The Greenstone Griffins - Gladys Mitchell

Written by Gladys Mitchell
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Format: MP3
Unabridged

“The first time Jessica Denefield encountered the Greenstone Griffins she was seven years old.

“The fantastical, heavy pair of jade candle holders adorned the mantel of the village squire’s manor house, and rural Jessica—who was invited to the Hall for a school party—knew that the carved ornaments carried a dark magic.

“Weeks later, when the squire’s son dies while practicing target shooting, Jessica cannot shake the feeling that the griffins had a hand directing the family’s fate.

“Her father is called as a witness at the inquest; he worked as a gardener at the Hall and heard (but did not see) the fatal shot.

“The coroner rules the death an accident, acquitting Ronald Havant’s shooting partner and school chum, a young man named Stone.

“Years later, an adult Jessica—now a schoolteacher—notices the griffins in a village shop window, but a fire consumes the store before she can enquire.

“Insurance fraud is the likely explanation, but their destructive nature seems uncanny.

“Jessica also learns the story of a fatal fire set by the unfortunate Ronald who as a boy played with matches and caused the death of a visiting guest in the summer house.

“When the ominous griffins appear once more, this time in an apartment window above a grocer’s shop, curiosity and coincidence prove too much.

“Jessica notices one of the carved figures is missing and calls upon the apartment owner for an explanation.

“She receives one: the occupant (rumored variously to be a prostitute, smuggler, or fortune-teller) is dead, bludgeoned by the missing griffin.

“The town’s police inspector views Jessica with suspicion, and looks even more askance when she and her mother move in to the dead woman’s apartment.

“(Jessica claims she was lured by the low price of the rental, and while true, it appears the griffins’ dark charms are still holding sway.)

“The publicity from her involvement in the unsolved murder forces her to transfer to a position at a barge school.

“Her pupils are transitory, but she is fortunate to meet the traveling Home Office psychoanalyst Beatrice Lestrange Bradley, who takes an interest in her case.

“Mrs. Bradley finds a pattern linking these deaths with the drowning of a simple-minded maid named Maisie Touch; the detective must step briskly to avoid becoming another casualty of the Greenstone Griffins.”