Death by Horoscope by Anne Perry (Editor), Anne Perry, Lawrence Block, Simon Brett, Edward Marston

From the Publisher

Murderous portents lie in the astral plane, and deadly reckonings wreak havoc in the human heart in this collection of sixteen original stories by such masterly mystery writers as Lawrence Block, Peter Lovesey, Peter Tremayne, Jon L. Breen, Edward Marston, Bill Crider, Simon Brett, and the internationally acclaimed Anne Perry.

Kirkus Reviews

Sixteen original (but not very) stories, most featuring a skeptic who comes to believe in the power of the stars even if the reader remains unconvinced. The three hit-men dabbling in astrological mayhem include Lawrence Block's Keller, the possessor of a "murderer's thumb"; Kristine Kathryn Rusch's many-aliased Arizonian, who contemplates a star-mandated career change; and P.N. Elrod's Tarrant, who's either an Aries, a Pisces, or a Taurus, and lethal under any sign. Editor Perry checks in with a WWI tale of rival sisters and a birth-sign pin from a beau; Peter Tremayne presents seventh-century Celtic lawyer Sister Fidelma in a classic puzzle of free will vs. determinism; Marcia Talley depicts a writer destined to meet a mysterious woman who's inconveniently married. Catherine Dain situates her murder at a psychic conference; Peter Lovesey and Simon Brett both pick off isolated astrology columnists. Astrological clues pinpoint murderers in Jon Breen's who-killed-a-psychiatrist tale, Edward Marston's boating party mishap engineered by someone born in the Chinese year of the horse, Jane Lindskold's account of a serial killer run amok among birthdays, Bill Crider's behind-the-scenes story of a 1940s movie star's personal astrologer, and Lillian Stewart Carl's reminiscence of the traitor concealed in a WWII manor house. But the two standouts are Mat Coward's extremely witty believer/nonbeliever affair, "Reason to Believe," and Brendan DuBois's grandson/grandfather review of the Apollo 13 mission, "The Aquarius Mission." The editor's introduction is too brief and slapdash to pick up all the obvious portents of the briefest of bookstore stints before most copies are remaindered or pulped.

Product Details

• Table of Contents
• Read a Sample Chapter

Table of Contents

Read a Sample Chapter

Do you believe in horoscopes? No, neither do I, not really. Onlywhen they tell me that I am unique and exciting and my destiny is fullof wonderful things. That, of course, makes perfect sense, and I shallbelieve this one absolutely, and quit reading them while I am so farahead—until next time! In case tomorrow tells me I am quite ordinaryand must apply myself to all the daily trivia of life and attend to a pile ofjobs I should catch up with, domestic chores and paying bills, etc.

    If your horoscope tells you to have fun, that a little relaxation andentertainment would be good for you—and if it doesn't, try anotherone—then take a little time out to read these stories of believers andunbelievers, light and shadow, humour, violence, love and hate.There is a terrific variety, but every one has vivid and individual writing.They are set in many different places, most in the present day,two earlier last century (1900's—not 1800's) and one medieval, butall have a zodiac core to bind them together. With some the threadis slender, no more than an artifact or an idea, with others it is aninescapable fate.

    Meet professional hitmen (more than one!) whose destiny is writtenin the stars, very funny, compelling, and one even carrying in it theseeds of redemption. Visit New York, Texas, Las Vegas with all theatmosphere and colour, none of the hard edges spared.

    Meet police officers who discover that astrologers come in all sortsof shapes and guises, with all the human passions and fallibilities ofeveryone else. They fall in love, they commit crimes, they getcaught,sometimes they even get killed! Now why did they not see that coming?Or perhaps they did—but the stars are inescapable.

    Meet adventurers and profiteers by land and at sea, caught up inthe tangle of belief and skepticism, love, greed, and the subtle plotsof others. Meet would-be predators neatly enmeshed in their ownsnares, and lovers with the tables turned on them. You will hesitateto make a pass at a stranger, believe me!

    And if you are married and have thoughts of cheating on wife ormistress, the stars also look down on some fiendishly Machiavellianpeople who, when they believe themselves wronged can kill, andsmile, and frame you for the crime.

    And of course there are lovers who are gentle and easy to like, whouse knowledge of astrology in brilliant deduction. There is plenty ofhumour, dry or broad, open laughter, or the subtle smile of satisfactionat parody of the familiar, at wit and a sharp and joyous turn ofphrase.

    Meet those who care passionately about the real stars, and the astronautswho journey towards them. Perhaps dream a little of whatthe future may bring, far beyond our own time.

