HIVE OF SUSPECTS

Boulder, CO, U.S.A.: Rue Morgue Press, 2001. 1st prt., a fine, unread copy of this trade paperback. Once again, sheila Pim paints a vivid and affectionate portrait of life in a small Irish town in this 1952 novel as death strikes beekeeper Jason Pendergast. Jason Prendergast built his fortune taking minerals from the earth near the Irish town of Drumclash, but bees became the real passion of his life once the mines gave up the last of their riches. When he dies after dining on honey from one of his own hives, village beekeepers suspect local bees are feasting on poisonous plants and infecting hives with deadly nectar. But the Civic Guard prefers to look for a human hand and suspicion falls on Phoebe Prendergast, a niece who gave up a promising career on the stage to look after the old man. The dead man's solicitor can't believe in Phoebe's guilt and conceals from the police the fact that the old man was about to add a codicil to his will disinheriting her should she return to the stage -- even after his death.. First Printing. Pictorial Cover. As New. Book.