Poor Tom Is Cold

Zusatztext "Jennings generates considerable suspense with her unsettling tale. . . . A very fine example of what it takes to make a historical mystery work." - Booklist "Jennings has laid strong claim to the Toronto of the late nineteenth century. . . . A satisfying mystery perfectly wedded to its evocative setting." - Publishers Weekly "Jennings always manages to guide [Murdoch] to the trenchant detail that brings big issues down to eye level." - New York Times Book Review Informationen zum Autor Maureen Jennings Klappentext A police constable named Oliver Wicken has apparently committed suicide! leaving his mother and his invalid sister to fend for themselves. The evidence! according to the coroner! is irrefutable. Wicken was shot in the temple with his own revolver and a farewell note has been found beside his body. But new and disturbing evidence is brought to light that leads Detective Murdoch to suspect that the suicide was not what it seemed. Whether describing a tooth extraction! the unquestioning prejudice toward the few Chinese immigrants in the city! or the well-intentioned! but bizarre! treatment of mentally ill women! Maureen Jennings once again brings late-Victorian Toronto vividly to life. Chapter One     It was still dark out, not yet dawn, and the flickering street lamps made little dint in the sodden November darkness. Acting Detective William Murdoch pulled his astrakhan hat tighter over his ears, thrust his bare hands deep into his pockets, and shoulders hunched against the cold driving rain, plodded up Ontario Street toward the police station. Pain from an infected tooth had sent him from his bed, and in an attempt to distract himself, he had dressed and set out for work well ahead of his duty time.   He turned onto Wilton just as a cab was going by and stepped back to avoid being splashed. The cabbie slowed his horse in case Murdoch was a potential fare, realised he wasn’t, and tipped his whip in acknowledgment as he passed by. He was wrapped in a voluminous black oiled slicker, the high collar masking his lower face and the hood pulled down so low over his forehead that only his eyes were visible. The horse had no such protection and its coat was dark from the rain. Like a lot of cab horses, the beast looked underfed, as if it had barely a trot left in it, but the driver snapped the reins and they heaved into a faster clip. Murdoch watched the rear lamp swaying, warm and bright in the gloom, until the carriage turned south on Parliament, leaving him alone on the dark street.   What if I am the last man on the earth? he thought. What if I’m really dead and in purgatory? Is this what it is? Physical pain and loneliness melding together until he couldn’t separate one from the other. Suddenly, somebody, probably a servant, lit a lamp in the upstairs room of one of the houses he was passing and the light winked out through a crack in the curtain. Murdoch was somewhat embarrassed at the relief he felt and he grinned at his own nonsense. He shook his head to clear out the morbid thoughts and was rewarded by a current of white-hot pain along his jaw, so severe he yelped. Trying to move cautiously to avoid aggravating matters, he continued on his way. He was heartily glad to reach the steps of the station. The outside lamp was burning and the windows were bright.   He pushed open the door, greeted by the familiar smell of woodstove, sawdust, and a lingering sourness from the old clothes and unwashed bodies of the local constituents. The fourth division served Toronto from the working-class streets of River and Sackville in the east, to the nobs who lived in grand houses on Jarvis and Church streets in the west. The east-siders were the ones whose backsides polished the wooden benches in the station hall.   The night-duty sergeant, Gardiner, was seated on a high stool behind...

Product details

• Authors: Maureen Jennings
• Publisher: Random House USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 18.09.2012
• EAN: 9780771095955
• ISBN: 978-0-7710-9595-5
• Dimensions: 132 mm x 202 mm x 26 mm
• Series: Murdoch Mysteries; Murdoch Mysteries
• Subject: Fiction > Suspense