Sophie Gee

He hung by an arm from the beam in front of the ledge, his feet in their excellent shoes, swinging limply two or three yards from the ground.

The light fell on him squarely.

It found his gay scarf.

and the gap of good shirt between his waistcoat and his trousers top where his stomach was arched to take his weight, and every man in the cellar saw the tragic face, the forehead on which the coarse hair grew low, and the steady eyes regarding them so boldly as he looked down for men he knew.

Then he dropped lightly to the ground and...

and a smile split a wide, thin-lipped cat's mouth in which the teeth were regular and beautiful.

Dad's back, he said, and his voice was smooth and careful.

Only the shadow, flitting like a frown across his forehead, and his pallor, which was paper-like, betrayed his weariness.

His spirit danced behind his shallow eyes, mocking everything.

That's an amazing passage, isn't it?

It's the appearance of the psychopath.

It's incredibly creepy.

And yeah, you're right.

You can really see Jack Nicholson doing it, can't you?

In fact, Jack Nicholson is Jack Havoc.

All right.

So let's get into a kind of some backstory about Marjorie Allingham.

She's a Pulp Fiction nepo baby.

We completely should.

And when we do it, you know what we need to include?