Case of Scotch

Harry DeMaio

Description

Imagine if Sherlock Holmes was a bear. Book three in the Octavius Bear series starts at Bearmoral Castle in the Shetland Islands, home of the exquisite and very rich Bearoness Belinda Bearnaise Bruin Bear (nee Black). She and Octavius married in Book Two but are keeping up separate residences in Scotland and Cincinnati. What starts out as a routine visit by Octavius and his crime fighting team, Maury, Otto, L.Condor, the Frau and Colonel, swiftly turns into startling tales of seemingly impossible sabotage against Scottish oil rigs in the North Sea and murder at the castle. Chita reappears as the owner of an oil rig bequeathed to her by a petroleum wildcat, now-deceased.

Informations

• Publié par: Andrews UK
• Date de parution: 28 mars 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781780928395
• Langue: English

Extrait

Title page
The Case of Scotch
Volume Three of
The Case Books of Octavius Bear
Harry DeMaio
“Alternative Universe Mysteries for Adult Animal Lovers”



Publisher information
2015 digital version by Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
© Copyright 2015 Harry DeMaio
The right of Harry DeMaio to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998.
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without express prior written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted except with express prior written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Any opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and not necessarily those of MX Publishing.
MX Publishing
335 Princess Park Manor, Royal Drive,
London, N11 3GX
www.mxpublishing.co.uk
Cover design compiled www.staunch.com



Dedication
Dedicated to GTP
A Most Extraordinary Bear



Acknowledgements
These books have evolved over a long period of time and under a wide range of influences and circumstances. I am indebted to many people for helping to bring Octavius and his cohorts to the printed page. Thanks most especially to my wife, Virginia, for her insights and clever suggestions as well as her unfailing enthusiasm for the project and patience with its author. To my sons, Mark and Andrew and their spouses, Cindy and Lorraine, for helping make these tomes more readable and audience friendly. To Cathy Hartnett, cheerleader-extraordinaire for her eagerness to see this alternate universe take form. To Jack Magan, Dan Andriacco and Zohreh Zand for their assistance and support.
Thanks to the members of the Monday Morning Writers Group for their help and encouragement.
If, in spite of all this help, some errors or inconsistencies have crept through, the buck stops here. Needless to say, all of the characters, situations, and narratives are fictional.



The Development of Civilization Volume 3 Part 1 - Our Origins
(From “An Introduction to Faunapology” by Octavius Bear Ph.D.)
About 100,000 years ago, according to scientific experts, a colossal solar flare blasted out from our Sun, creating gigantic magnetic storms here on Earth. These highly charged electrical tempests caused startling physical and psychological imbalances in the then population of our world. The complete nervous systems of some species were totally destroyed. For example, “Homo Sapiens” lost all mental and motor capabilities and rapidly became extinct. Less developed species exposed to the radiation were affected differently. Four-footed and finned mammals, birds and reptiles suddenly found themselves capable of complex thought, enhanced emotions, self-awareness, social consciousness and the ability to communicate, sometimes orally, sometimes telepathically, often both. Both speech production and speech perception slowly progressed with the evolution of tongues, lips, vocal cords and enhanced ear to brain connections. Many species developed opposable digits, fingers or claws, further accelerating civilized progress. Some others (most fish and underground dwellers) were shielded from the radiation and remained only as sentient as they were before the blast. This event is referred to as The Big Shock . It remains under intensive study.



