Gory Dew (Mrs. Bradley)
By Gladys Mitchell
In this story, Dame Beatrice Lestrange Bradley finds herself in the unusual position of being involved with a shady professional boxing establishment run by a gang whose activities are a cover for something which Damon Runyon would call, “by no means a high-class business, and even considered somewhat illegal.”
Toby Sparowe, the nephew of one of the Dame’s friends, has bought a derelict railway station opposite the public house where the gang have established their training quarters, and where a callow youth is being coached for a non-existent fight. In fact, the boy is being used as a cloak for the gang’s profitable but nefarious enterprises. Toby befriends him and offers to help with his training but this does not suit the gang’s plans and they rudely brush off Toby’s offer.
When a murder is committed and the youth charged, Toby’s suspicions are aroused. He invokes the help of Dame Beatrice who uses her formidable wits to bring about a happy but not a highly ethical ending.
In this story, Dame Beatrice Lestrange Bradley finds herself in the unusual position of being involved with a shady professional boxing establishment run by a gang whose activities are a cover for something which Damon Runyon would call, “by no means a high-class business, and even considered somewhat illegal.”
Toby Sparowe, the nephew of one of the Dame’s friends, has bought a derelict railway station opposite the public house where the gang have established their training quarters, and where a callow youth is being coached for a non-existent fight. In fact, the boy is being used as a cloak for the gang’s profitable but nefarious enterprises. Toby befriends him and offers to help with his training but this does not suit the gang’s plans and they rudely brush off Toby’s offer.
When a murder is committed and the youth charged, Toby’s suspicions are aroused. He invokes the help of Dame Beatrice who uses her formidable wits to bring about a happy but not a highly ethical ending.