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Framed — The Uninvited Guest
It is unsettling to be trapped, whether by fate, misfortune, or something altogether more sinister.
Had we arrived just a couple of days later, we might have avoided becoming entangled in murder. But as it was, we arrived precisely when we did — at the very moment the first heavy flakes began to fall — unaware that the blizzard wouldn’t be the only thing closing in on us.
The journey to Stohl Manor, a grand and imposing hotel nestled deep in the Austrian Alps, had been as treacherous as it had been beautiful. Snow-laden firs lined the narrow roads, their branches bending under the weight of Mother Nature’s first true winter storm. My companion, Christian, had spent much of the drive in contemplative silence, gazing out at the white expanse, his keen mind no doubt turning over some puzzle or another.
As for myself, Alf Ramsey, a former officer and now companion to the greatest living detective, well at least according to the New York Times, I was less enthralled by the scenery and more concerned with the steadily worsening weather. The driver assured us that the manor was only a short distance ahead, but as the wind howled through the tree and the road vanished beneath a thickening blanket of snow, I could not help but wonder if we should turn back.
