Poison Pen by Tanya Landman Read Free Book Online Page A

list. So maybe one of the authors is trying to get rid of their rivals?”
    “If that’s the case, they’ve had a spectacular lack of success so far,” sniffed Graham.
    “There have been some pretty close shaves, though. And actually, any one of them could have arranged an attack on themselves so as to avoid suspicion.”
    “Or Esmerelda Desiree could be behind it.”
    “True,” I agreed. “But that would be a bit obvious, wouldn’t it?”
    Graham looked thoughtful. “I suppose another motive might be jealousy of those seven writers. There would have been a great many books nominated by readers. They’d have been put on a longlist, and from that the readers and judges would select the shortlist. Seven books made it: many more didn’t.”
    “So … someone might be really cross at being left out? Let’s have a look at the longlist, then.”
    When Graham found it I let out a long, slow whistle. There were over 100 books listed, and some of them were as long as Francisco Botticelli’s.
    “Do the judges have to read
all
of them?” I asked, amazed.
    “I believe so, yes. And in a very short space of time, too.”
    “That would be enough to drive you bonkers, wouldn’t it? You’d be practically walled in by books. Do you reckon one of the judges has gone demented?”
    We scanned the list of titles and authors. No names leapt out as obvious suspects – none of them had been invited to the Good Reads Festival as far as we could see – but there was one thing that surprised both of us. Nigella Churchill turned out to be not only a judge … she was the chairperson.
    “That means she’ll have the casting vote,” Graham explained. “There are five of them, look. If they don’t agree on the winner, she’ll be the one who decides.”
    “And she’s been going mad over Charlie’s new book, hasn’t she? No wonder Katie and Francisco glared at her like that. They said something about it being a stitch-up. They must know that Charlie will win if Nigella has her way.”
    “I can see why Katie or Francisco may have wanted to attack Charlie, then. Yet it doesn’t explain why they became victims themselves.”
    “No,” I agreed. “And they’ve all been so shocked, haven’t they? I can’t really see any of them doing it. So who does that leave us with? Max is definitely suspicious.
Spectre
… it’s an odd name. Do you think it’s real?”
    Graham considered. “It could well be a pseudonym. Many authors use them. The Brontë sisters were originally published under pen names, for example.”
    “But Max isn’t a published writer.”
    “No…” Graham said thoughtfully. “And yet there was that strange conversation between him and Charlie Deadlock.” He paused for a moment, then added, “You know, spectre is another word for ghost.”
    “Ghost?” I seized on the word with interest. “Katie said something about Zenith’s book being ghost-written. What did she mean?”
    “It’s when another writer is paid to do the work. I gather that most celebrity autobiographies are written that way. They have the celebrity’s name on the cover, but a different person entirely is responsible for the contents.”
    “That’s like cheating!” I said crossly. “Does that mean Zenith might not have actually written her book?”
    “It’s perfectly possible,” Graham agreed.
    “And it got nominated for a prize! No wonder the others don’t like her…” I thought for a moment. “So where does Max fit in? Zenith didn’t recognize him, so I reckon they’d never met face to face. But she knew his name all right, didn’t she? It wiped the smile off her face when he said who he was. Maybe he wrote the book for her.”
    “It seems a plausible assumption.”
    “And if it’s true,” I said slowly, “that might explain all that stuff with Charlie, too! Sue said he had writer’s block
after
he’d completed the Sam the Striker series, and so did he. But Max said it was
before
he’d finished the last book.