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    Death Leaves a Bookmark
    Death Leaves a Bookmark
    Death Leaves a Bookmark
    Ebook43 pages26 minutes

    Death Leaves a Bookmark

    By William Link

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    About this ebook

    Attempting the perfect murder, a killer encounters the perfect cop in this short story by Special Edgar Award and Ellery Queen Award–winning author William Link.
    After years of get-rich-quick schemes, Troy Pellingham’s bank account is empty and his options are down to one: take a job in his uncle’s rare book shop, and spend his days working for an unpleasant man whose only redeeming quality is a mammoth bank account. Though well into his eighties, Uncle Rodney is the picture of good health, and the day when Troy will inherit the old man’s money seems very far away. But then Troy gets a brilliant idea—why shelve books for a living, when he can kill for a fortune? After the deed is done, a peculiarly shabby police detective comes to call. Lieutenant Columbo seems dimwitted, and Troy expects he will have no trouble putting him off the scent. But as the noose tightens around his neck, Troy realizes that no murder is too perfect for Columbo.

    The Bibliomysteries are a series of short tales about deadly books, by top mystery authors.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMysteriousPress.com Open Road
    Release dateDec 11, 2012
    ISBN9781453268889
    Death Leaves a Bookmark
    Author

    William Link

    WILLIAM LINK is the Edgar Award-winning co-creator of such cult TV crime series as Columbo, Murder She Wrote and Ellery Queen. Find out more at: www.williamlink.tv

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    • 5/5
      I had no idea that this Columbo gem even existed! It was so much fun to read. My dad and I bonded over watching Columbo. I even own the box set. Peter Falk's portrayal definitely captured what William Link created in this beloved character.

      Troy quickly turned away and was about to head for the rear door when Columbo said, “Oh, just more thing, sir.”

    Book preview

    Death Leaves a Bookmark - William Link

    TROY PELLINGHAM hadn’t read a book since college. He had better things to do with his life, but so far none of these had turned out to be profitable. The irony was that his uncle, Rodney Haverford, was an antiquarian who dealt in rare books, having an exclusive shop on Melrose Avenue. Uncle Rodney was so snooty, so nose-in-the-air, that Troy jokingly wondered how he blew it. The old man was healthy as an ox, was in his eighties, and never had suffered a head cold. This presented Troy with a problem.

    His uncle always dressed in Saville Row bespoke clothing, imported from London: heavy tweeds with vests and watch fob pockets, even on sizzling summer days. And he never seemed to sweat. Perspiration would be unseemly to the old snob, something only blue collar laborers were forced to endure. Or other members of the lower class who worked with their hands.

    Of course Uncle Rodney had a trust fund, set up by his father, whom Troy’s late mother had once told him was another snob.

    Genetically, Rodney was cut from the same bolt of disdain. Like father, like son, both elitist snots who might wipe their fingers with a scented hankie after shaking hands with someone below their status.

    Troy had degradingly flattered his uncle, licked his posterior daily and twice on Sunday. He always metaphorically got on his knees to the wealthy, especially if he knew he could inherit some of their vast riches when they croaked in a comfortable bed.

    The only family Uncle Rodney had left were a niece by marriage and his nephew Troy. The niece, Marcella, was attractive and spent money as if she could always print more because she knew the printing press was her uncle. Uncle Rodney and Marcella had formed a close relationship during the summers she and her mother had stayed with him when she was a child. Later she came to live with Rodney in his Beverly Hills home while studying at UCLA. Their bond remained so strong that she stayed on after college.

    Once the old man had learned that Troy was no book worm, and was a failure in his business endeavors, he wrote the lad off as if he were a bad investment. He had even threatened to cut him out of his will, but Troy knew for a fact that he hadn’t gotten around to it yet

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