The Hammett Hex Read online

  Praise for the national bestselling Book Collector Mysteries

  “The books continue to delight with sharp humor, quick-witted characters, a tough but vulnerable heroine, and celebration of the classic mystery genre.”

  —Kings River Life Magazine

  “[A] mystery that will keep you guessing and entertained every step of the way . . . brilliantly crafted.”

  —Fresh Fiction

  “Deftly plotted, with amusing one-liners, murder, and a dash of mayhem.”

  —The Hamilton Spectator

  “With a full inventory of suspects, a courageous heroine, and a tribute to a famous writer of whodunits, The Christie Curse will tempt her legion of devotees. Even mystery lovers who have never read Christie—if any exist—will find a pleasing puzzle in Abbott’s opener.”

  —Richmond Times-Dispatch

  “The mystery was first class, the plotting flawless.”

  —Cozy Mystery Book Reviews

  “The writing style is such that this reader can stay in the story and savor it no matter how badly I want to flip the pages and get to the denouement! It is the feeling of the location, the adventures with Jordan as she goes after clues and the bad guy/gal, it is even Vera’s ’tude that makes the journey more fun than the destination.”

  —Open Book Society

  Berkley Prime Crime titles by Victoria Abbott

  THE CHRISTIE CURSE

  THE SAYERS SWINDLE

  THE WOLFE WIDOW

  THE MARSH MADNESS

  THE HAMMETT HEX

  BERKLEY PRIME CRIME

  Published by Berkley

  An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014

  Copyright © 2016 by Berkley Publishing Group

  Penguin Random House supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader.

  BERKLEY is a registered trademark and BERKLEY PRIME CRIME and the B colophon are trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

  Ebook ISBN: 9780425280362

  First Edition: October 2016

  Cover art by Tony Mauro

  Cover design by Rita Frangie

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE: The recipes contained in this book have been created for the ingredients and techniques indicated. The Publisher is not responsible for your specific health or allergy needs that may require supervision. Nor is the Publisher responsible for any adverse reactions you may have to the recipes contained in the book, whether you follow them as written or modify them to suit your personal dietary needs or tastes.

  Version_1

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Many, many thanks to the wonderful Linda Wiken (aka Erika Chase) for her help with this manuscript and her friendship over the past twenty-six years. We’d also be lost without the eagle eye of John Merchant trained on our manuscript.

  This year we want to express our appreciation to the organizers of the Bony Blithe Award (for mysteries that make us smile) for awarding the 2016 prize to The Marsh Madness, the fourth book in the Book Collector series, thus allowing us to be in a terrific mood for who knows how long.

  At Berkley Prime Crime, we are always grateful to Tom Colgan, our editor, for advice, enthusiasm and support, and to Allison Janice for cheerful efficiency and, of course, to the unseen copy editors who make such a difference.

  Our agent, Kim Lionetti of BookEnds, always has time to listen to an idea, fill us in on the news and give us a boost. We love that!

  Victoria and Peachy would like to thank Duane and Natalie Holmes for their support and allowing them to share five acres of paradise.

  Thanks to Luc Lavigne who has brought endless creative inspiration, years of tutelage in the medium of film and for being our “Sam Spade” in our latest trailer.

  Every week, our colleagues at Mystery Lovers Kitchen and The Cozy Chicks blogs are amazing sources of information, expertise and friendship. We’d be lost without them and their books, because, naturally, we are readers too.

  To all those of you who cherish the great and mysterious traditions of this genre and to the legions of fans, librarians, booksellers and reviewers who help keep the mystery world going, may you live long and read much.

  We truly appreciate the many readers who reach out to tell us how you feel about our books. Thanks for lifting our spirits. You make a difference.

  Closer to home, we thank Giulio Maffini for being a rock and keeping his head when all around him are losing theirs as deadlines and edits loom.

  Last but not least, we thank Peachy the Pug for mood elevation, and Daisy and Lily, the princess dachshunds, for napping helpfully under the desk.

  CONTENTS

  PRAISE FOR THE BOOK COLLECTOR MYSTERIES

  TITLES BY VICTORIA ABBOTT

  TITLE PAGE

  COPYRIGHT

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  IT’S ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  RECIPES

  IT’S ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE

  SQUISHED INTO A cable car, hurtling down a steep hill, clinging to a rail with the wind rushing in your ears amid the clang and clatter of metal and the shrieks of fellow passengers might not be everybody’s idea of a romantic moment, but strangely, it was working for me. Sure, my knuckles were white, but I felt happy because I was wedged up against Tyler “Smiley” Dekker, the occasional man of my dreams. Plus the cable car we were riding on gave us a view of San Francisco Bay. The half-dozen squealing schoolgirls—black asymmetrical haircuts with weird-colored tips, shredded jeans and selfie sticks—couldn’t diminish the experience.

