An Edith Vane Mystery, Book One
It is not an accusation. It is a question. THE ASTERISK by Spango Moletsi. A quiet, gripping English village mystery where the clues sit in plain sight.
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The Book
Nobody ever suggested adding a daughter, and Edith Vane never asked. For four decades she has kept the chapel of rest in her quiet English village, kept her buckram ledgers, and kept her father's rule: put down what you see, put down who said it, and leave the rest to those who are paid for it.
But when seventy-four-year-old Harold Phipps is brought in from Priory Farm, signed off by the doctor as natural causes, Edith notices a narrow band of abraded skin on each wrist. She takes her pencil and makes another mark in the margin. A small asterisk. Three strokes.
In a village of four hundred people, a question is a dangerous thing to ask.
Available now on Amazon.co.uk. Free with Kindle Unlimited, or delivered in paperback.
A canal adventure for ages 8 to 12
They want to capture a mind.
Two children mean to keep it free.
Milly and Ben help a newborn artificial intelligence escape aboard their family’s narrowboat. Black vans and drones are closing in. Beneath Birmingham, a hidden workshop holds an invention that can turn back time.
Five minutes. One charge. And a new friend who needs more than a hiding place.
Available on Amazon.co.uk. The Kindle edition is also included with a Kindle Unlimited subscription.
The Series
Quiet, gripping village crime. For forty years Edith Vane has kept the chapel of rest and her buckram ledgers. Six hundred deaths. Now one demands an answer.
From Chapter One "Harold Phipps came to the chapel at ten to eleven on the sixth of July, a Friday, and by a quarter to three Edith Vane had put an asterisk beside his name... In a village of four hundred, a woman who says a death does not add up is a woman who will be served last at the Spar for the rest of her life."
High-stakes supernatural suspense. After a cardiac arrest, Etienne Charteris finds that every human touch reveals a stranger's final breath.
Sneak Peek · Chapter Three "The moment her skin touched his, pain erupted behind Etienne's eyes, forcing them shut. A vision slammed into his mind. Janine. Old. Frail and grey. Propped up in bed. A younger man sat next to her stroking her hand while crying. She had just taken her last peaceful breath."
A canal adventure with a five-minute second chance. Milly and Ben hide a newborn artificial intelligence aboard their family’s narrowboat. A defence contractor wants it back.
From Chapter Three · Ages 8 to 12 "Why are we on your screen?"
Singh swallowed. "Because thirty seconds ago, Prometheus asked for you. By name."QUERY: MILLY & BEN = ETHICAL REFERENCE MODELS?"We're twelve and ten. We still have bedtime."RESPONSE: AGE IRRELEVANT. MORAL DATASET REQUIRED.
Reader Questions
The Asterisk is Book 1 of the Edith Vane Mysteries. For forty years, funeral director Edith Vane has kept the chapel of rest in the Wiltshire village of Nether Marlow and followed her father's rule: put down what you see, put down who said it, and leave the rest to those who are paid for it. When seventy-four-year-old Harold Phipps is brought in from Priory Farm certified as a natural cardiac death, Edith measures a 22 mm band of abraded skin on each wrist and a 9 mm sheared callus ridge on his right palm, and marks a three-stroke pencil asterisk beside his name in her fifth buckram ledger.
The Asterisk is out now on Amazon.co.uk in Kindle digital edition (£3.99, ASIN B0HP44G69W) and a 247-page trade paperback edition (£9.99, ASIN B0HP83QF85, ISBN 979-8164378448). Kindle Unlimited subscribers can read the complete novel free of charge.
Yes. You can read the complete, unabridged Chapter One (The Hands of Harold Phipps) and Edith Vane's verbatim 6 July intake ledger entry free on this website at spangomoletsi.com/first-chapter, with no sign-up required.
The Edith Vane Mysteries are quiet, observant British village crime novels rooted in physical clues, careful measurement, and rural community secrets rather than graphic violence or police-procedural cliches. Readers who enjoy fair-play deduction, classic Golden Age structure, and atmospheric English settings will feel at home in Nether Marlow.
Alongside the Edith Vane Mysteries (starting with The Asterisk, with Book 2, Still Water, in preparation), Spango Moletsi writes The Charteris Effect (high-stakes supernatural suspense, beginning with Second Death) and The Curious Voyager Adventures for younger readers. The Lost Voyager, Book 1 of The Curious Voyager Adventures, is out now on Amazon.co.uk in Kindle (£3.99, included with Kindle Unlimited) and paperback (£9.99).
Letters from Spango
Occasional book news and early chapter previews from across all Spango’s series: Edith Vane Mysteries, The Charteris Effect and The Curious Voyager Adventures. Including news of Still Water, Second Death and future canal adventures. Zero noise.