ARTHUR BUCHANAN MYSTERIES

1.- Murder at Liddel Water

A farmer had discovered the corpse of his wife at Liddel Water, among Scotland and England, between Dumfries and Galloway and Cumbria counties. Mr. and Mrs. Buchanan had a son in common named Harry, who was five years old. For Harry, Sir Arthur Walter Buchanan, the Police Scotland Detective Chief Inspector would solve his wife's murder even if he had to break the Law or if he had to do something else much more important but worse such as killing someone to avenge it.

Arthur Buchanan was married to Jane Agnew, the new manager of Sir Joseph Agnew & Co., an enterprise focused on making ready meals. He was twenty five; he was born in Glasgow, on December the 21st 1996, in a noble family from the Scottish highlands but he lived most of his childhood and youth in Cambusmore, Stirling. When he began his career as a policeman serving the Police Scotland, he moved to Galloway where he met Jane Agnew and Wendy Dunbar. He fell in love with Jane Agnew and Wendy Dunbar loved him until the day she would get Arthur, despite his relationship with Jane.

He was tall and hefty. His hair was curly and dark chestnut and his eyes were dark chestnut too. He had a beard and a french moustache and he liked to dress well; if it was possible, to dress as the men of the Victorian epoch. His parents were Sir George Buchanan and Madam Louella Matheson; they were the owners of a pub in Stirling and the landlords of some properties in Stirlingshire, Dunbartonshire and Renfrewshire counties.

Despite the body being between Scotland and England, the investigating judge who was responsible for that case decided to request the Northernshire Police Detective Chief Inspector, Sir John Makgill, to look into the case. So that, Sir Arthur Buchanan offered his help to John Makgill who accepted it given that the forensic surgeon had discovered, because of the scars in the victim's body, that the guilty of the murder was a serial killer.

A witness of the murder described the guilty as a young adult male, who maybe was thirty years old, whose hair was black and whose eyes were green. He was trim, robust and strong, so the Chief Inspector Sir Arthur Buchanan supposed that the victim, his wife Jane Agnew, had fought her killer before passing away. Nevertheless, the witness stated that he had heard three gunshots prior to the discovery.

Her name was Anne Cameron and she was Jane Agnew's assistant. She was twenty three years old and she was employed by Jane Agnew when she became manager of her father's enterprise. "Mrs. Buchanan ordered me to bring her here cause she had a meeting with someone.", said Miss. Cameron. "I remained inside the car when the murder had happened. As it was dark, I couldn't see anything!", Anne added.

John Makgill and Arthur Buchanan came back to the police station while a police officer took a statement to Miss. Cameron. They looked for information about the prior deaths in the old files and they discovered that the killer only murdered blonde and young women. For this reason John Makgill gathered that the murderer had a problem with a blonde and young woman in his youth.

He asked Arthur about which and how were Jane Agnew's friends and if he could describe them. He told his companion that four of them were young and attractive men who often went out and got themselves drunk after the workday, and that one of them was his wife's age. His wife and this one were fellow students in their youth. The rest of Jane Agnew's friends were blonde and young women, as their only witness, Miss. Cameron.

The Chief Inspector Makgill decided to interview Mrs. Buchanan's friends whereas the Chief Inspector Arthur Buchanan was interrogating his father-in-law about the corporate finance of his firm and also about his daughter's finances. According to Thomas Agnew's statement, his firm earnings had increased twenty percent every year since the last two decades and his daughter's finances were quite similar to his enterprise. Nonetheless, when they questioned again Miss. Cameron affirmed that her boss, Jane Agnew, had financial issues and that she had decided to ask for a loan to one of her friends, James Campbell, who was the owner of a bank in Scotland.