  After all, you’re only young and pink-tipped once. One of them rolled her eyes at me.

  I had also managed to tune out the puffy, bickering couple next to us. Who knew that you could sustain a twenty-minute dispute about the flavor of gelato? Chocolate or nocciola? Obviously these two would never run out of things to fight about, and yet, they’d miraculously agreed to the same 49ers T-shirt.

  We’d bumped into them before on the tourist walks in the area near Union Station. They always had plenty to argue with each other about.

  The hulking guy right behind me was a bit harder to ignor
e. His large, pink, moon face was damp with sweat and his short-sleeved, blue-checked shirt strained at the buttons. He had clearly forgotten his deodorant this morning. Worse, he didn’t appear to comprehend the idea of personal space.

  Smiley turned and flashed his grin. I loved that little gap between his front teeth and the way his blond hair blew in the wind. I loved that we were here in this romantic city. I loved that I could still make him blush.

  Two silver-haired ladies wearing Birkenstock sandals and Tilley hats nudged each other and smiled at us in approval. I recognized them from our hotel. I’d noticed their bright toenail polish in the lineup at the restaurant in the morning. Even though I was a bit jealous that they’d found seats on the cable car, I smiled back at them.

  They each gave us a little wave as they eased their way to the exit behind me.

  All the world loves a lover, as they say. Loves a lover! Imagine that. Smiley and I had taken a few sharp detours in our relationship. It was still hard to believe that we were on a getaway alone without hot and cold running relatives and the persistent, gravelly voice of my employer, Vera Van Alst. Could a cop with ambitions to be a detective and a girl who was the first person in her family to go legit have a chance at happiness?

  So far, it was looking good.

  Powell Street, he mouthed. Smiley had a thing for Dashiell Hammett, and Powell Street was important to him too. He brought up the name every few minutes. He had also mentioned something to do with Sam Spade every few minutes on our cable car ride. As far as I could see, he’d watched The Maltese Falcon once too often as a child. It seemed that his grandfather was to blame. I knew all about fascinations with fictional characters and settings. So I got that. But I had just discovered this classic noir detective and I was reserving judgment about Hammett and his gang.

  Today, Smiley was also busy snapping pictures. I was equally busy hanging on to my gray fedora because of the bouncy ride and the stiff breeze. That fedora had been the perfect vintage find that morning and just right for San Francisco. It was sort of inspired by Sam Spade (see reserving judgment, above), but mainly I wore it because the foggy damp air turned my mid-length dark hair into wild frizz. It was either the fedora or a brown paper bag.

  It was our third trip on this particular line. We had three-day visitor passports and Smiley wanted us to get our twenty bucks’ worth on every form of transportation.

  Much of it had to do with getting to know the city of Sam Spade. Smiley had a strong desire to visit Burrett Alley, off Stockton, where there was supposed to be a sign commemorating the shooting of Miles Archer in The Maltese Falcon. Pulp and noir were not my thing, and to tell the truth, I’d been a bit surprised that Smiley was such an aficionado. I preferred the gentle sleuths of the Golden Age of Detection and, of course, any book with Archie Goodwin in it. But if he wanted to see that memorial to a fictional murder, I was fine with it as long as I could keep my hat on.

  Smiley had managed to turn full circle as we proceeded to the next block. There couldn’t be a building he hadn’t captured for posterity. There were plenty of shots of me too. That was fine as my hair was covered and I had lots to smile about.

  “Seafood tonight?” he shouted, suddenly serious.

  Well, how about that? I had yet another prospect to smile about. “We’re in the right city for it.”

  My response was lost in the racket.

  We shuddered to a stop again and people pushed onto the cable car. I tried not to get separated from Smiley as passengers squeezed their way through the car and a short, bullet-shaped man with crisply gelled black hair attempted to shoulder his way between us. The cable car lurched forward. I steadied myself by grabbing Smiley’s belt with one hand. I held on to my hat with the other. “Sorry,” I said to the bullet-shaped man, who seemed determined to take up more space.

  I guess I’d been in the friendly, civil society of Harrison Falls, in upstate New York, for a bit too long. I wasn’t used to jockeying for position in tight spots.

  Bullet-man flashed me a bleak look and eased behind me. Good. Let him experience the big stinky guy firsthand.

  Smiley was pointing now, his enthusiastic words carried away on the wind. No question about it. He was adorable. And he wasn’t the first person to develop a fascination with Sam Spade or the Continental Op. I’d get my turn too. I couldn’t wait to get to Haight-Ashbury and its vintage stores.

  I gasped as my hat flew off. As I reached for the airborne fedora, something slammed hard into my back, knocking the breath out of me. I lost hold of Smiley as I tumbled forward. When I managed to steady myself, a second sharp slam accelerated my fall. Panicked, I tried to grab at nearby arms and legs, but too little too late. With a roar of shouting voices behind me, I plunged, screaming wordlessly, from the lumbering cable car toward the pavement, my head set to meet Powell Street the hard way.

