It's spring 1942. Caroline Graham is six months pregnant, overweight, irritable, and most decidedly bored with her "delicate" condition. She hates being tied down and resents her husband Cyril and her cousin Edward for being off on assignment and having fun while she's confined to the village. She grows more restless each day, and her good friend and confidant Leslie Atwater does his best to boost her spirits but fails miserably. What Caroline needs is a problem to solve, "something juicy" to challenge her mind. And, of course, that's exactly what she gets.<br><br>Be careful what you wish for.<br><br>First there's a rash of poison pen letters circulating in the village. Librarian Elspeth Hunter receives a letter, and is the first to die, presumably by her own hand. Other deaths follow. Are the sudden deaths connected to the letters? As weeks pass and the bodies mount, Caroline and Leslie discover a pattern that suggests something more sinister is at work. With Leslie's help, Caroline must use all her cunning and put her life at risk to uncover a cold-blooded murderer -- a remorseless killer who continues to raise the stakes in a deadly game of malice.

A Deadly Game of Malice

“Maybe not. It was that quote you mentioned that brought the whole thing to mind. It’s not the past, but—”


“The future. God, Caroline. Three deaths.”


“Yes, and maybe only one of them was the killer’s target. But which one?”


Leslie leaned forward, his head in his hands. “There’s something I know, something I remembered earlier, but what the hell was it?”


Concerned, worried he was having a flashback to his time in London, Caroline came over and sat next to him on the sofa. She put her arm around his shoulder.


Think back.Leslie sat quietly with his hand in Caroline’s and his eyes closed. He took a deep breath. Held it, then let it out s-l-o-w-l-y, and as he exhaled the sights and sounds returned in a rush of blurry images and muted chatter. He was in the vicarage after Holly Armstrong’s funeral and sitting next to Flora prattling on and on. Half his mind was plotting his getaway while the other focused on Flora’s words


Chapter 19