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Harper An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain in 1991 by Collins Crime
Copyright © Emma Page 1991
Emma Page asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Source ISBN: 9780008175788
Ebook Edition © MARCH 2016 ISBN: 9780008175795
Version [2016-02-18]
For J.B. and B.B. in gratitude
CONTENTS
The brass plate beside the front door of Dr Peake’s handsome Edwardian premises, half a mile beyond the northwestern tip of Cannonbridge, glittered in the mellow sunshine of late afternoon.
Sunlight flashed from the doctor’s gold-rimmed spectacles as he strolled along the peaceful walks of his beloved garden in the welcome lull before evening surgery – on Tuesdays surgery began at six.
He glanced about with pleasure. Still plenty of colour in the flowerbeds and borders for the first week in September. He paused to savour the delicate fragrance of a rose. A silver-haired man with a spare, upright figure, a look of buoyant optimism undimmed after long years in general practice.
