys with toys, but men with oaths
.
Lysander, Spartan, d 395
BC
ROLOGUE
A
MAN IN A LONG, DARK-COLOURED COAT STOOD OUTSIDE
the narrow shop window and stared in. Stick-thin models draped in black shiny macs stared blankly back at him, their lifeless hands arranged to smooth the tactile rainwear.
RAIN OR SHINE
, said the discreet sign above the shop. A small smile of pleasurable recognition crossed the man’s face.
He looked furtively to right and left. Nobody about, except for a postman, slowly approaching, from the far end of the terraced street. It was very quiet. Then a motor-bike turned the corner and roared past him, its rider anonymous inside the oversize helmet. The man turned his face back to the window, and the shopkeeper, glancing out, saw him and recognised a familiar face.
“Hi, there! Got your letter, thanks. Come along in. Got some new stuff to show you …”
The man followed the shopkeeper, shutting the door quickly. The customer relaxed. “Right then,” he said, his eyes brightening. “New girlfriend, new games … what’s new with you, young Fergus?”
NE
L
ETTERS IN THE POST CAN BE DANGEROUS
. F
rom a
handful of envelopes in the morning post, most are junk. But there is always a potential disaster, that one particular envelope examined back and front, and opened gingerly with a butter knife. Even so, given that possibility, most of Long Farnden residents would still rather have the postlady walk neatly up their path and deliver. No mail at all is an insult, a confirmation that the world has forgotten you.
The postlady never missed Rupert Forsyth’s house. There were always letters for him, from all over the country. He easily came top of the list of those who got the most post in the village. What’s more, they were
real
letters, with handwritten addresses and stamps stuck on by hand. Occasionally, there were names and addresses of senders on the backs of envelopes. This singled him out from the rest of the village, and was duly noted.
Josie Meade had been postlady in Long Farnden for only a short while, but she was fascinated by this one exception to the general rule. She was the daughter of Lois
Meade, who was proprietor of a cleaning business, New Brooms, and an experienced amateur sleuth on the side. Josie, her mother and grandmother, had taken on the village shop and post office, when the old couple who ran it were more or less forced out of business by neglect and financial decline.