The Forger's Mark: a Murder Mystery Season

The prologue

At breakfast the post brings a small envelope with no letter inside. It holds a ten-shilling note, a jeweller's lens and a card of thick cream paper with two words in a neat hand: Look closer. Under the lens, curled up in the scrollwork beside Britannia, sits a cat no bigger than a comma. The Bank of England never put it there. The note is false, and better made than any you have ever seen. Wherever your cases take you this year, the hand that made it has been there before you.

The chapters

Part 1The mark

Chapter 1FreeStorm in a Teacup at the Corner HouseBeginnerLondon tea room
Chapter 2Close Shave on Stall StreetBeginnerBarber shop in Bath
Chapter 3Nipped in the Bud at Lilywhite'sBeginnerHarrogate florist
Chapter 4Out of Print at the Gilded SpineBeginnerAntiquarian bookshop
Chapter 5Overexposed at Silverthorne'sBeginnerSociety portrait studio

Part 2The trade

Chapter 6Black Ball at the Wyvern ClubIntermediateGentlemen's club
Chapter 7Everything Must Go at Gilroy'sIntermediateDepartment store
Chapter 8Melting Point at the Ormerod WorksIntermediateChocolate factory
Chapter 9Hot Water at the Crescent BathsIntermediateTurkish bath
Chapter 10After Hours at the Ashgrove MuseumIntermediateCity museum
Chapter 11Sent Down at St Aldhelm's CollegeIntermediateUniversity college
Chapter 12Starstruck at the Brightwell ObservatoryIntermediateHilltop observatory
Chapter 13Dying Swan in Maida ValeIntermediateLondon ballet school
Bonus chapter · 8×8Lost for Words at Brackenhurst SchoolIntermediateBoarding school

Part 3The engraver

Chapter 14Under the Hammer at the Carrick RoomsAdvancedAuction house
Chapter 15Short Change in Lombard StreetAdvancedPrivate bank
Chapter 16Long Overdue at the Calderbrook LibraryAdvancedMunicipal library
Chapter 17Bolt from the Blue at the Melbury InstitutionAdvancedScientific institution
Bonus chapter · 9×9Crocodile Tears at Primrose Park ZooAdvancedCity zoo

Part 4The copyist

Chapter 18Stop Press at the Daily BeaconExpertFleet Street newspaper
Chapter 19Long Shadows at Kom ZahraExpertExcavation camp
Chapter 20Framed at the Hogarth SchoolExpertLondon art school

The finale

Thursday, nine o'clock, a private view in Bond Street. A newly found Gainsborough is on show, and everyone the forger has ever fooled has been sent a card with a small cat on it. So have you.

Coming in an update.

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