Night and Day: Dottie Manderson mysteries: Book 1: a romantic traditional cosy mystery
About Night and Day: Dottie Manderson mysteries: Book 1: a romantic traditional cosy mystery
What could be more sinister than a deserted street late at night? Add a young woman, alone, coming back from the theatre, rain, and streetlamps that fail to light the shadows… November 1933. Dottie Manderson, a young socialite from a wealthy family has been out for the evening with a friend and is on her way to her married sister’s house in the middle of London.
Preoccupied, Dottie gives the cabbie the wrong house number and has to walk the remaining distance to her sister’s home. She stumbles upon the body of a man lying on the ground. She thinks he is drunk, but then sees the blood pouring from him onto the paving stones and into the gutter.
As she waits for help to arrive, she holds the man’s hand and tries to get him to tell her what happened. Nothing can be done for the poor fellow, and Dottie is left shocked by the violence of the attack, especially when she realises she knows the man’s widow. Dottie needs to know who could do such a terrible thing.
Even though a particular, very annoying, but admittedly good-looking young policeman is looking into the case officially, she feels compelled to carry out her own amateur investigation into this tragic and mysterious death. Who would want to kill a man in such a way? Could there be a clue in the words of the song he sang just before he died?
And why is everyone so upset about her new cape? Packed full of twists, a couple of unexpected upturns, Night and Day is a page-turner of a whodunit! Readers just love Dottie Manderson!
Reviewers said:‘Dottie Manderson is a gorgeous character…A great read and I’m looking forward to catching up with more of Dottie.’ Katie in Scotland ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️‘Five stars! Delightfully entertaining, rich characters, suspenseful, charming all in one; anxiously awaiting the next one!
’ Amazon reviewer ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️‘I received this on a Friday and could not put it down - goodbye housework - not for too long though as I was so enthralled I finished it Saturday evening.’ Amazon reviewer‘I absolutely loved it. I read the whole thing in a just two sittings...
I felt like I was there with them.'If you love a murder mystery with heart, this is for YOU! Extract from Night and Day: Dottie Manderson mysteries book 1:A sound came to Dottie’s ears.
A soft shushing sort of sound but almost melodic. Her eyes, growing accustomed to the darkness, made out a shape on the pavement not ten yards ahead. Her heart gave an odd lurch, as if a cold hand gripped it.
The sound came again. A little louder, a little more insistent. It sounded almost like…There was someone—a man—lying on the pavement.
She felt a little shimmer of fear. Could it be a drunk? Perhaps she ought to step into the road, walk round him very carefully, keeping her distance.
The head moved very slightly. His face was a pale oval in the dim lamplight. And she saw that the lips moved too.
It was him making that odd noise. So it was a drunk, after all. He was singing to himself in a soft sibilant whisper.
Her ear caught the rough melody of it, and even then, just as she saw the blood on his shirt-front, one part of her mind was saying, I know that song. She forgot her fears and ran to his side.‘What happened?
Are you all right?’ But it was all too obvious he was not all right. She knelt beside him and put out a hand to take his groping one.
He was quite young, though older than her own nineteen years of age. But no more than perhaps his early thirties. Fairish hair, slightly receding, and dark from the rain.
One of those moustaches that were all the rage at the moment. Blue eyes, very blue like a child’s, wide and astonished-looking. From his smart evening dress, he was clearly well-to-do, although she didn’t recognise him.
But the blood—oh the blood.