Headless Beings

de margaret malcolm

For Hortense Sutherland, although she didn't know it, the whole confusion hung partially from her own family tree. A retired actress, she'd decided to occupy her time with forebears-for-a-price genealogy, trying to find illustrious ancestors for certain rich Americans. This time she was searching Scotland - the home of the haggis, the site of Culloden, and the fanatic guardian of, Hortense was to discover, some very unusual ideas. Armed with pencil and notebook, Hortense sallies forth on her peregrinations through churchyards, dusty archives, and an occasional pub. But then the briefcase she carries turns out not to be hers - the car in which she and her nephew are travelling stalls on a desolate moor - and finally, when Hortense walks into a supposed resort lodge in search of help, she finds a group of mysterious people and no way out. Somebody is after something and apparently believes that one rather elderly lady stands in the way; the perplexing question is, who wants what and why? This is a suspenseful tale mixing royalty, romance, fourteenth-century castles, and underground movements, set against a wild Scottish background and featuring a snoopy, gutsy and irresistible heroine.