A Pretenders Murder – Christopher Huang

After a month of this, Herr Werner took a razor to his wrists and settled into a bathtub to die.” “There was no struggle to wrestle the razor away from him, I take it?” “No. Mr. Ward found him and called for help, all the while trying to stop the bleeding himself with a tourniquet improvised from the belt of his dressing gown.

Herr Werner was too weak to resist by then, and he became a patient in his own right for a while afterwards. He had a small pistol, which I think he would have used if he possessed the bullets for it; I took that away and did not return it until he left. I also took away his straight razor and suggested he grow out his beard.

But Mr. Ward visited—against my orders—and provided him with a safety razor he’d got from an American comrade in the War. From that moment, the two were inseparable.” Ward would have felt responsible for Werner. Eric understood that impulse all too well. Avery, meanwhile, had picked up one of the books from the chest of drawers. “This one’s in English. Edgar Allan Poe, bookmarked at ‘Ligeia.’” He flipped back to the front and examined the bookplate.

“Eric, look: Karl Josef von Werner. I told you they were the same person.” “That’s still not proof, Avery.” All the same, Eric had to wonder. Had Colonel Russell recognised Werner not simply as an imposter, but as a former German spy? And was that the reason for his sudden interest in Andrew Russell’s death? Avery turned to Dr. Keller. “Forgive me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t the ‘von’ prefix mean some sort of aristocratic background? You’ve been calling him just plain ‘Werner’ instead of ‘von Werner’ all this time.”

Dr. Keller glanced into the book as Avery held it out, and his mouth twitched. “Unless his family came from a place called Werner. But I will say that we all suspected he was highborn. He spoke in a very precise Hochdeutsch, for one thing, and the accent grew stronger rather than weaker when he drank.” Why was such a man sweeping the floors for an isolated Alpine sanatorium? Eric looked out the window at the wide, open vista beyond.

The little white buildings of the village blazed in the sun like blocks of salt and sand; from one chapel wall, a towering mural of St. Christopher ushered missionaries on to foreign fields. “Werner’s scar.

Praise for Christopher Huang “Delightfully twisty and chilling all at once—murder mysteries are rarely this fun.” —Jonathan Whitelaw, The Sun “Huang’s impressive debut will delight fans of golden age detective fiction.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “[A] puzzle worthy of Golden Age detective fiction.” —Library Journal (starred review) “We hope [this] will be only the first of many Eric Peterkin adventures.” — Booklist “Christopher Huang’s debut novel, A Gentleman’s Murder, is set in post-First World War England, but incorporates themes—race, the psychic toll of war— seldom acknowledged in classic mysteries of that era.”

—Ian McGillis, The Montreal Gazette “A mystery that recalls the best of Golden Age detective fiction.” —Andy Lewis, The Hollywood Reporter “Dorothy Sayers is alive and well and writing under the name of Christopher Huang.” —Rhys Bowen, New York Times-bestselling author “A must read for fans of Anthony Horowitz, Charles Todd, and Anne Perry.” —Daryl Maxwell, Los Angeles Public Library “A locked room traditional mystery that does justice to its inspirations, even as it aids in the genre’s continuing evolution.”

—CrimeReads A PRETENDER’S MURDER CHRISTOPHER HUANG This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Copyright © 2026 Christopher Huang All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems. Published by Inkshares, Inc., Oakland, California www.inkshares.com Cover design by Tim Barber Edited by Adam Gomolin Interior design by Kevin G. Summers ISBN: 9781950301720 e-ISBN: 9781950301737 First edition Printed in the United States of America CONTENTS Cast of Characters Part One Londinium My Fair Ladies Ulysses Ill Omens The Ides of March Noblesse Oblige Inquest Faith of Our Fathers Part Two Damned If You Do The Barefoot Knight Thomas Harvey The Razor’s Edge Our Glorious Dead Old Wounds The Sleeping Beast The Iron Harvest Part Three That Never Was Job Anastasia Delusion or Deception?

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 7575cb3f2751a9b3
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 1,970,200 bytes (1.879 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9781950301720, 9781950301737
• Pages: 358
• Language: English (en)

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• Estimated Reading Time: 589.45 minutes
• Total Words: 117,890
• Total Characters: 667,631
• Average Words per Page: 329.3
• Average Characters per Page: 1864.89

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