Wildheart

Book excerpt: Simon Fraser and his young assistant, Tom McElrath are back again after their initial adventures in The Borgia Blade. Two beheadings, thirty years apart, send Professor Fraser and Tom on the trail of murder and adventure when they encounter the world's most formidable medium, Millicent Zacharias, who would "scare hell out of Jack the Ripper." There's a séance murder, and yet another slaying. The final séance uncovers two further attempts at murder. Are there two killers or only one? Is one of the older crowd guilty? Or perhaps there's a killer amongst the young? Is there an avenging child about? What did the doctor know that was so dangerous? Why the sudden change from saber to poison? Some of Simon's university colleagues are involved, most particularly, a much-despised colleague of yesteryear. "If only I could prove Roland Jepson did the dirty deeds, I'd cheerfully see him fried," says an irritated Simon. As usual, the sore-tried but patient Lieutenant Campbell has to put up with his good friend's penchant for maddening secrets, but in the end, the shadows fade and Simon, "does it again," as he did in the case of The Borgia Blade.