Classic crime and mystery fiction
Little, Brown Book Group My Cousin Rachel
Book SynopsisNOW A MAJOR FILM STARRING RACHEL WEISZ AND SAM CLAFIN 'Du Maurier is a storyteller whose sole aim is to bewitch and beguile' NEW YORK TIMES'Du Maurier has no equal' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH' . . . one of her best novels, ingeniously contrived as to plot, successfully realized as to characters' KIRKUS REVIEWS 'I threw the piece of paper on the fire. She saw it burn . . . 'Orphaned at an early age, Philip Ashley is raised by his benevolent cousin, Ambrose. Resolutely single, Ambrose delights in making Philip his heir, knowing he will treasure his beautiful Cornish estate. But Philip's world is shattered when Ambrose sets off on a trip to Florence. There he falls in love and marries. Then he suddenly dies in suspicious circumstances. In almost no time at all, the new widow - Philip's cousin Rachel - turns up in England. Despite himself, Philip is drawn to this beautiful, sophisticated, mysterious woman like a moth to the flame. And yet . . . might she have had a hand in Ambrose's death?Trade ReviewShe wrote exciting plots, she was highly skilled at arousing suspense, and she was, too, a writer of fearless originality * Guardian *Du Maurier has no equal * Sunday Telegraph *This comes closer to Rebecca than anything Miss du Maurier has done and is, I think, one of her best novels, ingeniously contrived as to plot, successfully realized as to characters * Kirkus Reviews *From the first page . . . the reader is back in the moody, brooding atmosphere of Rebecca * New York Times Book Review *No other popular writer has so triumphantly defied classification . . . She satisfied all the questionable criteria of popular fiction, and yet satisfied the exacting requirements of "real literature", something very few novelists ever doIn the same category as REBECCA, but an even more consummate piece of storytelling * GUARDIAN *From the first page . . . the reader is back in the moody, brooding atmosphere of Rebecca * NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW *
£9.49
Little, Brown Book Group Blood On The Dining-Room Floor
Book SynopsisWhy should blood on the floor make anyone mad against automobiles and telephones and desks. Why. This is what happened. There were dogs in the house but they were no bother. Listen carefully.'In the spring of 1933 Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas were living in their country house at Bilignin, France. With money earned from the best-selling 'Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas' they installed electricity, had a telephone put in their house and bought a large car. But with these improvements came trouble. Servants came and went. Finally a man named Jean and his Polish wife were employed. A friend came to stay, but her car was tampered with and the telephone no longer worked. The servants were dismissed. Later that summer in nearby Belley, Madame Pernollet was found sprawled on the courtyard of her husband's hotel. Five days later she was dead. Was it an accident? Suicide? Murder? As Alice B. Toklas said, 'there was no denying one could become accustomed to murdering...'.
£13.79
Gwasg Carreg Gwalch Mynd Fel Bom
Book SynopsisDetective Daf Davies is called to deal with an explosion at a local train station; the obvious assumption is that ISIS has reached rural Montgomeryshire. There is no room to relax as Daf attends courses on how to deal with terrorists and dicovers a body.
£11.06
Gwasg Carreg Gwalch Dan Fygythiad
Book Synopsis
£6.80
Gwasg Carreg Gwalch Y Ferch ar y Cei
Book SynopsisThe heroine is a female detective with connections to a tv current affairs programme in Cardiff. Her complex personal life is weaved into a story about serious offences in the city, with touches of humour and satire to appeal to many who are familiar with the lives of Welsh-speaking communities in Cardiff.
£11.92
Gwasg Carreg Gwalch Dan Gysgod y Coed
Book SynopsisDetective Jeff Evans and his family welcome a puppy to their home. Meira notices chalk marks by the garden gate, and it becomes obvious that someone is stealing dogs in the area. As Jeff delves deeper, he is drawn into the violent under-world of right-wing movements.
£10.62
Gwasg Carreg Gwalch Dan y Ddaear
Book SynopsisWhen a body is found on farmland, everyone is convinced that it is the body of the farm''s son who disappeared five years previously. But who killed him, and why?
