Passing Strange — Catherine Aird

MURDER AT THE PRIORY

Two terrible injustices occurred at the annual Horticultural Society Flower Show in the village of Almstone: Ken Walls' splendid tomatoes were overlooked in the competition and Nurse Cooper was murdered. Her body lay under a tarpaulin behind the fortuneteller's tent, which, along with the rest of the exhibitions, had been pitched on the venerable grounds of the Priory estate. For Detective Inspector C.D. Sloan, it was simply a question of who benefited from the nurse's demise. But his only clues were the suspicious appearance of an heiress, a reel of green wire, and an empty cup for tea.