The Charing Cross Mystery
by J. S. Fletcher

Publication date 2021-06-06
Usage Public Domain Mark 1.0Creative Commons Licensepublicdomain
Topics librivox, audiobooks, coming
LibriVox recording of The Charing Cross Mystery by J. S. Fletcher.
Read in English by Kirsten Wever

Here's another intriguing mystery by J. S. Fletcher, centering on why a former high-level police official was murdered, and on whether - and if so how - the murder was linked to two glamorous and high-profile sisters, one of whose photo was found in the dead man's pocket. As usual, Fletcher creates a number of different detectives -- a lawyer, his assistant, several policemen, a police spy, and even the dead man's granddaughter -- following various lines of inquiry. These lines converge rapidly in the last few chapters, when the author lets the reader weave them together into a coherent whole: the solution to the mystery. Summary by Kirsten Wever

chapter 1 of the charring cross mystery this is a librivox recording all librivox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit librivox.org recording by kirsten weber the charing cross mystery by j.f fletcher the last train east heatherwick had dined that evening with friends who lived in cadigan gardens and had stayed so late in conversation with his host that midnight had come before he left and set out for his bachelor chambers in the temple it was indeed by the fraction of a second that he caught the last eastbound train at sloane square the train was almost destitute of passengers the car which he himself entered a first-class smoking compartment was otherwise empty no one came into it when the train reached victoria but at st james's park two men got in and seated themselves opposite to heatherwick now heatherwick was a young barrister going in for criminal practice in whom the observant faculty was deeply implanted it was natural to him to watch and to speculate on anything he saw because of this and perhaps because he had just then nothing else to think about he sat observing newcomers he found interest amusement and not a little profit in this sort of thing and in trying to decide whether a given man was this that or something else of the two men thus under inspection the elder was a big burly fresh colored man of apparently 60 to 65 years of age his closely cropped silvery hair his smartly trained gray mustache his keen blue eyes and generally alert and vivacious appearance made heatherwick think that he was or had been in some way or other connected with the army this impression was heightened by an erect carriage squares at shoulders and something that suggested a long and close acquaintance with the methods of the drill yard and the parade ground perhaps thought heatherwick he was a retired non-commissioned officer a regimental sergeant major or something of that sort this idea again was strengthened by the fact that the man carried a handsome walking cane the head of which either of gold or of silver guilt was fashioned like a crown there was something military too about the cut of his clothes he was a smartly dressed man from his silk hat new and glossy and worn a little rakishly on the right side of his head to his highly polished boots a well-preserved cheery looking good humored sort of person this decided heatherwick and apparently well satisfied with himself and full of the enjoyment of life and likely from all outward sight to make old bones the other man came into a different category the difference began with his clothes which if not exactly shabby were semi-shabby much worn ill-kept and badly put on he was evidently a careless man who scorned a clothes brush and was also indifferent to the very obvious fact that his linen was frayed and dirty he was a thin meager man of not one half the respectable well-fed bulk of his companion his sallow-complexioned face was worn and his beard thin and...