Invitation to a Killer


 Contents
 Cover
 Also by G.M. Malliet
 Title Page
 Copyright
 Dedication
 Acknowledgments
 Epigraph
 
 Part I
 Chapter One
 Chapter Two
 Chapter Three
 Chapter Four
 Chapter Five
 Part II
 Chapter Six
 Chapter Seven
 Chapter Eight
 Chapter Nine
 Chapter Ten
 Chapter Eleven
 Chapter Twelve
 Part III
 Chapter Thirteen
 Chapter Fourteen
 Chapter Fifteen
 Chapter Sixteen
 Chapter Seventeen
 Chapter Eighteen
 Chapter Nineteen
 Chapter Twenty
 Epilogue
 
 
 Also by G.M. Malliet
 The St. Just mysteries
 DEATH OF A COZY WRITER
 DEATH AND THE LIT CHICK
 DEATH AT THE ALMA MATER
 DEATH IN CORNWALL *
 The Max Tudor mysteries
 WICKED AUTUMN
 A FATAL WINTER
 PAGAN SPRING
 DEMON SUMMER
 THE HAUNTED SEASON
 DEVIL’S BREATH
 IN PRIOR’S WOOD
 Novels
 WEYCOMBE
 Augusta Hawke mysteries
 AUGUSTA HAWKE *
 * available from Severn House
 INVITATION TO A KILLER
 
 
 
 G.M. Malliet
 
 
 
 This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
 
 
 First world edition published in Great Britain and the USA in 2023
 by Severn House, an imprint of Canongate Books Ltd,
 14 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1TE.
 Trade paperback edition first published in Great Britain and the USA in 2023
 by Severn House, an imprint of Canongate Books Ltd.
 This eBook edition first published in 2023 by Severn House,
 an imprint of Canongate Books Ltd.
 severnhouse.com
 Copyright © G.M. Malliet, 2023
 All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. The right of G.M. Malliet to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.
 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
 A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
 ISBN-13: 978-1-4483-0664-0 (cased)
 ISBN-13: 978-1-4483-0825-5 (trade paper)
 ISBN-13: 978-1-4483-0824-8 (e-book)
 This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Except where actual historical events and characters are being described for the storyline of this novel, all situations in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is purely coincidental.
 This eBook produced by
 Palimpsest Book Production Limited,
 Falkirk, Stirlingshire, Scotland
 For the people of Ukraine
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
 Once again, heartfelt thanks to my agent, Mark Gottlieb of Trident Media Group, and to Joanne Grant, Carl Smith, Natasha Bell, Martin Brown, Sara Porter, Piers Tilbury, and more – all the publishers, editors, copyeditors, marketeers, publicists, and designers who help make this writing journey so pleasant and worthwhile.
 And as always, to Bob.
 
 ‘Anyone who tries to write a memoir needs to keep in mind that what’s interesting to you isn’t necessarily interesting to a reader.’
 —Mitch Albom
 
 PART I
 
 ONE
 I hoped more people would show up for my funeral than showed up for my book signing that cold October night in Old Town.
 Mind you, it was cold and threatening icy rain, besides. But that was the forecast for midnight. My signing was timed for eight p.m. when the dinner crowd should have been starting to leave the nearby restaurants, on the hunt for entertainment. There being no live shows in Old Town, I was it for entertainment. And apparently, I wasn’t enough.
 My name is Augusta Hawke and I am a writer. I have killed approximately forty-four people over the course of nineteen books. That’s one person for each year I’ve been alive. It seems less disturbing when I do the math that way. When I spread out the deaths over time.
 These are of course fictional deaths. An occupational hazard for a mystery writer.
 I’ve been at this murder game about twenty years, and apart from an early flirtation with the idea of becoming an artist, writing was the only thing I ever wanted to do. My first effort was a mystery book, as they’re called in the US – a crime book elsewhere – and I’ve been writing them ever since, turning out novels at the rate of one per year. I don’t write books that are gory; I shy away from those books even in my personal reading. Ditto books that feature cases solved by cats, goldfish, or zoo animals.
 I would probably sell more books if I were more interested in plasma and pain but I’m not. I am an admirer of Agatha Christie and I like to think my appreciation for her is reflected in what I write. Agatha surprises me every time, even on rereading her stories.
 I’d never met a villain I didn’t like, at least in theory, but then again, I hadn’t until that cold night met Calypso Moore – Callie, to her friends. She was married to a well-known lobbyist who in any other part of the world could walk about unrecognized but who was in these parts what passed for a celebrity – one of those people known to operate the levers behind the curtain of everything to do with commerce and politics, a Wizard of Oz hired to get things done, a gun for hire working for whatever side would pay the highest price.
 On short acquaintance with Callie I would come to wonder that she seemed to have so many friends, but a powerful lobbyist’s wife is of course as sought after as the lobbyist. She is assumed to be the power behind the throne, and an easier target to get to.
 I also wondered how many people had been coerced into friendship with her, despite her good looks and surface charm. By coerced I mean threatened or blackmailed. But I’m getting