£11.92
arima publishing Murder After Hours
Book Synopsis
£9.86
£16.71
£16.71
Alma Books Ltd London Bridge
Book SynopsisA major work by one of France’s most important authors of the twentieth century, London Bridge is a riotous novel about the London underworld during the First World War. Picking up where its predecessor Guignol’s Band left off, Céline’s narrator recounts his disastrous partnership with an eccentric Frenchman intent on financing a trip to Tibet by winning a gas-mask competition; his uneasy relationship with London’s pimps and whores and their common nemesis, Inspector Matthew of Scotland Yard; and, most scandalous of all, his affair with a colonel’s daughter. Written in Céline’s trademark style – a headlong rush of slang, brusque observation and quirky lyricism, delivered in machine-gun bursts of prose and ellipses – London Bridge recreates the dark days during the Great War with sordid verisimilitude and desperate hilarity.Trade ReviewWriting as alive as speech. -- Simone de BeauvoirIf the French demand bad behaviour from their novelists, they got more than they bargained for with the antisemitic Céline. But they were also getting the prose stylist of the century. -- Tibor Fischer * The Guardian *The most blackly humorous and disenchanted voice in all of French literature… * London Review of Books *
£11.69
Alma Books Ltd The Dream Woman
Book SynopsisWhen Francis Raven is roused from his sleep on the eve of his birthday and confronted by the sight of a woman trying to stab him, he is unsure whether she is real or an apparition. Years later, against the wishes of his mother, he marries Alicia, a woman with a strange resemblance to the mysterious visitor, who ends up attacking him on his birthday, before vanishing from his life. Is Francis's wife a ghost, a demon or a living human being? And will the prophecy of the night-time visitation be fulfilled one day? Originally published in Household Words in 1855 as 'The Ostler', but recast and expanded two decades later, The Dream Woman is a powerfully dark and suspenseful multi-narrative novella from the master of the mystery genre and the author of some of the most enduringly popular novels of the Victorian era.Trade ReviewA master of plot and situation. -- T.S. Eliot
£7.59
Alma Books Ltd The Moonstone
Book SynopsisWhen Rachel Verinder's legacy of a priceless Indian diamond is stolen, all the evidence indicates that it is her beloved, Franklin Blake, who is guilty. Around this central axis of crime and thwarted love, Collins constructs an ingenious plot of teasing twists and surprises, and an elaborate multi-voiced narrative that sustains the tension all the way to its stunning ending. Described by T.S. Eliot as the first, the longest and the best of modern English detective novels, Wilkie Collins's The Moonstone is an important precursor of the modern mystery and suspense genres.Trade ReviewThe Moonstone is the first, the longest and the best of modern English detective novels. -- T.S. Eliot Probably the very finest detective story ever written. -- Dorothy L. Sayers You can't help feeling that Wilkie Collins was more in tune with modernity than his friend Charles Dickens. -- Nicholas Lezard * The Guardian *
£7.59
Alma Books Ltd The Tragedy of the Korosko: Annotated Edition
Book SynopsisAs a group of Western tourists travel down the Nile on the steamer Korosko towards the historical sites near Egypt’s southern border, they are kidnapped by a marauding band of dervishes who demand their conversion to Islam. Cut off from the world, deprived of the comforts of civilized society and shaken in their beliefs, they will have to overcome the most arduous obstacles to regain their freedom and safety. Written towards the end of the Victorian era and permeated with a sense of fear and uncertainty, The Tragedy of the Korosko calls into question the moral authority of Europe’s presence in the Arab peninsula and the cultural supremacy of British colonialism, all the while demonstrating Conan Doyle’s unparalleled ability as a storyteller.Trade ReviewA surprisingly modern novel. -- Tony Robinson
£7.59
Alma Books Ltd Arsène Lupin vs Sherlock Holmes: New Translation
Book SynopsisA battle of wits between the nimblest French thief and the shrewdest British detective This volume contains two adventures which pit the gentleman thief Arsène Lupin against Sherlock Holmes, the world’s most famous detective. In ‘The Blonde Lady’, Holmes must discover the identity of a mysterious female thief who is linked to Lupin, while in ‘The Jewish Lamp’ he finds out that the theft of a lamp containing a precious jewel conceals an astonishing secret. While their tone is at times ironic and firmly tongue-in-cheek, the two stories in Arsène Lupin vs Sherlock Holmes bear all the hallmarks of classic detective fiction, and will put a smile on the lips and set the pulses racing of all fans of mystery and detective fiction.Trade ReviewTwo of the greatest fictional crime characters ever between the pages of one book - fabulous! * Parents in Touch *For any crime fiction fan this is a must read as there is enough mystery and suspense to keep them hooked, but for any reader these intriguing, witty stories will hold their attention too. * Outside in World *
£7.59
Alma Books Ltd The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes: Illustrated by
