MURDER ON THE BEACH

Chapter 1

1. What did Sergeant Harvey tell Linda after he put the phone down, and how did Linda respond to this?

He told her that the policeman hasn’t found anything on the beach, nothing at all. He told her that she maybe imagined it, there wasn’t any death body.

2. Describe what Linda saw on the beach. What did she do?

She saw a woman with red, curly hair, she was lying with her face in the water , her clothes were wet. Linda touched her but didn’t move.

3. Why did Linda run from the beach?

She run to get help, there wasn’t anybody else on the beach, and she didn’t have her mobile phone with her so she couldn’t call for help.

4. What two reasons did the policeman give for not believing Linda?

First, the Sergeant sent a policeman to her “crime scene” and he found nothing and second there’s no report of a missing person.

Chapter 2

1. Why was Linda responsible for her “accident” with the boy on the bike?

Because she was thinking about the murder and she wasn’t looking where she was going.

2. Why was Linda unsure about telling Mark about the body on the beach?

Because she thought he wouldn’t believe her, or he would thought she was crazy.

3. How did Mark react when he heard Linda’s story? What did he think about it?

He get surprised, he thought that was an exciting story for their little village.

4. What was Mark‘s suggestion for the evening and why?

He wants to meet Linda at six o’clock so she can show him the place where she found the body on the beach and they also can look for clues together.

Chapter 3

1. What did Mark and Linda see on the beach? What surprised Linda?

They saw footprints on the beach. She surprised because it looks like at least four people have been there.

2. What happened after Mark and Linda looked up at the overhanging cliff? What did they see on the cliff top?

Somebody throw a rubbish bag into the sea, the mystery continues, suddenly they saw a man moving across the top cliff.

3. What did Linda notice when they reached the top of the cliff? Why was it important?

She noticed that the part of the beach where they had been sitting was completely hidden. She said: If somebody threw that rubbish bag from here, they had no idea we were down on the beach watching them, from here the beach looks totally deserted.

Chapter 4

1. Describe what was inside the two black rubbish bags.

Inside the first bag, they found the dead body of a small dog. Inside the second rubbish bag they found a lot of paper covered with the same signature repeated over and over again. There were a few books, which looked like old diaries, and at the bottom of the bag there were some pieces of heavy metal, old horseshoes, and some big stones.

2. Linda and Mark wanted to visit the mansion. How did Linda suggest they get permission to do that?

She said that nobody knows her on the village so she can say that she is a researching historical houses for a school project so they could entry in the mansion.

3. Why was it easy for Mark to organise a visit to the mansion?

Because Mrs Landsman lives in the mansion and she owns my father house. He was sure she won’t mind if they visit her.

4. Why was it important to Linda to look good?

Because she suppose she was interested in Mark, and want him to like her.

Chapter 5

1. Describe Mrs Landsman sister.

She had once been very beautiful but now, with her dyed blonde hair, she seemed to be trying too hard to look young. She was dressed in tight jeans, a blue designer T-shirt and a short leather jacket.

2. What did Linda learn about the older woman in the black-and-white photos?

That woman was Julia’s older sister Florence, she married with Jack Landsman, a rich banker, and they have always lived in this mansion.

3. Why it was clear to Linda that Julia was not really in demand as an actress?

Because they discovered that she had done only a work in television, and a few adverts, but she had not been in a film for ten years.

4. Why couldn’t Linda and Mark meet Julia’s sister?

Because since the death of her husband, his sister doesn’t go out a lot. She doesn’t like seeing people, and she rarely comes down from her room on the top floor.

Chapter 6

1. Name four things that were strange about the behaviour of the maid.

The maid clumsily gave them the tea; opened the packet of biscuits and left them in the middle of the table; she didn’t bring a plate, she isn’t used to having friends.

2. What did Linda and Mark notice when they went through the gate which led to the cliff?

They notice that the ground and grass were flat as if something heavy had been dragged over it.

3. Describe the handsome man in the stables?

He was dressed in fashionable clothes, more appropriate for an office than for stables, and he wore dark sunglasses.

4. What four things did Linda and mark find about on their visit to the mansion?

A mysterious sister... a maid dressed in business clothes but responsible for the gardens... and some “secret” stables.

Chapter 7

1. Where did Linda go with her parents, and why?

They have to go to London because her father’s book launch.

2. Why did Mark’s dad have an appointment at the mansion, and how could this help Linda and Mark?

Because Mrs Landsman feels comfortable with him because he’s renting her house, and she knows he’s a lawyer. So she asked him to prepare some legal documents.

3. What was the first thing Linda and Mark notice about the house when they entered?

They notice a nice clean smell immediately and the place look extremely tidy, they notice new modern furniture in the house and several expensively framed film posters of some films that Julia had told them about on their last visit.

4. Describe Mrs Landsman. What surprised Linda about her appearance?

She was wearing a white, fluffy sweater and a long black skirt. They couldn’t see her eyes because she wore dark glasses.

Linda was very surprised to see her hair. It was red and curly – just like the hair of the dead woman she had found on the beach.

Chapter 8

1. What will happen once Mrs Landsman signs the papers, according to Mark’s dad?

That she were giving to her sister a lot of control of her money. Once she signs these documents she won’t be able to make any legal decisions without Julia’s signature.

2. What did Linda notice after Julia picked up the contracts from the table?

Linda notice that she didn’t check any of the documents, but signed in all the correct places.

3. What did Mark notice about the two sisters, and what did this prove?

He noticed that the two sisters were never present at the same time.

