Dancers in Mourning (41 page)

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Authors: Margery Allingham

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In the morning-room Mercer was playing his little pavane.

Sutane took a long, slow, infinitely graceful step. In the midst of it he looked up. The crooked smile was on his lips and, surprisingly, his black eyes had tears in them. ‘How could I, old boy?' he said.

VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERIES

With the sign of a human skull upon its back and a melancholy shriek emitted when disturbed, the Death's Head Hawkmoth has for centuries been a bringer of doom and an omen of death – which is why we chose it as the emblem for our Vintage Murder Mysteries.

Some say that its appearance in King George Ill's bedchamber pushed him into madness. Others believe that should its wings extinguish a candle by night, those nearby will be cursed with blindness. Indeed its very name,
Acherontia atropos
, delves into the most sinister realms of Greek mythology: Acheron, the River of Pain in the underworld, and Atropos, the Fate charged with severing the thread of life.

The perfect companion, then, for our Vintage Murder Mysteries sleuths, for whom sinister occurrences are never far away and murder is always just around the corner …

 
MORE VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERIES

EDMUND CRISPIN

Buried for Pleasure

The Case of the Gilded Fly

Swan Song

A. A. MILNE

The Red House Mystery

GLADYS MITCHELL

Speedy Death

The Mystery of a Butcher's Shop

The Longer Bodies

The Saltmarsh Murders

Death at the Opera

The Devil at Saxon Wall

Dead Men's Morris

Come Away, Death

St Peter's Finger

Brazen Tongue

Hangman's Curfew

When Last I Died

Laurels Are Poison

Here Comes a Chopper

Death and the Maiden

Tom Brown's Body

Groaning Spinney

The Devil's Elbow

The Echoing Strangers

Watson's Choice

The Twenty-Third Man

Spotted Hemlock

My Bones Will Keep

Three Quick and Five Dead

Dance to Your Daddy

A Hearse on May-Day

Late, Late in the Evening

Fault in the Structure

Nest of Vipers

MARGERY ALLINGHAM

Mystery Mile

Police at the Funeral

Sweet Danger

Flowers for the Judge

The Case of the Late Pig

The Fashion in Shrouds

Traitor's Purse

Coroner's Pidgin

More Work for the Undertaker

The Tiger in the Smoke

The Beckoning Lady

Hide My Eyes

The China Governess

The Mind Readers

Cargo of Eagles

E. F. BENSON

The Blotting Book

The Luck of the Vails

NICHOLAS BLAKE

A Question of Proof

Thou Shell of Death

There's Trouble Brewing

The Beast Must Die

The Smiler With the Knife

Malice in Wonderland

The Case of the Abominable Snowman

Minute for Murder

Head of a Traveller

The Dreadful Hollow

The Whisper in the Gloom

End of Chapter

The Widow's Cruise

The Worm of Death

The Sad Variety

The Morning After Death

If you have enjoyed this book, you might like to know about the Margery Allingham Society which has members throughout the world. The Society:

•  meets several times a year to explore aspects of Margery Allingham's life, work, family and interests;

•  organises residential weekend conventions every few years;

•  publishes a twice-yearly journal,
The Bottle Street Gazette
, with articles on Margery Allingham's life and novels and, occasionally, some of her writing; it has also published several books about her work;

•  keeps in touch with members through its regular newsletter,
From the Glueworks
.

You can follow us on Facebook at
The Margery Allingham Society

Or to find out how to join, write to us at
[email protected]

or visit our website
www.margeryallingham.org.uk
which has up-to-date information about how to get in touch by post

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author's and publisher's rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

Version 1.0

Epub ISBN 9781448192175

www.randomhouse.co.uk

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Vintage
20 Vauxhall Bridge Road,
London SW1V 2SA

Vintage is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at
global.penguinrandomhouse.com
.

Copyright © Margery Allingham 1937

Margery Allingham has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this Work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

First published in Great Britain by William Heinemann in 1937

www.vintage-books.co.uk

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 9780099593546

www.vintage-books.co.uk

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