Book Synopsis“I know every move of your game… It has been a duel between you and me, Mr Holmes… If you are clever enough to bring destruction upon me, rest assured that I shall do as much to you.” With Sherlock Holmes’s reputation as the scourge of the criminal underworld preceding him, the ingenious detective, with the aid of Dr Watson, is confronted in these stories by some of his most fiendishly difficult cases yet. The collection culminates in ‘The Final Problem’, in which the evil Professor Moriarty is plotting the detective’s downfall. Soon Holmes and Watson are led across Europe in a deadly pursuit of their devilish quarry, until the final showdown in Switzerland, at the precipitous Reichenbach Falls…Table of ContentsThe Silver Blaze The Yellow Face Adventure of The Stockbroker's Clerk The Gloria Scott The Musgrave Ritual The Reigate Puzzle The Crooked Man The Resident Patient The Greek Interpreter The Naval Treaty The Final Problem
£6.99
Alma Books Ltd Mlle de Scuderi
Book SynopsisAs Paris is shaken by a spate of murderous robberies, the aristocratic Mademoiselle de Scuderi pens a poem to poke fun at the cowardly lovers who now fear to go out at night to see their mistresses. But when she receives an unexpected visit from a young man, who gives her a box of jewels with a note thanking her for supporting the robbers' cause, the elderly writer is plunged into a dangerous web of passion, intrigue and murder. First published in 1819 to great acclaim, and displaying all the author's trademark wit and ingenuity, E.T.A. Hoffmann's tale has inspired and delighted writers and readers ever since, and remains a benchmark for all modern crime novels.Trade ReviewReading Mademoiselle de Scudéri, one is astonished to discover that Hoffmann, yet again, was a precursor, the true inventor… of so much that makes literature pleasurable. -- Gilbert AdairE.T.A. Hoffmann belongs to the eternal guild of poets and visionaries who take revenge on the life that is tormenting them by showing it examples of forms more colourful and diverse than reality can manage to convey. -- Stefan Zweig
£6.93
Alma Books Ltd The Haunted Hotel: Annotated Edition
Book SynopsisAn enigmatic countess is tormented by a dark secret. An English aristocrat, Lord Montbarry, falls ill and dies in a decaying Venetian palazzo. An Italian servant disappears, and his wife receives a note containing one thousand pounds. With the palazzo now transformed into a luxury hotel, and the late Lord Montbarry’s family in residence, these strands begin to come together, yet strange and macabre events are occurring, and the dead seem unable to rest.Trade ReviewWilkie Collins is the finest practitioner of the novel of sensation. * The Daily Telegraph *
£8.20
Alma Books Ltd His Last Bow: Annotated Edition
Book SynopsisA mysterious murder near Esher, a gruesome delivery of two human ears packed in coarse salt, the disappearance of secret submarine plans, the sudden descent into madness of two brothers – these are only some of the apparently unsolvable cases contained in this volume, which the great sleuth, assisted by his trusted friend Doctor Watson, is challenged to clear up with the aid of his sagacity and unrivalled analytical skills. Published a quarter of a century after the first book of Holmes adventures, and including the famous titular story His Last Bow: An Epilogue of Sherlock Holmes, this collection shows the detective’s powers of deduction at their most dazzling, proving that Conan Doyle’s ability to entertain and surprise remains undiminished.
£6.99
Alma Books Ltd The Valley of Fear: Annotated Edition
Book SynopsisWhen Sherlock Holmes receives a bungled tip-off from one of the agents of his nemesis, Professor Moriarty, the great detective hopes to avoid a murderous crime and bring the would-be assassin to justice. But on being informed soon afterwards that one John Douglas of Birlstone Manor has been found with his head blown apart by a shotgun, he realizes that he is too late. And so begins an enthralling tale of revenge, vigilantism and secret societies, one that transports the reader from the English countryside to the violent world of the American frontier of the 1860s. The fourth and final novel in the Sherlock Holmes canon, originally published in the Strand magazine between September 1914 and May 1915, The Valley of Fear is a riveting whodunit that showcases all of the classic elements that have ensured the enduring popularity of the stories featuring Conan Doyle's most famous creation.
£6.99
Alma Books Ltd The Jews Beech
Book SynopsisBased on a true story, The Jew's Beech centres on two brutal murders in rural Westphalia the first of a local forester and the second of a Jewish moneylender near a beech tree and the impact these events have on the life of Friedrich Mergel, a local herdsman with a turbulent family history.A prototype of the murder mystery and a thoughtful examination of village society, this intriguing novella contains hints of the Gothic and the uncanny ominous thunderstorms, mysterious disappearances, eerie doppelgängers and grisly discoveries in the depths of the forest as well as a famously ambiguous climax.
£7.59
Ebury Publishing Sherlock: The Return of Sherlock Holmes
The hit BBC series Sherlock has introduced a new generation to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary detective. This edition of the classic collection of stories, with an introduction by Sherlock creator Mark Gatiss, allows fans to discover the power of those original adventures.After his deadly plunge over Reichenbach Falls, Sherlock Holmes seemed gone forever – but, as mysteriously as he left, he returns three years later. Now, reunited with Watson, a host of thrilling new adventures through London’s underworld awaits, battling thieves, kidnappers and killers alike. But Holmes is about to meet his most despised villain yet: the dastardly Charles Augustus Milverton.
