Title

MURDER AT MEDLEY PARK

Book Four of the Juliette Abbott Regency Mystery Series

A Regency Plume Press Publication

This book is protected by the copyright laws of the United States of America and other countries. No portion of this book may be reproduced, electronically transmitted, digitized, taped, recorded, scanned, or reprinted in whole or in part, by photocopying, printing, faxing, E-mailing, or copying electronically for the purpose of distributing

on the web; nor can it be stored in any sort of retrieval system

without written permission from the author, Marilyn Jean Clay.

MURDER AT MEDLEY PARK, Book Four of the Juliette Abbott Regency Mystery Series is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real, or factual. Any resemblance to actual events, names of persons living or dead, villages, estates, locales, or organizations, is entirely coincidental. All scripture quoted is from the KJV of the Bible.

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Printed in the United States of America

ISBN-10: 1976570662

ISBN-13: 978-1976570667

The Primary Players: All Guilty of Something

JULIETTE ABBOTT – An eight and ten-year-old young lady, guilty of agreeing to catalogue a collection of rare books and costly artifacts at Medley Park.

Lord Medley – Charles W. Ruston, Viscount Medley: guilty of greed and of being as self-centered and bad-tempered as they come.

Lady Medley – (Constance) guilty of having once been a great beauty, and of still being remarkably handsome at nearly the fifty-year mark.

Mrs. Bertram –The Medley Park housekeeper, a forty-something unmarried woman, guilty of being too attractive by half and a few other shocking crimes to be revealed forthwith.

Miss Violet Hutchens – The governess. Guilty of supreme unhappiness due to having been low-born. Also guilty of . . . well, you’ll see.

Cecil and Ned Ruston (age 19) – Lord Medley’s twin sons from a previous marriage. Cecil: guilty of being the responsible one. Ned: guilty of being a rakehell who squanders both his time and his father’s money.

Spencer (9), Harry (7) – Lord and Lady Medley’s youngest sons. Although daily attempts are made to curb the boy’s wild streaks, both boys remain guilty of being unschooled hooligans (and also cruel to kittens!)

Hannah (15) – Lord Medley’s daughter with his present wife. Guilty of being lovely and sweet-tempered; and also romantical, quite possibly due to her youth and the fact that she’s lived her entire life in the country.

Isabella Ruston (16) – Guilty of claiming to be a cousin but has no proof. Guilty of having aspirations to wed one of the Medley Park twins, when the truth is, the little upstart doesn’t care a fig for either one of them!

Miss Martha – Lord Medley’s elderly white-haired spinster sister. Guilty of being in her dotage and blind to boot; but she does have some interesting stories to tell.

Mr. Sheridan – Guilty of being the most handsome and heroic gentleman Miss Juliette Abbot has ever met in her career of solving upper-crust crime. To be sure, before this story draws to an end, Mr. Sheridan will be guilty of living up to that claim, and much, much more!

Lesser Players: Also Guilty of Assorted Crimes:

Lottie – The first of the vast number of Medley Park housemaids Juliette encounters. Guilty of being surly and mean-spirited.

Tilda – The Medley Park servant assigned to be Juliette’s lady’s maid. Guilty of being eager to please, smiling too much and generally an all-around pleasant and congenial young girl.

Boyd Hutchens – Head gardener on the estate. Amongst other things, guilty of being Miss Violet Hutchens’ older brother.

Dickon – Guilty of being Miss Hutchen’s younger brother; also guilty of being cruel to kittens . . . and more.

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