Bride & Groom

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
    Published by the Penguin Group
    Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
    375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
    Penguin Group (Canada), 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M4V 3B2, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
    Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England
    Penguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.)
    Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.)
    Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi—110 017, India
    Penguin Group (NZ), Cnr. Airborne and Rosedale Roads, Albany, Auckland 1310, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.)
    Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
     
    Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England
    This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
     
    BRIDE & GROOM
     
    A Berkley Prime Crime Book / published by arrangement with the author
     
    PRINTING HISTORY
    Berkley Prime Crime hardcover edition / February 2004
    Berkley Prime Crime mass-market edition / January 2005
     
    Copyright © 2004 by Susan Conant.
    Cover design by Jill Boltin.
    Cover illustration by Jeff Walker.
    Text design by Kristin del Rosario.
     
    All rights reserved.
    No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.
    Purchase only authorized editions.
    For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
    375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
     
    ISBN: 0-425-20074-4
     
    Berkley Prime Crime Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
    375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
    The name BERKLEY PRIME CRIME and the BERKLEY PRIME CRIME design are trademarks belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
     
    PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
     
    10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
     
    If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for the “stripped book.”
     

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
     
    For the appearance of Alaskan malamute BISS American International Ch. Quinault’s Northern Exposure, CGC, WLDX, WTD, WPD, the amazing North, I am grateful to Twila Baker, who accompanies North herein. Bruce South-worth, B.S.I., responded with expertise and enthusiasm to my plea for help with a Sherlockian wedding ceremony. Thank you! I also owe profuse thanks to the American International Champion of editors, Natalee Rosenstein, to her assistant, Esther Strauss, and to Deborah Schneider, all of whom deserve special awards for patience and support. For generous help with the manuscript and proofs, many thanks to Jean Berman, Roo Grubis, Cindy Klettke, Roseann Man-dell, Dru Milligan, Phyllis Stein, Geoff Stern, Jolie Stratton, Anya Wittenborg, and Corrine Zipps.
    My boundless gratitude goes also to my own Alaskan malamutes, Frostfield Perfect Crime, CD, CGC, ThD, WPD, my very own Rowdy, and her young companion, Django, formally, Jazzland’s Got That Swing. Like the malamute puppy in this book, Django is a son of Ch. Jazzland’s Embraceable You, the beautiful Emma, and was bred by Cindy Neely. Cindy, thank you for my new muse.
     

 
     
     
    To my dear friend Meredith Kantor,
    in loving memory of Abbey, the perfect mix.
     

 
     
     
     
     
    To have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part.
     
    Solemnization of Matrimony,
    THE BOOK OF COMMON PR A Y ER
     

CHAPTER 1
     
    Between August 22 and September 2 7, as I was planning my wedding and promoting my new book, five women were bludgeoned to death in Greater Boston. The murders were premeditated. So, in a happy sense, was my forthcoming marriage to Steve Delaney, D.V.M. As for my