Charlotte Collins sat close to the fire in the small parlour at Hunsford Parsonage … Her cheeks were flushed from the heat and her eyes dull. ‘He was a simple clergyman. He wrote sermons and tended the garden. How could he have made an enemy?’
This is the question which is asked by everyone when the dead body of Mr Collins if discovered in the grounds of Lady Catherine de Bourgh’s mansion, Rosings. He’s been stabbed. Those investigating, the local magistrate and village constable, quickly come to the conclusion that only one man had both motive and means to commit the murder, and that is Mr Bennet. He’s been staying at the parsonage, together with his daughter Mary, with a view to resolving the matter of the entail upon his estate. Obviously, with Mr Collins out of the picture, his future might be brighter…