Read Online Booked for Murder by Val McDermid - Free Book Online

after she’d gone. I remember her talking about it one night.”
    â€œI don’t even have a current synopsis,” Catriona said, sounding
more cross than sad. “If Meredith should come across the manuscript of Heart of Glass , or the computer disk it’s on, I’d really appreciate it if she could pass it on to me.”
    â€œWhy?” Lindsay asked, suspecting she already knew the answer.
    â€œThe 300 pages I saw were publishable quality,” Catriona answered, confirming Lindsay’s guess. “If they came with a synopsis, her editor could probably cobble together an ending in an appropriate style.”
    â€œOh, great, just what Penny would have loved,” Lindsay said sarcastically. “A load of cobblers.”
    â€œI think I have more right to be the judge of that,” Catriona said stiffly. “If Penny had doubted my judgement, she would hardly have granted me so much power as her literary executor. Penny wanted to show the world that she was more than just a writer of teenage fiction. What I’ve seen of Heart of Glass demonstrated a formidable talent, and she deserves to have that credited to her reputation. That’s what she really wanted, Ms. Gordon. She wanted it so badly she could taste it.”
    Lindsay looked away, realizing that Penny had wanted it so badly she had even been prepared to jeopardise Meredith’s career just to generate more publicity. That indicated a raw ambition Lindsay had never recognised in Penny before. She could understand her desire for acknowledgement; what she couldn’t relate to was her willingness to sacrifice her emotional happiness and security for the fickleness of reputation. “Yeah, well,” was all she said.
    â€œI’m not really the person you should be talking to about this,” Catriona added casually as she lit another cigarette. “Penny spent a lot more time with her editor than she did with me this trip.”
    â€œAnd her editor is?”
    â€œBelinda Burton. Baz to her babies. Baz would have had a much clearer idea of where she was up to and where she was going. They were very close. It was a large part of the reason behind Penny’s success. The relationship between an editor and a writer is crucial. Different people work in different ways. When you link an editor and writer whose minds run along the same tracks and who like to work at the same level of detail, you’ve got a match made in heaven. A mismatch and everybody’s life is an absolute bloody misery. It’s part
of my job to marry up writers with appropriate editors. Baz and Penny fit like a matching plug and socket,” Catriona said expansively.
    â€œYou wouldn’t be trying to divert me, would you?”
    Catriona laughed. “No. But if you’re still fixated on the profit motive and you think that Penny dead is an appealing moneymaker, you really would be better employed talking to Baz. Penny’s royalty is ten percent, so my cut is around one and a half percent of the retail price. Monarch Press, on the other hand, are picking up between ten and forty percent on every book sold. As they say on your side of the Atlantic, go figure.”
    Lindsay stood up. She wasn’t entirely convinced she’d got everything out of Catriona Polson that there was to be had, but she didn’t have the right questions to elicit more. Perhaps after she’d spoken to Baz Burton, she’d have more ammunition to fire at the agent. “Fine,” she said. “I’ll talk to her. Now, wasn’t that painless?”
    â€œPainless but not a terribly productive use of my time,” Catriona said dismissively, leading Lindsay out of the room and down the corridor. “I’m bound to say, I hope your client is paying you up front. I suspect she may end up wasting all her available cash on defense lawyers. I think you’re backing the wrong horse, Ms. Gordon. Always a mistake to let