Death On The Island – Lynne Marie Taylor (1)

Friday, 22 October 1880 aria and Rożi walked slowly along the paths of the Cimitero di Santa Maria Addolorata. Situated three miles from Valletta, on a hill in Paola, it was a grand, new cemetery, boasting a fine chapel, several hundred graves and a growing number of family vaults. The temperature had dropped; dark clouds scudded across the sky. Maria was wearing her għonnella, holding it tight across her as the wind whipped up the dark silk.

She hated wearing the traditional cloak, but it was useful for concealing her identity. ‘Tell me again why we’re meeting Sur Trapani here, Sa Maria? It’s too cold!’ Rożi complained. ‘It’s a place where we could be seen talking and have good reason to be here. We could easily both have family graves that we’re visiting.’ ‘You know I don’t like Sur Trapani.

He is trouble, I’m sure of it.’ ‘I know, but it’s all right, he just wants to ask me some questions. We’ll be out of here in a few minutes.’ At that point, Trapani appeared, walking briskly toward them. ‘Follow me,’ he said, leading them away to a path on the right. He stopped in front of a gravestone. Maria read the inscription: Salvatore Trapani 1835 – 1874 La morte non è la fine, ma l’inizio di una nuova vita. ‘My father,’ Trapani said. ‘He came here from Sicily after the Risorgimento.

He was a true republican, a follower of Garibaldi. There was a group of them here in Malta.’ ‘I’m sorry that he has now passed away,’ Maria said. ‘So am I, I miss him. And my mother does too. She has to work now. Housekeeper for a rich English family.’ He turned away and walked to a wrought-iron bench, where he sat down, head in his hands.

Maria sat next to him, with Rożi standing a short distance away, watching with evident disapproval. Eventually, Trapani looked up, his eyes dark and intense. ‘So, do you have news from the police?’ he asked. ‘Yes,’ Maria said. ‘There’s been another death. An Englishman called Gilbert Browne. Took an overdose of opium. McQueen said he might have been involved in Buchanan’s murder.’ ‘Oh, yes?

How?’ ‘I don’t know. He was up to something, apparently, but I’ve no idea what.’ ‘When did he die?’ ‘Yesterday.’ ‘Anything else? Do you know what’s happening to the Indian prince?’ She thought for a moment. ‘I think McQueen said he was going to be moved to the police cells once his quarantine was over.

In a day or so.’ ‘All right.’

Copyright © 2026 Lynne Marie Taylor The right of Lynne Marie Taylor to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published in 2026 by Bloodhound Books. Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publisher or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.

All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. www.bloodhoundbooks.com Print ISBN: 9781917705622 OceanofPDF.com CONTENTS Newsletter sign-up Maltese pronunciation guide Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Chapter 37 Chapter 38 Chapter 39 Chapter 40 Author’s Note Also by Lynne Marie Taylor You will also enjoy: Newsletter sign-up Acknowledgements A note from the publisher OceanofPDF.com OceanofPDF.com MALTESE PRONUNCIATION GUIDE There are some different pronunciations of letters and extra consonants in the Maltese alphabet, for example: Ċ = ch, like church Ġ = j, like jump J = y, like yes Għ = silent H = silent Ħ = h, like hat Ż = z, like zebra Z = ts, like pizza Characters’ names: Bonnici = Bon-ee-chee Borg = Borj Sciberras = Shi-berr-ahs Zija = Tseeyah Rożi = Roh-zee Grech = Grek Galea = Gah-lyah Other vocabulary: Għonnella – Awn-nel-lah Dgħajsa – Dye-sah Karrozzin = kar-ro-tseen Fejn = feyn Pulizija = poo-lee-tsi-yah Ajma = ahy-mah Ħanini = hah-nee-nee OceanofPDF.com OceanofPDF.com For Daniel, Tasia and Penny OceanofPDF.com D CHAPTER ONE Valletta, Malta.

Sunday, 17 October 1880 etective Inspector Sam McQueen was roused from a less than refreshing sleep by a steady thumping on his bedroom door. ‘Inspector! You’re needed. Now,’ came the voice of Sergeant Galea of the Maltese Police. His eager voice betrayed his excitement — something important was happening. ‘Hang on there, son. Give me a moment,’ McQueen called out.

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: 260291fd792f4dac
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 2,873,088 bytes (2.74 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• ISBN: 9781917705622
• Pages: 344
• Language: English (en)

Reading & Word Statistics

• Estimated Reading Time: 452.08 minutes
• Total Words: 90,417
• Total Characters: 503,585
• Average Words per Page: 262.84
• Average Characters per Page: 1463.91

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