{"id":2484,"date":"2018-02-07T14:16:07","date_gmt":"2018-02-07T03:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/?p=2484"},"modified":"2018-02-07T14:16:07","modified_gmt":"2018-02-07T03:46:07","slug":"read-a-royal-murder-extract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/2018\/02\/read-a-royal-murder-extract\/","title":{"rendered":"A Royal Murder Extract"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>

Cover of the book<\/p><\/div>\n

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A macabre murder during the Women\u2019s Australian Open golf\u00a0tournament at one of Australia\u2019s most prestigious golf courses sees\u00a0food and wine journalist and amateur golfer Rebecca Keith on the\u00a0murder trail once more. Fortunately, Rebecca\u2019s sleuthing takes her\u00a0on a journey of eating and drinking through many of Adelaide\u2019s\u00a0bars and restaurants. Little does Rebecca know that her visits to\u00a0nearby Barossa Valley and Kangaroo Island will reveal clues that\u00a0will become crucial in the hunt for a killer.<\/p>\n

A Royal Murder<\/i>, a light-hearted thriller full of intrigue and\u00a0betrayal, features a full cast of eccentric characters set against the\u00a0rich backdrop of South Australia and its lush food and wine culture.<\/p>\n

\n

\n

\n

Read an extract of the book below, as our heroine, Rebecca Keith, is first on the scene of a grisly discovery at the Royal Adelaide golf course.<\/p>\n

The Adelaide-to-Grange Line<\/h4>\n

R<\/span>ebecca had drunk more than she should have. When the\u00a0phone alarm went off at five o\u2019clock, she had to stop herself\u00a0from flinging it across the room. She listened to the news and\u00a0weather on the radio.<\/p>\n

She couldn\u2019t face breakfast and instead spent the extra time\u00a0in the shower.<\/p>\n

It was just before seven o\u2019clock as she walked alongside the\u00a0railway tracks at Royal Adelaide, heading to her position on\u00a0the second tee. The course was again bathed in a golden glow.\u00a0Her footsteps left imprints on the fairway still damp from the\u00a0overnight watering.<\/p>\n

Rebecca heard the train\u2019s whistle, signalling it was about to\u00a0pull off from the Seaton Park station. She could hear the ding of\u00a0the boom gates. Within a couple of minutes, she saw the train\u00a0in the distance as it emerged from the bushes by the fence line\u00a0and started its journey alongside the fairway.\u00a0Rebecca was surprised when she heard the train\u2019s whistle\u00a0again. It startled her. Something was wrong. The train only\u00a0whistled as it approached walk-crossings on the golf course,\u00a0and it wouldn\u2019t be approaching one for a few hundred metres. It\u00a0shouldn\u2019t be sounding its whistle now, nor should it be putting\u00a0on its brakes. She could tell by the screeching that the train was\u00a0stopping hard. Rebecca looked along the tracks and spotted a\u00a0large red duffle-like bag sitting squarely in the train\u2019s path. There\u00a0wasn\u2019t enough time to stop. She watched as the red bag was flung\u00a0aside, rolled down the embankment, and came to rest just on\u00a0the edge of the fairway.<\/p>\n

\n

Rebecca stood up and started to jog toward the train. Before\u00a0she reached it, the driver jumped out of the cab and ran toward\u00a0the red bag. He looked distressed. Within moments, Rebecca was\u00a0standing next to him and they were both looking at a bloodied,\u00a0severed arm lying a couple of metres from the torn bag. The\u00a0duffle bag appeared to be made from expensive silk, embossed\u00a0with what Rebecca thought was Chinese calligraphy. She was\u00a0in no doubt the rest of the body was in the bag. The protruding\u00a0bloodied leg was a giveaway.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u2018Oh my God,\u2019 moaned the train driver as he lowered himself\u00a0to a crouch on the ground, resting his head in his\u00a0hands.\u00a0Rebecca was pretty sure whoever was in the bag was dead, but\u00a0she needed to know for certain. She walked up to it, undid the\u00a0drawstring at the top, and gently lowered the silk to uncover the\u00a0victim\u2019s lacerated face. Rebecca stared. The glazed lifeless eyes\u00a0appeared to be gazing up to the sky. Rebecca not only knew the\u00a0victim was dead, she also knew who it was.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The first in the series, The Popeye Murder<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

Join us at the Beetson Lounge at Grange golf club<\/a> at 1.00 pm on Tuesday 13 February for the launch of\u00a0A Royal<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>Murder<\/em><\/a>, in conjunction with the re-release of the first Rebecca Keith mystery,\u00a0The Popeye Murder.<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>If you cannot attend the launch, but would like to purchase a copy of the books, they can be found on our website<\/a>, coming soon!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A macabre murder during the Women\u2019s Australian Open golf\u00a0tournament at one of Australia\u2019s most prestigious golf courses sees\u00a0food and wine journalist and amateur golfer Rebecca Keith on the\u00a0murder trail once more. Fortunately, Rebecca\u2019s sleuthing takes her\u00a0on a journey of eating … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553,107,80,5,77,761,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adelaide","category-extract","category-for-fun","category-wordpress-defaults","category-launches","category-new-releases","category-we-love-books"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4v1Of-E4","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2484"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2517,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2484\/revisions\/2517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}