Character Showcase- Magnificent Bugiardini and the Empress Marisol

The Magnificent Bugiardini and his assistant, make their living by “communicating” with the dead, on behalf of the living – or as Detective Inspector Deverell says, “on behalf of the gullible”. He does not believe in the supernatural, but he knows that seances and psychic readings have become a popular past time. Also a lucrative one, for those who know how to practice the art with enough aplomb.

Julius and Marianne Vӓsterveld are just such a couple. They make a good living out of the morbid curiosity and desperate hopes of those who have lost loved ones. While Julius plays the role of “The Magnificent Bugiardini”, complete with dramatic black cape and menacing demeanor, his wife is truly the one with the talents. Or so she claims. Through her “spirit guide”—who goes by the name, “Empress Marisol” --Marianne communicates with those on the “other side”.

The couple have often stayed at ‘The Brindle Horse’ hotel, where they find many wealthy and elderly guests, eager to part with their coin, in exchange for a conversation with some long-dead relatives. As it happens, they were staying at the hotel ten years ago, when the notorious Mrs. Siddaway was arrested for murdering her young lover. Now, here they are again, just when another man goes missing and another woman is found holding a bloodied weapon.

Is it more than coincidence?

Detective Inspector Deverell is acquainted with their act and knows that they have been present, in the past, at house parties where valuable trinkets disappear. This time it’s a man missing, rather than a priceless painting or a diamond bracelet, but could they be involved? He does not trust the pair of them and he’s not fooled, or distracted, by the “Empress Marisol’s” flirtatious gestures. 

Something is going on at ‘The Brindle Horse’ hotel, and he has a strong feeling that this couple of confidence tricksters are somehow at the bottom of it.

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Get on the case with Detective Inspector Deverell on July 5th or pre-order your copy of A LOVELINESS OF LADYBIRDS here.

(Image used here: James Tissot, A Woman of Ambition 1883-85)