£11.69
Ebury Publishing Sherlock: His Last Bow
Book SynopsisThe hit BBC series Sherlock has introduced a new generation to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary detective. This edition of the classic collection of stories, with an introduction by Sherlock co-creator Steven Moffatt, allows fans to discover the power of those original adventures.Could a woman die of fright alone? And who is the sender of a most grizzly package – two human ears in a box? Holmes and Watson tackle a whole host of new mysteries before Baker Street’s most famous detective finally leaves London for the quiet of a Sussex farm. But one final adventure puts an end to his retirement. As Britain stands poised on the brink of the First World War, can Sherlock Holmes keep a terrible new super-weapon from falling into the enemy’s hands?
£11.69
Everyman The Big Sleep, Farewell, My Lovely, The High
Book SynopsisRaymond Chandler’s first three novels, published here in one volume, established his reputation as an unsurpassed master of hard-boiled detective fiction. The Big Sleep, Chandler’s first novel, introduces Philip Marlowe, a private detective inhabiting the seamy side of Los Angeles in the 1930s, as he takes on a case involving a paralysed California millionaire, two psychotic daughters, blackmail and murder. In Farewell, My Lovely, Marlowe deals with the gambling circuit, a murder he stumbles upon, and three very beautiful but potentially deadly women. In The High Window, Marlowe searches the California underworld for a priceless gold coin and finds himself deep in the tangled affairs of a dead coin collector. In all three novels, Chandler’s hard-edged prose, colourful characters, vivid vernacular, and, above all, his enigmatic loner of a hero, establish his enduring claim to the heights of his chosen genre.
£16.62
Everyman The Maltese Falcon, The Thin Man, Red Harvest
Book SynopsisAs an operative for Pinkerton’s Detective Agency Dashiell Hammett knew about sleuthing from the inside, but his career was cut short by the ruin of his health in World War I. These three celebrated novels are therefore the products of a hard real life, not a literary education. Despite – or because of – that, Hammett had an enormous effect on mainstream writers between the wars. Like his readers, they were attracted by the combination of laconic style, sharp convincing dialogue, vivid settings and, above all, the low-life, hard-boiled characters who populate the streets of his stories. Taking detective fiction out of the drawing-room, Hammett ‘gave murder back to the kind of people that commit it’, as Raymond Chandler said. In so doing, he left his mark on modern fiction.
£16.19
Outset Publishing Ltd Crossing the Line
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£8.99
Puncture Publications Faculty Of Murder
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£12.59
NeWest Press Malabarista
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£11.99
NeWest Press Business as Usual
Book SynopsisToronto''s David Sanders and Claire Dumont are the Nick and Nora Charles of academia: two amateur detectives pulled into a web of deceit and violence involving murder, the illegal cross-border dumping of toxic waste, organized crime, dubious, self-serving politicians, and a mysterious, ambitious businessman whose loyalties are unknown.In Business As Usual, author Michael Boughn weaves together multiple plots, deals within deals, and double crosses galore as David and Claire find themselves pulled deeper and deeper into a funny, captivating hard-boiled mystery that might have been written by of Dashiell Hammett--if he''d only had the chance to read Betty Friedan.
£14.39
Moonstone Press The Perfect Alibi
Book Synopsis“Good God, you don’t think it was an accident?” Wealthy industrialist Anthony Mullins is found dead in a garage fire with the door locked. The locals assume it was an accident or perhaps suicide. But when the autopsy reveals a bullet wound to Mullins’ head and no revolver is found, a murder investigation ensues. Was the killer his disgraced nephew Holliday, rumoured to be overly close to his wife? Or Patricia Mullins herself, whose inheritance relied on her husband’s death from natural causes? Or friend James Constant, who’s research society is the beneficiary of Mullins’ unusual will? It soon becomes apparent that everyone, including the victim, has something to hide. Good-natured Police Constable Sadler and Inspector Trenton, are alternatively assisted and hampered by the efforts of the local residents to find the killer. At first, everyone appears to have a perfect alibi, but the more Sadler and Trenton probe, the murkier the picture becomes. Fortunately, journalist Charles Venables is on hand to help make sense of the conflicting and confusing evidence. This classic detective novel from the 1930s is now back in print.Trade ReviewDorothy L. Sayers reviewed The Perfect Alibi in The Sunday Times, saying ‘The characters in this book have a way of making acute and entertaining observations and that is the most attractive feature of a very attractive piece of work….if you like a book to be charmingly written and full of the sort of people you would like to meet you will enjoy this.’ -- Dorothy L Sayers * The Sunday Times *Table of ContentsTable of Contents I Corpse at the Wheel II Appearance of a Detective III Murder or Suicide? IV The Dead Hand Points V Dr Marabout Sees the Devil VI Interrogation of a Widow VII A Shot in the Dark VIII An Alibi is Shaken IX Puzzle of a Pugilist X Argument with an Artist XI Evidence of a Diabolist XII Strange Behaviour of a Peer XIII A Horsewoman on the Warpath XIV So He Shot Mullins XV An Architect is Arrested XVI Affair of a False Beard XVII Confession of an Artist XVIII A Woman is Silent XIX A Small Boy Owns Up XX A Tangle is Unravelled XXI Home Thoughts in Isorb XXII A Biologist Wants Blood XXIII A Temporary Alliance XXIV A Young Man is Tight XXV A Young Man is Frightened XXVI A Biologist Gets Blood XXVII A Temporary Alliance Becomes Permanent XXVIII A Chase Across Europe XXIX A Matter of Identity XXX How It Was Done Epilogue
