Poison Pen Read online

  To our astonishment, the librarian straightened her cardigan and planted her feet squarely apart. Lowering her hips and sticking out her bum, she raised her hands in a martial-arts pose.

  She looked so unthreatening, so completely undeadly, that Trevor laughed out loud. “You have got to be kidding.”

  “Try me,” said Sue through gritted teeth.

  Trevor took a step closer. “You know I’m going to have to kill you, too, don’t you? This will be the greatest library tragedy since Alexandria burnt.”

  “Don’t bet on it.”

  Buried under the book mountain, neither Graham nor I could lift a finger. And while I admired Sue’s courage, I couldn’t help feeling that a middle-aged librarian didn’t stand much chance against a young man who’d already killed three people.

  I was wrong.

  Trevor took a second step forward. Big mistake. With a piercing, warlike cry, Sue stepped sideways. Her left leg flicked up at Trevor’s throat and the pointed toe of her shoe connected hard against his Adam’s apple. Turning purple, Trevor clutched at his throat and gave a creaky wheeze. Sue followed up her advantage, chopping two sharp blows across his stomach with her hands. When he doubled up, she kicked him in the rear. He fell to the floor in a ball, coughing and choking.

  While Trevor lay there, unable to get to his feet, Sue buzzed down to reception and asked them to phone the police. She then stood over him until Inspector Humphries arrived, giving him a swift kick every now and then when he attempted to move. In fact, I suspect she put in a few extra ones. I couldn’t see much from where I was trapped, but I could hear the occasional muffled thud, followed by an “Ooof!” from Trevor, and Sue snapping, “Just look at what you’ve done. This is a library! That’s no way to treat books, is it?”

  There’s not much to add, really. After Trevor had been arrested, it took a while for Sue to free us from the book pile. She was a little distressed when she discovered that we’d bled over some of the volumes, but she managed not to lose her temper over it. Graham and I were left with a few cuts and a lot of bruises but no lasting damage.

  Trevor was put away for a very long time – he’d committed three murders in cold blood, so he received three consecutive life sentences. Viola and Tim were both charged with assault and the attempted murder of Esmerelda, but seeing as they hadn’t actually succeeded they got off more lightly. It was just as well for them that Tim had spilt his coffee.

  Sue Woodward, meanwhile, became a school celebrity. For the first few weeks after Trevor’s arrest, the library was packed every lunchtime with people wanting to see her cool karate moves. It was only later on, when all the fuss had died down, that Graham and I managed to have a chat with her.

  “Have you been to martial arts classes?” Graham finally managed to ask one quiet lunchtime.

  “No,” said Sue.

  “Then how…?”

  “I read a lot,” she said with a shrug. “It’s surprising how much you can learn from books.”

  poison pen

  Tanya Landman is the author of many books for children, including Waking Merlin and Merlin’s Apprentice, The World’s Bellybutton and The Kraken Snores, and three stories featuring the characters Flotsam and Jetsam. Of Poison Pen, the seventh title in her popular murder mystery series, Tanya says, “When the first Poppy Fields book was published I was sent off on a promotional tour and had great fun devising murder plots from the eye-poppingly gruesome suggestions from the audience. It occurred to me later that a book festival – with envious undercurrents and hidden tensions – would be a perfect setting for another mystery.”

  Tanya is also the author of two novels for teenagers: Apache, which was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal and the Booktrust Teenage Fiction Prize, and The Goldsmith’s Daughter, which was nominated for the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize. Since 1992, Tanya has also been part of Storybox Theatre. She lives with her family in Devon.

  You can find out more about Tanya Landman

  and her books by visiting her website at

  www.tanyalandman.com

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously. All statements, activities, stunts, descriptions, information and material of any other kind contained herein are included for entertainment purposes only and should not be relied on for accuracy or replicated, as they may result in injury.

  First published 2010 by Walker Books Ltd

  87 Vauxhall Walk, London SE11 5HJ

  © 2010 Tanya Landman

  The right of Tanya Landman to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, taping and recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.

  British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data: a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

  ISBN 978-1-4063-4253-6 (ePub)

  www.walker.co.uk