    Or in the past! Astrology has been with us since we first looked upat the heavens and wondered who we are and where we came from,and if our lives are reflections of a greater plan. Vanity, greed andopportunism were with us in Medieval times as they are now.

    Spend a little time with wounded soldiers recovering in war-tornEngland. Immerse yourself in the atmosphere until you walk every stepof the way with them, in their loves and loyalties, pities and beliefs.

    Or perhaps share the same emotions after the Great War, the soul-wearinessof men who have seen too much horror, and the womenwho love them, the frightened, the greedy and the confused, in aworld which will never be the same again.

    Whatever you believe of the stars, you believe in people, and hereare scores of them in all their wealth of life—and death.

    Enjoy.

—Anne Perry
Ross-shire, Scotland
August 2001

Chapter One

The Astrologer Who
Predicted His Own Murder

A Sister Fidelma Mystery

Peter Tremayne

"I can appreciate why the Bishop has sent you to defend AbbotRigán, Sister. However, I think that you will find this is an open andshut ease. The abbot is demonstrably guilty of the murder of BrotherEolang."

    Brehon Gormán was a tall, dark man, swarthy of complexion. Hesat back regarding Sister Fidelma, seated across the table oppositehim, with a look of cynical amusement. He had an arrogance ofmanner which irritated her. They were using the chamber of BrotherCass, the steward of the abbey of Fota, who stood nervously to oneside.

    "As I understood the circumstances, there were no eyewitnesses.How, then, can the abbot be demonstrably guilty?" she asked coldlywith an emphasis on the words he had used.

    The sharp faced Brehon smiled even more broadly. The smilemade Fidelma feel a coldness at the nape of her neck. It had all thewarmth of a shark about to snap at its prey.

    "Our law takes cognizance of the words of a man uttered beforehis death," remarked the Brehon in the manner of a teacher explainingsomething to a backward child.

    "I do not follow."

    "The victim named the abbot as his murderer before his death."

    Sister Fidelma was stunned into silence by his calm announcement.

    It had been only that morning when the Bishop of Cashel hadcalled her into his chambers and asked her if she, being a dálaigh,an advocate of the courts, would undertake the defence of AbbotRígán, whose abbey of Fota stood on an island in a nearby lake. Theabbot had been accused of killing one of his own brethren. BrehonGormán was to hear the case and it was known that Gormán was nolover of the religious. The Bishop of Cashel was concerned for theabbot, who, by all accounts, a man with a reputation for kindlinessand largess, was a man whose good works had distinguished himamong the brethren. However, the abbot was also known to be a manof strict obedience to the Rule of Rome which brought him intoconflict with many of his fellow religious.

    The community of the Abbey of Fota was a small exclusive brotherhoodof leather workers and a few scholars. They were a self-sufficientcommunity. As protocol requested, Fidelma had introducedherself to the worried looking steward, Brother Cass, who had thenintroduced her to Brehon Gormán who had ensconced himself in thesteward's chamber. She had asked to be informed of all the facts ofthe case.

    The facts seemed simple, according to the Brehon. Brother Eolang,a member of the community, had been found by the lake under awooden landing pier. He had evidently been drowned but there wasbruising and cuts to his head. The community's apothecary, BrotherCruinn, had expressed suspicion about the death. Brother Eolang hadnot been an elderly man. He was in the prime of his life and thebruising seemed to indicate that he had been struck on the foreheadand pushed into the lake where he had drowned.

    Brother Gormán had been sent for. After some initial inquiries hehad placed Abbot Rígán in custody pending a full trial.

    For a moment or two Fidelma sat gazing at Brehon Gormán inastonishment.

    "My understanding of what I have been told is that Brother Eolangwas dead when he was discovered in the lake? Is this not so? But yousay he was able to name the abbot as his killer. How was this miracleaccomplished?"

    "He was certainly dead when his body was found," agreed the Brehon.

    "Then explain this riddle which you have set me."

    "It is quite simple. Brother Eolang told several of his brethren aweek ago that he would be murdered on a particular day and that theabbot would be responsible."

    Fidelma found herself in the unusual position of being unable tocomment for a moment or so. Then she shook her head in bewilderment,trying to control the growing sarcasm in her tone.

     "This is the evidence? He predicted he would be murdered by theabbot?"

    Brehon Gormán smiled again, even more coldly.

    "Brother Eolang also foretold the exact manner of his death," headded.

    "I think you need to explain more precisely, Brehon Gormán,"Fidelma said. "Was Brother Eolang a prophet?"

    "It would appear so for we have the accusation and prediction writtenin Brother Eolang's own hand."