  But I’m getting ahead of my story.

  Let me start at the beginning.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Tell them what they want to hear.

  —The Kelly Rules

  IT BEGAN ON a sunny June morning, over a delicious breakfast served at eight sharp in the conservatory of Van Alst House, the crumbling mansion where I’m lucky to live. Birds were trilling from the mature trees surrounding the expansive Van Alst property. A vase of French white lilacs scented the air, and from the windows we could see clusters of pink, white and red peonies beginning to bloom.

  Walter the Pug was dancing around and wagging his little stump of a tail to show his appreciation for the day and the breakfast leftovers to come. Walter belongs to my friend Karen Smith, who married my uncle Lucky not that long ago. As their life appears to be one long mobile honeymoon, Walter now spends most of his time with me. That’s a good thing.

  But once I polished off my plate of sizzling golden French toast with whipped cream and mixed berries, plus a bracing serving of espresso, I had the nerve to ask for a week off. What was I thinking?

  Vera Van Alst glanced up from the New York Times crossword. Her glance turned to a glower. Although the sun was beaming through the windows of the conservatory, I felt dark clouds gather.

  Uncle Kev paused in the middle of raising his forkful of French toast and grinned. Vera’s cook and housekeeper, Signora Panetone, gasped. I did my best not to grimace, even though exaggerated facial expressions seemed the order of the day.

  Vera pushed back the fraying cuffs of her drab beige sweater. “Absolutely not, Miss Bingham. I do not pay you to take vacations. What do you think this is? A charitable institution?”

  I opened my mouth to give a calm and reasoned summary of why I should be entitled to a week off. “Obviously you’re not a charity,” I said. “But as I have been working steadily for nearly two years and I—”

  Those dark clouds began to drift across the bright June sky.

  “We can’t lose sight of the Hammett purchase. Time is of the essence.” Vera turned back to her puzzle and raised her hand to cut off a rebuttal from my end.

  This kind of discussion wasn’t all that unusual for breakfast at Van Alst House. I’d grown accustomed to Vera’s bad temper, ghastly wardrobe and unreasonable demands. I didn’t let her get me down. She might be rich, living in a stately home with staff to look after her whims. She might indulge her passion of book collecting with a single-minded lack of concern for other people. She might always expect to get her own way. Still, I had it good. My job came with a charming and cozy attic apartment and the best food I’d ever had. I had a flexible schedule, a job I loved and a chance to make a bit of money on the side. Life was great. I’d even adjusted to having Uncle Kev, that charming time bomb, sitting across from me in the conservatory in the mornings and in the formal dining room in the night. Kev worked as our maintenance man, gardener and “other duties as required” guy. So far, no real disasters, if you don’t count the exploding still, but I knew our peaceful days were numbered.
/>
  There was no way I could let Vera prevent me from taking my first vacation in I couldn’t remember how long. Let’s just say, I’d been beyond broke before I started here, and since my first day on the job, we had been remarkably busy. In case you don’t know, my job was finding first editions of mysteries from the Golden Age of Detection and brokering deals that enhanced Vera’s collection. Generally pleasant work although occasionally saving Vera’s life seemed to fall under my duties. I could be spared for seven days. I wasn’t an indentured serf, after all.

  “Fine,” I said, stiffening my spine and looking straight at Vera. “I’ll take the time off without pay.”

  It wouldn’t do my savings much good to lose a week’s salary, but if Vera actually had the nerve to accept the offer, it would still be worth it. After all, Tyler Dekker had anted up for two airline tickets to San Francisco and a hotel, his way of making up for a few rocky patches in our relationship. We’d both had a bit too much murder in our lives and this trip was supposed to help us get back to normal. I had found myself dreaming about a relaxed pleasant vacation without a care in the world.

  San Francisco was the old haunt of my uncle Seamus, now living as legend only, possibly in Rio or Tahiti. I’d heard stories about Seamus since I was a child. Although Seamus vanished from our lives before I was born, his sage advice continues on in our family as “the Kelly Rules.” I would get to visit and see the spots where he’d pulled off some spectacular jobs. Perhaps I wouldn’t make too much of it in front of my favorite police officer.

  Vera was staring at her crossword puzzle as if the conversation had ended.

  “You really shouldn’t trust that Dekker guy enough to go away with him, Jordie,” Uncle Kev said, before stuffing his mouth again. “What do you really know about him?”

  What did I know about Tyler? I knew he was honest and stubborn and extremely neat. I knew we had rescued each other from disaster and near-death more than once. I knew he’d been willing to change jobs to keep our romance going. I knew we both loved dogs and chocolate. And apparently—although this was new information to me—he also had a thing for classic noir mysteries.