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The Moor
by Laurie R. King
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Copyright © 1998 by Laurie R. King
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Other Mystery Novels by Laurie R. King
Mary Russell Novels
Kate Martinelli Novels
For Ruth Cavin,
editor extraordinaire,
with undying thanks and affection.
A blessing on you and your house.
WITH THANKS TO
Dr. Merriol Baring-Gould Almond and the Reverend David Shacklock, for correcting as many of my missteps as I would allow
The Reverend Geoffrey Ball, rector of Lew Trenchard Church
Mr. Bill Crum, a mine of information
Ms. Kate De Groot, for bringing Brother Adam to my attention
Mr. Dave German and the other helpful shepherds of Princetown's High Moorland Visitor Information Centre
Mr. James and Ms. Sue Murray, whose conversion of Lew House into Lewtrenchard Manor Hotel has been done with the same grace and warmth they show their visitors (and to Holly and Duma, who together do a very effective nocturnal imitation of the Hound)
Ms. Jo Pitesky, for the lost Russelism on page 28
Mr. David Scheiman (the real one), one of the good people
Ms. Mary Schnitzer, and to all of the readers.
They are not to be held responsible for any factual errors that may, either through misunderstanding or with malice afterthought, have stubbornly persisted into the final work. There are times, after all, when a writer must twist the truth in order to tell it.
EDITOR'S PREFACE
This is the fourth manuscript to be recovered from a trunk full of whatnot that was dropped on my doorstep some years ago. The various odds and ends—clothing, a pipe, bits of string, a few rocks, some old books, and one valuable necklace—might have been taken for some eccentric's grab bag or (but for the necklace) a clearing-out of attic rubbish intended for the dump, except that at the bottom lay the manuscripts.
I thought that they had been sent to me because the author was dead, and for some unknown reason chose to send me the memorabilia of her past. However, since the publication of the first Mary Russell book, I have received a handful of communications as ill assorted as the original contents of the trunk, and I have begun to suspect that the author herself is behind them.
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It should be noted that in the course of her story, Ms. Russell tends to combine the actual names of people and places with other names that are unknown. Some of these thinly disguise true identities; others are impenetrable. Similarly, she seems to have taken some pains to conceal actual sites on the moor while at the same