£8.99
Moonstone Press Crime in Kensington
Book Synopsis“How many times have I told you that we must appear to run this hotel as commercial proposition?” Newly arrived in London, journalist Charles Venables has been invited by his friend Viola to stay – at least temporarily – at a residential hotel in Kensington. But there is something amiss at the genteel Garden Hotel. The prices are far too low. The residents are jittery and upset. On arriving, Charles overhears a threatening discussion between the proprietors Mr & Mrs Budge that suggests they are blackmailing some tenants. When the bedridden Mrs Budge disappears into thin air, it is clear that more than one inhabitant of the hotel has something to hide. Is it Egyptian medical student Eppiloki who believes Charles is working undercover? The elderly Miss Geranium who receives messages from the prophet Ezekial, the fanatical Reverend Septimus Blood, or the cat-loving Miss Mumby? Soon, a set of gruesome discoveries point to murder, and Charles must work with Detective Inspector Bray of Scotland Yard to prevent the killer from acting again. Crime combines an intricate plot with an appealing sense of humour and ironic tone: “Viola had two passions in her life, her art and her bridge. Charles had hoped to be a third but he was beginning to abandon hope. He felt that while he might make her a satisfactory partner in life, he would certainly let her down at bridge.” Long out of print, we are delighted to reissue Crime in Kensington with a new introduction.Trade ReviewCrime in Kensington can hardly mean more than one thing - death and mystery in a residential hotel. This straightforward phrase should convey to the reader the atmosphere of popular journalism that pervasdes Mr Sprigg's first novel. Charles Venables, gossip-writer to the Mercury, was on the spot when the proprietress vanished; and his monocle was in the right place when, in due course, she was found distributed in various receptacles in her own hote. Mr Sprigg's characters are so extremely odd that half of them at least may be regarded as plausible suspects; indeed, one is almost tempted to toss for the perpetrator of the disgusting crime, for if the victim of the toss were not the author of this particular murder, one feels that he or she has probably committed a previous crime that would justify an arrest. * The Times Literary Supplement *Table of ContentsIntroduction I Some Sinister Encounters II Puzzle - Find the Body III Enter the Police IV Scotland Yard is Interested V The Morning After VI Here We Are Again VII Disjecta Membra VIII A Message from the Victim IX Budge Versus Bray: First Round X Miss Mumby Gives the Show Away VI Budge Versus Bray: Second Round XII Budge Versus Bray: Charles Intervening XIII The Hangman is Anticipated XIV The Secret of the Garden Hotel XV The Net Closes XVI The Murderer is Cornered. Epilogue
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Moonstone Press Death of a Queen
Book SynopsisGive up your foolish plan. If not you die.” When elderly Queen Hanna of Iconia discovers the anonymous letter in her dress pocket, she knows someone in her household is spying on her. The queen is secretly planning a ceremony of atonement that she hopes will secure the royal succession. Journalist Charles Venables is asked to help identify the spy before her next public appearance. But when Queen Hanna is strangled with a museum relic known as the ‘Curse of the Herzgovins’, Venables knows an all too human hand is involved. But how was the murderer able to enter the queen’s heavily guarded chamber? And why was the body found wearing the royal ceremonial robes rather than the clothes she had retired in? Many Golden Age books have a plot involving an imaginary European kingdom, inspired by ‘Ruritania’, the setting for the 1894 bestseller The Prisoner of Zenda. Ruritania became the basis for hundreds of imitations (Lutha, Graustark, and Riechentenburg to name but a few) as well as parodies — the Marx Brothers’ film, Duck Soup, features Groucho as the dictator of mythical Freedonia. The Ruritanian setting was so broadly known that the author refutes it directly in Death of a Queen. When Venables complains ‘This place sounds dreadfully like Ruritania’, his colleague replies ‘There’s nothing Ruritanian about Queen Hanna.’ Author Christopher St John Sprigg was a polymath who read widely across history, politics, and culture, and he put this knowledge to good use in Death of a Queen, devising Iconian history, heritage and architecture with an enthusiasm and realism that add to the book’s appeal.Trade ReviewDorothy L. Sayers reviewed it for the Sunday Times, stating ‘Mr. Sprigg strikes exactly the right note for this kind of extravaganza; with enough gentle humour to make the absurdities of his one-horse kingdom entertaining and enough romantic glamour to keep the murders in key.’Table of ContentsChapter 1: The Mysterious Mr Shillingford Chapter 2: The Affable Prince Augustus Chapter 3: The Royal Household Chapter 4: The Silken Curse Chapter 5: The Pleasant Princess Chapter 6: The Frightened Queen Chapter 7: The Puzzled Detective Chapter 8: The Inexplicable Death Chapter 9: The Eccentric Murderer Chapter 10 The Shot Ghost Chapter 11: The Offending Countess Chapter 12: The Mystified King Chapter 13: The Obvious Culprit Chapter 14: The Great Row Chapter 15: The Imperial Tokay Chapter 16: The Indignant Chief of Police Chapter 17: The Unqualified Doctor Chapter 18: The Lonely Monarch Chapter 19: The Rebellious Fly Chapter 20: The Stolen Document Chapter 21: The Royal Pardon Chapter 22: The Female Impersonator Chapter 23: The Eloping Princess Chapter 24: The Night Attack Chapter 25: The Vanished Detective Chapter 26: The Shocking Exhumation Chapter 27: The Resurrected Prince Chapter 28: The Last Explosion Chapter 29: The Real Regicide Epilogue
£8.99
Moonstone Press Fatality in Fleet Street
Book Synopsis“Three hundred years ago, Lord Carpenter, I’d have had your head on a spike on Tower Hill..” It is 1938 and newspaper chief Lord Carpenter is about to publish a front-page story that will guarantee war with Russia. But before the paper can go to print, he is found stabbed in his office, and circumstances suggest the killer is one of his staff. Everyone from the editor-in-chief to the staff librarian had the opportunity. But was the motivation for the murder political or personal? Crime reporter Charles Venables finds himself both suspect and sleuth as he tries to disentangle the clues and determine which of his colleagues is the guilty party. Red herrings abound, but it soon becomes apparent that more than one person had a reason to want Carpenter dead…. Fatality in Fleet Street displays the author’s trademark wit and a plot with plenty of twists and ingenuity to please the reader. Equally interesting are the political overtones and the militaristic pretensions of the deceased newspaper baron. The novel is set in 1938 – five years later than its real publication date – and presents a Russia whose economy is growing, which makes the country ‘a real menace to the established order of things’ in Carpenter’s worldview. Although the imperious newspaper baron meets his demise early on, his outsized personality and ambition are the bedrock that propels the story. Sprigg makes his satire clear; there is more than a passing resemblance between the fictional Lord Carpenter and the real world Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, owner of the Evening Standard and Daily Express. Sprigg started his career as a cub reporter and the book’s setting of a busy newspaper is well realised. Fatality also takes a sardonic view of socialist activity in Britain. When Venables goes to investigate a local chapter of the Communist Party, the situation is alternately threatening and farcical, with members parading their revolutionary credentials and loudly denouncing the ‘bourgeois’. Sprigg later became an active member of the Communist Party and published Marxist literary criticism, but his gently mocking tone in Fatality suggests this conversion was some way off in 1933.Table of ContentsIntroduction 1: A Prime Minister Threatens 2: A Reporter Protests 3: A Magnate is Murdered 4: A Pathologist is Uneasy 5: Newspaper Cuttings Behave Oddly 6: The Editor Regrets 7: A Chinaman is Helpful 8: Russians are Mysterious 9: A Secretary is Frank 10: A Detective is Arrested 11: A News Editor is Suspicious 12: A Deputy Commissioner is Astonished 13: A Young Lady is in Love 14: The Accused is Unhelpful 15: A Landlady is Helpful 16: A Trial Begins 17: An Editor Struggles 18: A Court is Electrified 19: A Wife Betrays 20: A Judge is Angry 21: A Truth is Revealed
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Moonstone Press Postscript to Poison
Book Synopsis“Do you think it’s a secret that you are slowly poisoning Mrs Lackland?” When Dr Tom Faithful received the third anonymous letter, he knew it was time to call the police. The wealthy Mrs Cornelia Lackland was recovering steadily from a serious illness, diligently cared for by the doctor, family members and her household staff. But something is amiss in Minsterbridge. Mrs Lackland rules her house with an iron fist, keeping granddaughters Jenny and Carol as virtual prisoners and bullying her attendant Emily Bullen. Scornful and dismissive of everyone, she is planning to make one final change to her will. But before she can meet her solicitor Cornelia Lackland is dead, the apparent victim of a poisoner. As Chief Inspector Dan Pardoe of Scotland Yard and his colleague Sergeant Salt investigate, they find motives for murder much broader than first anticipated. This is a town where everybody’s business is known by everyone else. Pardoe is a satisfying and likeable creation, described by a Sunday Times reviewer as having ‘humanity and common sense as impressive as his intelligence’. Dorothy Bowers was an advocate of the ‘fair play’ school of detective novels, and displayed great ingenuity in piecing together the necessary elements of a baffling mystery, with clues shared freely with the reader. When Inspector Pardoe indicates he knows who the murderer is, the reader knows virtually everything he does. Bower’s great skill is in obscuring her characters' motives, while writing perceptively about their feelings and situation, which allows her to hide the identity of the murderer until exactly