Coffin’s Dark Number

Coffin’s Dark Number
Gwendoline Butler

Three little girls are reported missing in the same district of South London and Superintendent John Coffin suspects there could be more. A gripping crime novel from one of the most universally praised English mystery writers, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers.Three little girls have been reported missing recently in the same district of South London and Superintendent John Coffin believes there might be others.The area has more than its fair share of cranks, and Tony Young’s club of UFO watchers is no exception. But Tony’s concerns start to grow as more children disappear, always at a time when members of the club are out investigating a sighting.While Coffin probes the backgrounds of the victims, trying to establish a pattern, Tony takes matters into his own hands and does some detecting of his own…

GWENDOLINE BUTLER

Coffin’s Dark Number

Copyright (#ulink_c3a1c8c4-7601-5b07-8e75-446aa22f1a36)

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

Harper

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published by Geoffrey Bles Ltd 1969

Copyright © Gwendoline Butler 1969

Gwendoline Butler asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library

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HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

Source ISBN: 9780006176312

Ebook Edition © JUNE 2014 ISBN: 9780007544653

Version: 2017-04-25

Contents

Cover (#ubb48f989-44c4-5b7a-821d-4b8f1c4abbe7)

Title Page (#u5c988136-61c1-5edb-af98-4fa261ba1c1e)

Copyright (#ulink_f5be1521-7bae-5218-aad4-8946cb37c901)

Chapter One (#ue84cd7bd-a749-5616-94ab-1565346aa1b3)

Chapter Two (#u9742fe6b-3cc2-5bba-9252-73dbf6b5f304)

Chapter Three (#uc4f94eeb-e9ec-5f36-aeb6-ef2eaab568db)

Chapter Four (#u84a690b8-3c03-53b9-ad07-fca98d54f33c)

Chapter Five (#u6022d194-e4eb-55ae-a230-eba687506f57)

Chapter Six (#ub800f36e-a8e3-5863-9cfc-8140243031d7)

Chapter Seven (#u26d93a9a-760d-59ee-9ea2-8832fd5c1cbd)

Chapter Eight (#u5be55043-9b3d-5998-94be-a549672e48a6)

Chapter Nine (#u8e5739a0-4382-501c-b8dc-3365ec6059e1)

Chapter Ten (#ua10807b2-9835-5ec2-9fff-207d68126735)

Chapter Eleven (#uaec3754d-6d0d-50ec-8f96-28e422fae16f)

Chapter Twelve (#u0d3e327c-1d86-501a-82cb-be73a7ba3c4c)

Chapter Thirteen (#u6603be8b-f407-5cb9-971f-174adaa7c143)

Chapter Fourteen (#u8b576cd7-1a42-57fa-98ba-e81468847393)

Chapter Fifteen (#u6d8ae891-b856-554d-9aa6-ad37db677b91)

Chapter Sixteen (#ua3a4bbff-410d-56ba-bcb8-1b01b260a2c8)

Chapter Seventeen (#u6aebb04f-d76f-58cc-a897-24db79a88521)

Chapter Eighteen (#ueaf74469-c81e-5603-878b-f8d6b5baf882)

Chapter Nineteen (#u4ee74708-b07a-51c9-a714-f5066365069a)

Keep Reading (#u50064ee6-2bc7-5f50-ad76-1e8989bce11d)

About the Author (#ulink_123d56ba-45a1-5d12-9a95-dec9b410e8eb)

Also by the Author (#ulink_a510ea18-5cae-5165-9008-f97c618b64f0)

About the Publisher (#ulink_6cad8401-9822-515d-86e5-0b026d31ad38)

There were three tapes, running about twenty-five minutes each, but Coffin played them for hours and hours. Over and over again. He was listening to the sound of voices and snatches of music. Some of the voices he knew.

It was a strange way to conduct a murder investigation.