IT'S ELEMENTARY, MY DEAR WINIFRED by Miss MaeSchoolmarm Winifred Merryweather guards her identity as the daughter of one of London's most notorious villains. To separate her life from his, she spends her lonely existence with her cat, Theodore, and meets twice monthly at the estate of Lord Nelson Chatham. Losing herself in the pages of a mystery story shivers Winifred's spine -- until the day that she’s forced to live through one. Kidnapped and thrown together into a chaotic adventure, newspaper reporter Remington Hawthorne’s flirtatious charm thaws Winifred’s icy reserve. But can they uncover the meaning of the clues and survive before the tale reaches the page that reads, The End?
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Excerpt from IT'S ELEMENTARY, MY DEAR WINIFRED:
“Consider what we escaped from. But—” He hesitated, as though he rethought his words. “Did we escape? That wall shut off the one passage, but opened another. It more or less prodded us in the way we were supposed to go. I can’t help but get the uncanny feeling we’re being led on a chase designed for us.”
“And if so, then that dictates a designer?”“
Naturally. And look where we are.” He held the lantern high, its light revealing a line of symmetrical bare stones on either side. “We are in the lower parts of whatever building we’ve been brought to. And now knowing what I do about your Angus Duncan, I believe we must be inside Castle Cillen.”
“Whisked away to Wales?” She gasped, wondering if what he suspected could be true.
“As Mr. Upjohn would say, indeed. After all, Wales is next door to England, not a great distance to keep us drugged to sleep while we were transported.”
He halted, his hand clutching hers again, his fingers digging into her flesh. “What’s that noise?”
She tensed, straining to hear. From behind them a cacophony of clicks and scrapes echoed in the darkness. Remington’s alert expression changed to alarm. “Hounds!”
As one, they fled down the hallway. Remington’s grip on her hand never slackened as he propelled her down one darkened corridor to another. The flame of the swinging lantern burned low, its light a mere glimmer in the vast murkiness. Snarling barks rumbled from the advancing canines, their paws pounding the floor like galloping racehorses. Sheer terror froze the air in Winifred’s lungs. With her heart hammering in her ears, she panted. “A room! We must hide!”
Remington whipped a look across his shoulder. “There!” Sprinting around a corner, he threw himself against a door recessed in the shadowy wall. He burst through and twisted back to reach for Winifred. In her haste, she stumbled, tripping over the threshold and falling to her knees.
From the corner of her eye she caught a flash of bared fangs. Screaming, she kicked out, crawling backwards on her hands. Before the drooling mouth could sink its teeth into her leg, Remington pushed her out of the way, coming between her and the charging animal. It sprang, Remington’s upraised arm blocking its massive jaws aimed for his jugular. Staggering under the beast’s weight, he maneuvered their bodies, shielding Winifred from the snapping growls of the second large hound that clawed to squeeze past. His free hand clenching the brute’s throat, Remington wrestled off its body, hurling it in the direction of its mate. In one fluid motion, he heeled around, grasped Winifred about her waist and shoved her into the room. A moment before the door slammed on the fearsome creatures, one regained its footing and lunged. Remington, his ankle snared by the giant dog, dropped to the floor.
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Besides being trapped in a castle, what are some other must-do's while in England?