the right moment.Trade Review“Miss Bowers is new this term. Let me be the first member of the staff to extend her a hearty welcome. She has been coached in our traditions, and is likely to settle down quickly. “Postscript to Poison” is a thoroughly satisfying piece of family narcotising — in the old horror’s medicine just before she was going to change her will. Good characters including frustrated wards, one of whom lets a film actor in by the garden gate, and the local doctor, who suffers from attacks by a poison pen. A double bluff by Miss Bowers effectively conceals who did it. This pupil has little to learn, and should go far.” -- Maurice Richardson * The Observer *"The author shows herself considerably adept not only in contriving a plot to puzzle readers, but in characterization and command of situation. She recounts a domestic poisoner mystery in which the two spte-grandchildren of the murdered woman, the local doctor, and an anonymous letter writer play important parts. Miss Dorothy Bowers, if her succeeding books maintain the level of her first, should make a name in detective fiction.” * The Times (London) *Table of ContentsIntroduction I — and Tomorrow II Twilight of a Goddess III The Late Mrs. Lackland IV Question and Answer V The Last Dose VI Poison and Penmanship VII Mr. Rennie Recalls — VIII I, John Lackland IX Starshine in Chelsea X Shadow over Lacklands XI The Case against X XII Upstairs and Down XIII Appearance and Disappearance XIV Postscript XV Hetty XVI Three Visits XVII A Murderer Strikes Again XVIII True Bill
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Moonstone Press Fear For Miss Betony
Book SynopsisFormer governess Emma Betony is living in quiet and boring retirement when two unexpected letters arrive. The first is a lonely hearts magazine, with an entry (“Lonely Batchelor, age 49, good health, comfortable income, seeks friendship of unattached lady with view to matrimony”) highlighted by the anonymous sender. The second is an appeal for help from a former student. Grace Aram is running Makeways, a struggling boarding school for girls, newly relocated to a site of former nursing home in Dorset. Grace isn’t interested in Miss Betony’s teaching skills—she wants a trusted friend to help identify the culprit behind a series of troubling events. Two nursing patients have remained at Makeways and one appears to be the victim of a poisoner. It is not clear who could be responsible for the ongoing trickle of arsenic found in Miss Thurloe’s drinks- the new abrasive doctor, the pragmatic nurse, the nervous teaching staff or the high-strung students. During her investigations, Miss Betony uncovers an overwhelming sense of fear on the part of Makeways’ inhabitants, and clues that lead to the Great Ambrosio, a charismatic fortune-teller, who seems to have an undue influence on various teachers, students – and Miss Thurloe. First published in 1941, Fear and Miss Betony marks the final appearance of Chief Inspector Dan Pardoe—but it is Miss Betony herself who fights through fear and solves the case. Contemporary critics proclaimed the book an instant classic, with an ingenious plot.Trade Review"The best detective story of the year so far", The Times Literary Supplement, November 1941 * The Times Literary Supplement *In a subdued manner, an impressively clever job, with a perfect integration of crime, backgrounds, and characterization which gets its psychological due. The London Times heralds it as “the best detective story of the year” – some American readers may find it a little British for general taste here though connoisseurs will cherish it. How Emma Betony, a gentle, stubborn retired governess accepts a post as teacher from a former charge, in an old house which is part nursing home, part school. When attempts on the lives of one of the inmates and the pervading hypnotist and murder combine to force an issue, Miss Betony gather the data for Scotland Yard’s solution. Good going. * Kirkus Reviews *Elderly ugly spinsters of humble birth are coming into their own. What endearing heroines they make has been proved before by detective stories and now Miss Dorothy Bowers wins our glowing admiration for one who is saved from becoming a decayed gentlewoman in an almshouse solely because her father was a greengrocer. “Fear for Miss Betony” is the best detective story of the year so far. The crime is cleverly committed and cleverly detected but that is not all. Besides providing all that is usually asked of this this kind of fiction, the author makes her characters as interesting for their own sake as novelists untrammelled by the shackles of mystery would. The house, part school, part nursing home, where the fear lurks is haunted by ghosts who are sound psychologically. Every page bears witness to a brain of uncommon powers. * The Times Literary Supplement *"Fear for Miss Betony" is a good mystery story with very ingenious complications, gaining ironical spice from the fact that Miss Betony, who plays a leading part in unravelling the mystery, was, at the age of 61, on the point of retiring into a Home for Decayed Gentlewomen. -- Charles Mariott * The Manchester Guardian *Table of ContentsIntroduction I The Likes of Us II Unattached Ladies III Interval for Tea IV Prepare for Poison V Telling About - VII The House of Women VII Rather Unprofessional VIII The Witching Hour IX A Question of Bottle X The Great Ambrosio XI A Wind is Raised XII Death is Quiet XIII A Face in The Glass XIV The Cortege will Leave... XV Running Water XVI Pact-and-Picture XVII Ambrosio is Right
