The man was as awesome in his way as the woman. His black beard looked as if it came from a joke shop; it didn't match the silver hair on his head. Shirley-Ann found herself wondering if the beard was attached to his red- framed glasses, and if the whole thing lifted off in one piece.
Since neither of these people spoke, she introduced herself.
They just stared back, so she felt compelled to announce, 'I do hope I'm not in the wrong place. Are you the Bloodhounds of Bath?'
How toe-curling it sounded.
The man didn't answer directly, but said, 'Do you want to become a member, then?'
'I was told there might be room for me. I adore detective stories.'
'I wouldn't admit to that if I were you.' He cautioned her as if he were giving legal advice. 'Some of the group won't be at all happy with such an admission. We have to define our tastes most scrupulously. You would be better advised-if you must give anything away at this stage-to say that you are a student of the crime novel, wouldn't she, Miss Chilmark?'
The dragon empress twitched her mouth and said nothing.
The man went on, 'The term crime novel embraces so much more than the old-fashioned detective story.' He took a measured look at the stone pillars of the crypt. 'We're a broad church here.'
Shirley-Ann realized that this last remark was meant to be witty. She managed a semistifled laugh, and then said, 'I didn't mean just detective stories.'
'What did you mean?' he asked.
She was beginning to think she had made a ghastly mistake coming here. 'I said the first thing that came into my head.'
'Not always wise. Should we call you Miss, Mrs. or Ms.?'
'I'd prefer you to use my first name, if that's all right.'
'Perfectly all right with me,' the man said in a more friendly tone. 'I'm known to everyone as Milo. I don't much care for my surname. It's Motion, and I was called deplorable things at prep school. On the other hand, Miss Chilmark is always addressed as… Miss Chilmark.'
Miss Chilmark explained in a voice that might have announced the programs in the early days of television, 'There have been Chilmarks in the West Country for seven hundred years. I'm not ashamed of my surname.'
'How many are there in the group?' Shirley-Ann asked. It had to be asked. If there weren't any others, she wasn't staying.
'The Bloodhounds? We're down to six. Seven, if you join,' Milo informed her. 'We've had a goodly number over the years, but they don't all persevere. Some die, some leave the district, and some are out of their depth. Are you well informed about the genre?'
'The what?'
'The crime fiction genre. What do you read?'
'Oh, just about everything,' said Shirley-Ann, not wishing anyone to think she was out of her depth. She felt marginally more comfortable knowing that there were other Bloodhounds than these two. 'I devour them. I've been through everything in the library and I have to go round charity shops for more. I'm always looking for new titles.'
'Yes, but what are they? Whodunits? Police procedurals? Psychological thrillers?'
'All of those, all the time. Plus courtroom dramas, private eyes, espionage, historicals.'
'And you like them all?' asked Milo dubiously.
'I read them all, even the dreadful ones. It's a compulsion, I think. I like them better if they're well written, of course.'
'It sounds as if you could contribute something to the group,' he said.
'Why not?' she said generously. 'I have hundreds to spare.'
Milo felt the beard as if to check that it was still attached and said, 'I meant a contribution of opinions, not books. We're not all so catholic in our reading. We tend to specialize.'
Miss Chilmark was moved to say, 'Personally, I require some intellectual challenge, and I don't mean an impossible plot set in a country house between the wars. Have you read The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco?'
Shirley-Ann nodded.
She wasn't given time to say any more.
'A masterly book,' Miss Chilmark enthused. 'Full of wonderful things. Such atmosphere. Such learning. What a brilliant concept, placing a murder mystery in a medieval monastery. And the mystery-so intriguing that you don't want it to end! A map, a labyrinth, a distorting mirror, and brilliant deductions. Of course everyone else has climbed on the bandwagon since. These stories that you see everywhere, about the monk in Shrewsbury-'
'Brother Cadfael?' said Shirley-Ann.
'That's the one. Transparently inspired by Eco's great work.'
'I think you could be mistaken there,' Shirley-Ann gently pointed out. 'The first Cadfael book, A Morbid Taste for Bones, appeared some years before The Name of the Rose. I know, because I read it when I was recovering from my appendix operation, in 1977. The Name of the Rose came out in 1983, the year I got a frozen shoulder.'
'That can be agony,' said Milo.
'Oh, but I'm sure it was available in the Italian,' said Miss Chilmark with a superior smile.
'I should check your facts before you take her on,' Milo muttered.
Shirley-Ann said no more about Brother Cadfael, but she had privately vowed to find the truth of it at the first opportunity.
There was a timely interruption. Another of the Bloodhounds came in, unfastened the silk scarf from her head-it looked like a Liberty design-and shook her hair. Blond and short, this was hair of the springy, loose-curled kind that needed no combing to look neatly groomed.
Shirley-Ann's hand automatically moved to her own head to tidy the crow's nest she knew was there. Hers would never cooperate.
Milo introduced the newcomer. 'This is Jessica, our expert on the female investigator. Give her a chance and she'll reel off all their names.'
'Lovely!' Shirley-Ann was relieved to discover that the Bloodhounds weren't all over sixty. 'Let me try some. V. I. Warshawski, Kinsey Milhone, Sharon McCone, Jenny Cain.'
'Let's hear it for the Brits,' countered Jessica with a wide smile. 'Cordelia Gray, Jemima Shore, Anna Lee, Penny Wanawake, Kate.. Kate… Val McDermid's character, em… Oh, what's my brain doing?'
'Kate Brannigan,' Shirley-Ann said almost apologetically.
'You read McDermid?'
'She reads everything, apparently,' said Milo without spite. 'She's going to keep us very well informed. I'm extremely wary of disclosing my special interest in such company.'
The remark, and the arch way it was said, caused Shirley-Ann to wonder if Milo was gay.
Jessica removed her black Burberry raincoat and dropped it on a table at the side of the room. She was dressed dramatically in a black top and leggings, with a white satin sash. 'Where's the chair?'
Milo looked puzzled, and no wonder, since ten padded chairs were arranged in a circle in the center of the room.
'Chairperson,' Jessica explained. 'Polly.'
'Late for once,' said Milo. 'And so is Rupert.'
'Rupert is always late,' said Miss Chilmark. 'I'm quite willing to take the chair for the time being if you wish to begin.' She strutted across to the circle and sat down.
'That one would love to take over,' Milo confided to Shirley-Ann. 'It's her ambition.'
Jessica said, 'Let's give Polly a few more minutes. She'll be all flustered if she thinks she held us up.'
'Which is why we should start, in my opinion,' said Miss Chilmark from the circle.
No one else moved to join her, and that seemed to settle the matter.
Jessica asked nobody in particular, 'Is Sid here? Oh, yes.'
To Shirley-Ann's amazement a man in a fawn raincoat confirmed his presence by stepping into view from behind a pillar and lifting a hand in a gesture that might have been intended as a friendly wave, except that the