The Players in Volume 3
Octavius Bear - Narcoleptic war hero; consulting detective; scientist; inventor; seeker of justice; mega-billionaire owner of Universal Ursine Industries; gourmet/gourmand; somewhat sedentary and grouchy just on general principles.
Mauritius (Maury) Meerkat - Part-time narrator; assistant to Octavius; African émigré with a French-Dutch background; clever with a shady history.
Inspector Bruce Wallaroo – Irrepressible but brilliant marsupial; an international law and order genius from Down Under; often calls on Octavius and Maury for support.
Bearoness Belinda Béarnaise Bruin Bear (nee Black) – Now wife of Octavius; very rich widow of Bearon Byron Bruin living in Bearmoral Castle in the Shetlands; Owner-pilot of the last flying Concorde SST; Gorgeous polar superstar, with the Aquashow, Some Like It Cold.
Otto the Magnificent - AKA Hairy Otter - An absolutely terrible illusionist magician, Otto the Magnificent escaped the claws of super villain Imperius Drake but not before he developed some amazing powers courtesy of Imperius genetic alterations.
Chita - Beautiful, fascinating, clever, sexy, immoral and highly independent feline who owns a North Sea oil rig. Chita reappears in each book as a principal character in her own right.
Cyd - Chita’s probably fictitious twin sister.
Frau Schuylkill – Octavius’ beautiful, Swiss she-wolf housekeeper/cook/pilot with many other mysterious and military talents. She rescued Octavius from his dive off the Breakurbach Fallswhile he was struggling with his nemesis, Imperius Drake.
Wyatt Where – Another wolf. Former military intelligence officer who had retired to a security post at the Bank of Lake Michigan in Chicago and then quit to join Octavius.
Howard Watt - A porcupine. High tech security authority who also left the bank with Wyatt to join Octavius. A laser and particle beam accelerator expert and overall scientific whiz kid.
Bearyl and Bearnice Blanc - Belinda’s stunning twin polar sidekicks; Actress and singer, respectively; Co-pilot and flight engineer of Belinda’s SST.
L. Condor - Andean Condor cyber-net genius with a 12 foot wingspan.
Bearon Byron Bear - Deceased husband of Bearoness Belinda.
Leperello - Himalayan Snow Leopard and singing partner of Bearnice Blanc.
Fetlock Holmes - The Great Horse Detective and sometime associate of Octavius Bear.
Hamish - A wild boar and retainer of Bearmoral Castle.
The Bruins - Belinda’s rotten in-laws from the Bearents Sea polar community.
Lady Albearta Bruin - Bearon Byron’s Aunt.
Sir Ethelbeart Bruin - Lady Albearta’s husband.
Alistair and Ursula - First cousins to Byron’s father.
Roary and Bruinhilde - Alistair and Ursula’s son and daughter.
Dame Bearbara (Bearbi) da Savile-Row– Polar publisher and editor-in-chief of a number of female ursine magazines.
Clarence - Polar Bear - Bearbi’s photographer.
Dougal - Shetland Sheep Dog - Gameskeeper of Bearmoral Castle.
Bearmoral Shetland Sheep
Dolly, Holly, Molly and Polly - Housemaids and probable clones.
Mrs. McRadish – Chief Cook.
Harold - Sea Otter in charge of the castle’s beaches, pools and watercraft.
Doctor “Odd” Vark - Aardvark - Chief Geneticist at Universal Ursine Industries.
Doctor Chiti BingBang - Orangutan - Chief Physician at Universal Ursine Industries.
Superintendent Nigel Wardlaw of Shetland Yard - Bearded Collie - The Scottish Police.
Lion and Unicorn - Proprietors of the Baltasound pub of the same name.
Fergus - Spokescat for the North Sea Oil Rig Wildcat Roughnecks.
The Castle Pipers - A suspicious band of Skye and Dandy Dinmont Terriers.
Colonel McNeigh - Clydesdale, Royal Army, Commandant - Abeardeen Security Force.
Madame Honoria Heifer – Cow - Infuriating voice coach for Bearnice and Lepi.
North Sea Wildcat Oil Rig Owners:
Cathcart, Gordon, McRae, MacDowell, MacDonald, MacDuff and Pringle.
Wing Commander Stewart, Royal Air Force Retired - Red Fox.
The Prince of Whales - Just who you would think.
Marlin - Dolphin (sic) - the Prince’s Chief Scientist, Magician and part time Jester.
Sir Flipsalot - Dolphin - The Prince’s equerry.
Locations in Volume 3: Bearmoral Castle, Unst and Baltasound in the Shetlands, Edinbeargh, Glascow; Abeardeen.



Prologue
Abeardeen, Scotland
Can a platform with oil drilling gear
Simply drift off and then disappear?
Common sense would say NO!
But it seems to be so.
Yet the reason is not very clear!
“Are ya daft, cat? You can’t just lose an entire oil rig.”
“I didna say we lost it. I said it keeps disappearin’ and reappearin’.”
“Then somethin’s awry with your radar, yer twit.”
“It’s nae just the radar. We’ve been losin’ radio contact and when we sent a chopper out to look, it was nae at the GPS coordinates it was supposed to be at.”
“Next you’ll be tellin’ me they’ve gone off to a different world or the Loch Ness monster ate them.”
‘Nae, I’m tellin’ya someone or somethin’ is playin’ fast and loose. When the rig reappeared on our screens, and we called the cats out there, they said they had no idea what we were talkin’ about.”
“And neither do I!”
“This is fourth time it’s happened in the last two days, and not always on my watch, and not always the same rig.”
“Why am I only hearin’ about it now?”
“Because we knew your reaction would be exactly what it is. Ya think we’re balmy or our equipment has gone south or both!”
“First thing you’ve said I agree with.”
“I havena’ got a superstitious bone in ma body, but I’m tellin’ ya, somethin’ weird is happenin’. And we’ve already spent a braw penny in overtime and techie specialists checkin’ and re-checkin’ our equipment. Nothin’! It’s in grand fettle.”
“Well, I’m nae gonna call for a general shut-down, if that’s wha ya have in mind.”
“I think we should have a wee bit of