| Dead Man in Marche The full synopsis A Novel by David Sheppard |
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| DEAD MAN IN MARCHESHIRE By David Sheppard A Synopsis When the mutilated corpse of a glamorous ex pat in this quiet rural corner of Italy is discovered outside his house, the community of Marcheshire is shocked: it seems an ideal opportunity for the under worked anglophile Inspettore Luca Carducci of Macerata police to reluctantly put down his Poirot and pick up the case. This death has doubled the annual murder rate and Luca is keen not to lose his 100% clean-up rate and incur the displeasure of his boss and more importantly his mother- a former first lady of the region and still an eminence grise. His boss warns him of the arrival the following week of a younger, keener, smarter, more highly qualified officer who would be better suited to the job. This Rispoli incidentally happens to be the boss's nephew. Luca's mother sees this case as a further stepping stone along a political path that she's been laying for him. But the thing really nagging at the back of his mind is that the mobile of his wife, Sofia, is always engaged and she has a guilty air about her. Crime scene opinion errs towards ' hoofing' as cause of death. A recent Russian Mafia movie contained a similar execution: death by 4x4. The victim's Ferrari is missing, taken as a trophy of a gangland execution it's speculated. The victim's Russian ancestry and cryptic computer journal point towards some kind of conspiracy. Interviews with ex pats ( including varied inebriates, exiles, rogues, extras from Room with a View and when- the-Von-Trapp-family-met- Coldplay amongst others) reveal a portrait of a thoroughly English Gentleman, though. His dealings and relationship with a seductive estate agent, dubbed the Black Widow, raises some suspicions but Luca is quickly bewitched and disarmed by her. Frustratingly the journal reveals more of the victim's charming and amusing self than any dastardly plots. Interviewing the people last seen with him glean little more light until Luca links a distinctive earring found embedded in the victim's hand with one of the interviewees. She folds and admits to having an affair and being at the crime scene that night though she saw nothing at all- except another expat washing her car at 1.30am. Luca follows this up; yet another affair is revealed. She admits to accidentally running the victim over but as forensics confirm, her tyres don't match the fatal marks on the victim's head and back. So, still no leads. On the way home he is almost driven off the road by a force he didn't count on crossing: the Little Sisters of Charity & Poverty. Luca's boss is almost skipping with glee, his mother is muttering and plotting darkly and Sofia is becoming more cagey. Following a hunch, Luca attends a curry night at the Glenn Eagles Hotel ( the writ demanded at least a double n to spare any confusion) hoping for any kind of lead from the ex-pats at this stage. Expecting My Fair Lady, the evening is more like Apocalypse Now and Luca awakes in one of the bedrooms with two unexpected and unwelcome female companions. In the bathroom mirror he is confronted by the face of failure: marriage, family life, job, political prospects, everything seems destined to be shot down the pan. With Rispoli arriving that afternoon, he knows he's run out of time. Like an electric shock, his mobile suddenly trills to life in his hand: the news stuns him. An hour later, Luca storms triumphantly into his boss's office, declares 'Accidental Death!' and presses play on his tape recorder. It is a recording of the message left by the victim. This last call contains a brief message then the soundtrack of a car door slamming shut; the crunch of gravel underfoot; a mumbled "What's that? An earring?'; a stumble and the rumble of a free-wheeling car followed by a crunch, squelch, yelp and the sudden cessation of the call. Arms crossed, Luca asks what Rispoli will make of this. Not a lot it turns out; he'll be off duty recovering for a least a few months following a hit and run accident outside his apartment that morning. At lunch, Luca hopes to patch things up with Sofia who reveals that she's been concealing a guilty secret from Luca; a surprise tour of Scotland booked through a travel agent friend of hers. During lunch Luca's mother texts to say that she is sorry to hear about Rispoli‘s “accident“- Luca suddenly loses his appetite. The missing Ferrari is found dangling from a tree in the ravine below the victim's house, its corroded brake cable hanging limply below. The coroner confirms Accidental Death and warns those present that things of great beauty often have dark and dangerous hearts that see themselves as the possessions of no man. |
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