    Sister Fidelma sat back and folded her hands in her lap.

    "I am listening attentively to your explanation," she said quietly."Please tell me the facts so that I do not make any assumptions."

    "There was no love lost between Abbot Rígán and Brother Eolang,"replied the Brehon. "There are witnesses to several arguments betweenthem. They arose because the abbot did not agree with someof Brother Eolang's beliefs and activities ..."

    Fidelma frowned, still feeling lost.

    "Activities? What activities?"

    "Brother Eolang was the assistant to the apothecary of the abbeyand an adept at making speculations from the patterns of the stars."

    "Medicine and astrology were often twins in the practice of thephysician's art," conceded Fidelma. "Its use is widespread throughoutthe five kingdoms of Éireann. Why was the abbot so condemningof the practice?"

    Fidelma herself had studied the art of star charts and their interpretationunder Brother Conchobar of Cashel who had once told herthat she would have made an excellent interpreter of the portents.However, Fidelma placed no great reliance on astrologers, for it wasa science which seemed to rely solely on the interpretive ability ofthe individual. However, she did accept that much might be learntfrom the wisest among them. The study of the heavens, nemgnacht,was an ancient art among the people of Éireann and most who couldafford to do so, had a chart cast for the moment of their children'sbirth which was called nemindithib, a horoscope.

    The more ancient forms of astrology used by the Druids before thecoming of Christianity had fallen out of use because the New Faithhad also brought in new forms which were practised among theGreeks and Romans and originated in Babylon.

    "The abbot did not approve of astrology, Sister," interrupted thesteward of the community, Brother Cass, who had been standing quietlyby during the initial exchange. "The abbot disliked BrotherEolang on account of his practise of astrology. The abbot had read apassage in one of the Scriptures which denounced astrology and sohe took his teaching from it. He tried to forbid its practice within ourcommunity."

    Fidelma smiled softly.

    "Forbidding anything is a sure way of encouraging it. I thought wewere more tolerant in such matters? The art of the réaltóir, the astrologer,has been one that has its origins from the very time ourancestors first raised their eyes to the night sky. It is part of our wayof life and even those who have accepted the New Faith have notrejected the fact that God put the stars in the sky for the obedienceof fools and the guidance of the wise."

    There was a silence then Brother Cass spoke again.

    "Yet there was an animosity between Eolang and the abbot overthis matter."

    "Over a week ago," commenced the Brehon, "according to certainmembers of the community, and as they will testify, Brother Eolangbecame so worried about the animosity that he cast a chart, what isa called a horary chart, to see if he was in any danger from the abbot.He did this because the abbot's language had grown quite violent inthe denunciation of Brother Eolang's beliefs."

    Fidelma did not make any comment but waited for the Brehon tocontinue.

    "Eolang told certain of his comrades among the brethren thatwithin a week from the time he had cast that chart, he would bedead. The chart, he said, showed that he was powerless against theabbot and would suffer death at his hands either by drowning orpoisoning."

    Brehon Gormán sat back with a smile of triumph.

    Fidelma regarded him with some skepticism.

    "You appear to believe this."

    "I have seen the chart. I am an amateur in such things but myknowledge is such that the accuracy of the prediction becomes obvious.I shall accept it into evidence along with the testimony of thoseof the brethren to whom Brother Eolang discussed the meaning of itbefore his death."

    Fidelma considered the matter silently for a moment. Then sheturned to Brother Cass.

    "Do you have someone available who could take a message toCashel for me?"

    Brother Cass glanced at the Brehon, who frowned.

    "What do you propose, Sister Fidelma?"

    "Why, since this chart is apparently central to the abbot's supposedguilt, I would send to Cashel for an expert witness to verify its interpretation."

    "What expert witness?"

    "Doubtless, as someone who has dabbled in the art, you have heardof Brother Conchobar, the astrologer of Cashel? He was taught by thefamous Mo Chuaróc mac Neth Sémon, the greatest astrologer thatCashel ever produced."

    The Brehon's frown deepened.

    "I have heard of Conchobar, of course. But do we need worry himwhen everything is so clear?"

    "Oh, for the sake of justice," smiled Fidelma, without humour, "weneed to ensure that the abbot has the best defence and that impliessomeone who is an expert in the evidence against him. You haveadmitted to having only an amateur's knowledge. I also have but apassing knowledge so it is best to consult a real expert."

    The Brehon examined her features carefully. A suspicion crossedhis mind as to whether she was being facetious. Then he glanced toBrother Cass and inclined his head in approval.

    "You may send for Brother Conchobar."

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Death by Horoscope by . Copyright © 2001 by Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc.. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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