4. What other things were suspicious during the visit to the mansion?

That Mrs Landsman wears dark glasses in the house; the fluff on Julia’s black trousers

And that she was very quick to sign those papers

Chapter 9

1. Why was there great excitement in the village?

Because on the church noticeboard, in the local newspaper and in the teahouse, appeared notices about announcing a film was going to be made at Carlsbrook Mansion. The notices said that local villagers were needed for some of the scenes.

2. Why were Linda and Mark surprised when they saw Cindy and Edward?

In Carlsbrook Mansion were a new maid, she took them (Linda and Mark and a lot of villagers) inside to meet Cindy, who was new a very important person, responsible for the casting. She introduced the villagers to the director of the new film, Edward Caravaggio. He approached the villagers, and Linda and Mark were surprised to see that it was Edward, the man “responsible for the garden and stables”.

3. What did the vicar say about the time before Mr Landsman’s death?

After Mr Landsman’s death, everything changed at the mansion, nobody went to the church on Sunday, and he didn’t see them anymore.

4. Explain why Linda thought the film was “very autobiographical”?

Because the film is about Julia’s life.

Chapter 10

1. What did the villagers have to do in the film?

The villagers generally had to be themselves – playing normal people from the village.

2. How did Mark and Linda get into the mansion? What did Linda suggest they do there?

Linda and Mark noticed that this time the side door was half-open. Nobody was looking so they decided to go in. She suggests visiting Mrs Landsman.

3. Describe what Linda and Mark saw in the last room on the second floor.

They saw a very elegant bedroom with dark green walls and a dark green carpet. There was a green, marble table under the window with lots of make-up, a pair of large sunglasses and a polystyrene head with a curly red wig on it! The white fluffy sweater and the long black skirt that Mrs Landsman had worn when she had come down to sign the papers.

4. What was the suspicion that was confirmed?

That Julia is an actress – she is playing the part of her own sister!

Chapter 11

1. According to Linda, why did Julia kill her sister?

Because Julia needed money to re-start her carrier and Florence didn’t want to give it to her. Julia gradually sent away the old servants and isolated her sister from the community. Then she found two accomplices, Edward and Cindy, and last month she finally got the opportunity to kill her sister on the deserted beach behind their garden.

2. Why was Linda so sure that the body on the beach was Mrs Landsman’s?

Because Linda saw the photos of Mrs Landsman when she was younger, and she had red curly hair.

3. How did Mark explain the body disappearing?

Mark explains that they could have taken the body up those steps from the beach to their garden, and kept in the stables until evening. They saw marks in the ground as if something heavy had been dragged across it. They probably planned to throw the body to the sea as soon as it became dark, which was when Linda and Mark were there.

4. How did Linda explain the dead dog and the papers with the signatures?

Linda explains that the signatures were Julia’s because she had to practise signing her sister name so that they would look authentic on the documents. As for the dog, well the vicar told them that the dog was very close to Florence. Maybe he didn’t like Julia and reacted badly to her.

Chapter 12

1. What was Linda’s plan?

Linda entered the mansion with her bag and quickly climbed the stair to the last bedroom. The room was very tidy and the clothes, wig and sunglasses and disappeared. Linda looked in the cupboards and finally she found them inside a bag. She put on the white sweater, the sunglasses and finally the red wig. She looked quickly at herself in the mirror - yes ... she was a perfect Mrs Landsman and she was ready for action.

2. How did Linda make the bedroom look like a murder scene?

Satisfied with the effect, Linda then start to create a “scene murder”. She took out a bottle of red liquid, hidden in a cloth. He poured fake blood all around her and pushed over some ornaments to create a violent scene. Then Linda went to the window, opened it and stated shouting, “Help! Help...Murder!”

3. What were Linda’s instructions for Mark?

Downstairs on the grass, Mark has already called the police on his mobile phone, according to Linda’s instructions.

4. Explain why Linda and Mark were the only ones who really understand Julia’s confusion at her sister’s “murder”?

Because they know that Julia killed her sister.

Chapter 13

1. What did Linda do to make police believe her?

Linda shows him the bag with the make-up, a red wig, dark glasses, clothes and some pieces of paper with signature on it.

2. Who was in the Range Rover and what happened to them?

In the Range Rover it was “the director” Edward and the “leading actress” Julia, after a brief but dramatic chase. They were caught in the labyrinth of small Cornish roads.

3. What did the police divers find in the deep water near the cliffs? What did it contain?

A group of police divers found a large black rubbish bag in the deep water near the cliff. It contained the decomposing but recognisable body of the unfortunate Florence Landsman.

4. Why were Mark and Linda disappointed with the end of the story?

Because Sergeant Harris told them he didn’t think that their testimony was necessary.

5. What judgement was given to Julia, Edward and Cindy?

Julia received a life sentence for premeditated murder and Edward was given five years in prison as an accomplice and for disposing of the body and Cindy was given community service.

Epilogue

1. Why did Mark and Linda decide not to answer their mobile phones and to stay in their houses?

After receiving lots of calls at all hours of the day and night and having reporters push microphones in their faces, Linda began to understand why famous people hate the media, so they decided not to answer their mobile phones and stay in their houses.

2. How did Linda and Mark become famous?

They became famous when a weekly magazine offered them a lot of money for an exclusive story.

3. What did the butcher’s wife tell tourist?

She told them that the blood Linda used for her “murder scene” was from one of her best fillet steaks.

Why do you think she did this?

Because in this way the tourist will buy his steak and she will have more money.