Parting Breath — Catherine Aird

A STUDENT'S DYING MESSAGE PUZZLES INSPECTOR SLOAN AS A SIT-IN CRIPPLES CAMPUS

When young Henry Moleyns is stabbed to death on the quad during a sit-in, the vice chancellor of the University of Calleshire was prompted to comment: "Really, this is going too far," an assessment with which Inspector Sloan of the local C.I.D. is only to eager to agree. And what is to be made of his dying words--"twenty-six minutes"? After all, he was attacked from the front. Why not just name his killer? But that isn't the only question Sloan wants answered. Does his death have anything to do with a campus sit-in staged to protest the expulsion of a left-wing student? And why has someone pinched his passport? Who broke into another student's room and stole his papers only to leave them on the quad. Just how does Canadian wheat figure into the equation? And why did the murderer strip naked to commit the second murder? Could any of this have anything to do with a letter that could answer one of Britain's greatest literary mysteries--the identity of Jane Austen's lover? As Sloan struggles to find the answers, he's also dealing with the impending birth of his first son. After all, there are critical decisions to make--such as for which rugby position will the boy be best suited?