Book Title: A DEADLY VOW - Angus Brodie and Mikaela Forsythe Murder Mystery -- Book 5
Character Name: Angus Brodie
How would you describe your family or your childhood?
Until the age of ten I was raised by my mother. My father was long gone. After my mother’s murder, I lived for a time with my grandmother, then on the streets of Edinburgh before finding my way to London
What was your greatest talent?
Survival to be certain. Life is hard on the streets. Ye live by yer wits and skills ye pick up along the way… If ye live long enough.
Significant other?
Significant--now there is something I never thought of the way I’ve lived—on the streets, then with the MP, and now with my own inquiry cases. Life is hard and uncertain. Then there is someone who comes along unexpected… someone who is intelligent, stubborn, fearless and makes me want things I once thought I could never have. She is unpredictable, frustrates the devil out of me, and I canna imagine my life without her. Ye know who I mean.
Biggest challenge in relationships?
Trust. The one I spoke of earlier; I know that I can trust her. And there are a handful of others—Munro who came to London with me, the Mudger who lives on the street below the office, Mr. Conner. I worked with him when I was with the MP. Others? It’s always wise to keep a careful watch. My inquiries I take on frequently involve people on the street where life is traded for a shilling and people will say or do almost anything. I know, because I’ve lived it.
Where do you live?
Until a few months ago, I lived at the office on the Strand. There is a second room next to the office. But more recently, there have been times when I stayed over at another place in Mayfair. At present, I’ve traveled to Edinburgh, to the old places—to find the truth about what happened to my mother.
Do you have any enemies?
To be certain, from my time with the MP and now when making private inquiries, with those who break the law, and those who live in the shadows and keep secrets. It’s a deadly game with the rules constantly changing, particularly for those in high places.
How do you feel about the place where you are now?
Is there something you are particularly attached to, or particularly repelled by, in this place? The return to Edinburgh has been a long time in coming, something I promised myself a long time ago, hard as it is to face those old memories—the blood, my mother’s murder, and the places I must return to in order to find answers. However, I will do it. It was a promise made a long time ago and those responsible will be made to pay for what they did.
Do you have children, pets, both, or neither?
No children, for reasons that are not difficult to understand. Life is hard and uncertain--the way I’ve lived, the things I’ve seen and done, and the uncertainty of the work I do, who I am. I have nothing to offer a child. As for a pet, there is the hound, Rupert. He lives on the street mostly or in the alcove below the office. Mikaela named him—disgusting creature. He smells foul and looks worse, mostly from the things he brings in off the street. But she is quite taken with him, and I will admit that he has earned his keep. He has become a sort of guard dog for her, and saved her life on a previous occasion. For that I’m willing to overlook the bones and scraps he drags back to the office on the Strand.
What do you do for a living?
I’m often asked that very question. I make private inquiries on behalf of persons who are in some difficulty, usually murder, but at times it might be blackmail or extortion. I have connections and skills from my years with the MP and having once lived on the streets. I know the way criminals think, their habits, and their weaknesses. All are useful in assisting clients to resolve crimes they often don’t want known to the authorities for a variety of reasons.
Greatest disappointment?
There are several—the loss of a good friend I served with in the MP, victims that I couldn’t help. But the greatest has to be the children who are lost through no fault of their own except that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I carry that with me.
Greatest source of joy?
I never think of things in terms of joy. Happiness perhaps when I am able to make a difference in a child’s life or someone who is in some difficulty. And then there is Mikaela Forsythe, but as I said before not something I will speak of here. It is verra personal.
What do you do to entertain yourself or have fun?
That is a most interesting question. When pursuing inquiries regarding murder or some other scandal, I wouldn’t describe it as fun. However, there are most entertaining moments, most often where Mikaela is concerned or her very good friend, the actress Theodora Templeton who keeps a four-foot-long iguana as a pet and would have you believe that she communicates with the spirit of William Shakespeare. Most entertaining.
What is your greatest personal failing, in your view?
To protect my mother all those years ago even though I was only a lad. It was my responsibility and I suppose that it has a bit to do with my association with Mikaela Forsythe—the need to keep her safe despite herself. Irritating woman!
What keeps you awake at night?
You have the answer in the previous question—Mikaela Forsythe! The woman would try the patience of a saint, and God knows I’m no saint. And then, there are other things about her…
What is the most pressing problem you have at the moment?
There are two pressing problems: the search for the truth about my mother’s murder and keeping Mikaela safe. She has a uncanny ability to land in the middle of things.
Is there something that you need or want that you don’t have?
For yourself or for someone important to you? Ye do have a way of coming back round to things of a personal nature. Aye, to both questions I suppose—need and want. And I will leave it at that.
Why don’t you have it? What is in the way?
The answer to both questions is—a verra stubborn woman! I have lied, schemed, and persuaded in order to survive in life and get what I wanted. It’s a matter of helping her let go of the past as I must also do when this is over, and then persuading her... I know a thing or two about that with Miss Mikaela Forsythe.
Angus Brodie and Mikaela Forsythe Murder Mystery #5
A THIRTY YEAR OLD MURDER...
Old Town, Edinburgh, in a squalid tenement where poverty, rats, and disease are rampant, a young woman who worked in a local tavern lies dying. Just another number and bound for a pauper's grave in Greyfriar's kirkyard
A BOY FOUND STANDING IN HIS MOTHER'S BLOOD...
Alone, his grandmother the only family left, young Angus Brodie hides in the shadows nearby, the bronze medallion his dying mother pressed into his hand clenched in a tight fist as the constables carry her body from the tenement. And a name overheard--the man who was there that night, seen by the woman who collected the rents.
A VOW MADE, A PROMISE TO BE KEPT...
As his mother lay dying, Angus Brodie vowed that he would find the one responsible for her death no matter how long it took.
Mystery Amateur Sleuth | Mystery Historical [Oliver-Heber Books, On Sale: October 10, 2023, e-Book, / ]
Twenty five books and counting! Or is it twenty six? Very possibly by the time this is posted. I started this crazy journey a few years ago, after reading several historical romances then declaring "I can do this!" Husband, always supportive. replied, "Then do it!" And she did, as the saying goes. Along the way, there were two romantic suspense novels and a time-travel novel, and two film options... But I digress. My current series is a historical murder mystery with a hint of romance, starting with A Deadly Affair, Angus Brodie and Mikaela Forsythe, Murder Mystery Book 1, with Book 2 to be released soon, followed by Book 3, and... We live in the Sierra Mountains outside of Yosemite National Park and when not writing my next book, we hit the trails on our horses.
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