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Moonstone Press Shadows Before
Book SynopsisIt won’t be much longer now. Keep your head and hold your tongue.” In Shadows Before, events from the past are the catalyst for murder. In hope of a fresh start after being acquitted of the murder of his sister-in-law, Matthew Weir has moved his family to Spanwater, a remote manor in the Cotswolds. But his heiress wife Catherine is traumatised by her sister’s death and Matthew’s trial, and has retreated into childhood memories, believing she is living in the Welsh border cottage of her childhood. Hired to keep Catherine safe in her wanderings, companion Aurelia Brett is fleeing poverty and hunger in London, Matthew’s brother Augustus is trying to elude past debts. His nephew is haunted by the death of his father. Then Catherine dies suddenly, and arsenic is found in her home-made tea. Evidence suggests someone in the house, but Chief Inspector Pardoe finds conflicting clues and suspicious behaviour among Spanwater’s neighbours too. When a second death occurs, Pardoe – and the reader – must decide which shadows points to the perpetrator and why. Dorothy Bowers (1902 – 1948) was a champion of “fair play” mysteries, in which all the clues are cunningly displayed within the context of the story.Trade Review“Dorothy Bowers’ second novel fully lives up to the promise of her first, to which it is a sequel only in the sense that it employs the same cool, reasonable Inspector Pardoe. But the murder that he has to investigate in “Shadows Before” is a sequel; it was because Matthew Weir was accused (though acquitted) of his sister-in-law’s murder that he moved to the Cotswold country that his wife’s mental state grew peculiar enough to lead to the engagement of a companion for her. It was a natural sequel too that, when Mrs Weir died of arsenic, Scotland Yard was instantly called in; and it was natural to find the shadows of the past lying across the characters involved by the second crime. There are other shadows too. Though this is not one of those chess-board problems that set all the pieces on the board from the start, there is plenty of material evidence to occupy the reader’s attention; indeed, the reader is more generously treated than Pardoe. But the author (fairly enough, and principally by the high quality of her writing) diverts the attention to the realm of character, and so successfully that the absence of adequate motive for Mrs Weir’s murder (and for others that follow) seems a negligible factor. But when the truth is revealed, the motive is unquestionable; and for all the melodrama we have a picture of a dreadful but far from incredible killer. At certain points the construction is deliberately obscure: I think this is a mistake, but not so serious a one as to detract from the book’s outstanding merit.” -- Milward Kennedy * The Sunday Times *It is often said that not a first book but the second that is the true test of a young author's ability. If this is so the test is one Miss Dorothy Bowers passes with distinction in "Shadows Before," which improves even upon the promise of her earlier effort. The story tells of the death by poisoning of the wife of Matthew Weir, already tried and acquitted of the murder of his sister-in-law. The investigation is in the hands of Chief Inspector Pardoe, and even after he has begun his inquiry the murderer strikes again and again. Then, too, a friend of the dead woman has mysteriously disappeared, and there is an heiress to a great fortune of whom nothing can be heard. Characterisation and writing are both excellent, though possibly the narrative might be more effective if Miss Bowers were a trifle less addicted to the oblique approach. It is often an impressive and successful method, but one Miss Bowers is inclined to overwork. -- E.R. Punshon * The Manchester Guardian *Miss Dorothy Bowers is going to be a good writer of detective stories. She can tell her story, make her people real, cast her "Shadows Before", so that her readers feel intheir bones that something terrible is going to happen. -- William Blunt * The Observer *Table of ContentsIntroduction PROLOGUE Shadows PART I Coming Events I Situation Vacant II Arrivals III Encounter IV Steeple Cloudy to the World PART II Herb Tea V The Weir Case VI Scotland Yard to Steeple Cloudy VII The Husband VIII The Servants IX The Companion X The Doctor XI Somewhat Bellicose XII Friends and Relations XIII Design for an Accident XIV Titt's Cote PART III Light XV Cloudy Sabbath XVI Again Poison XVII Pie Wood XVIII The Truth XIX The Whole Truth EPILOGUE Nothing But The Truth
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Moonstone Press The Bells at Old Bailey
Book SynopsisIt was not until the fifth death in Long Greeting that Miss Tidy made up her mind to go to the police. It was not a sense of civic duty that compelled her but the arrival of two letters that made it clear her life was in danger. The local villagers had been agitated for months over whether the seemingly unconnected deaths were the suicides they appeared to be. Better to say nothing of her intentions though, not even to her immediate circle: the staff of the Minerva hat shop who worked for her, or Léonie, her old Breton maid. Nor would she mention the letters to her interested neighbours or the rector, who had buried four of the victims, or even to Owen Greatorex, the novelist of international reputation, who seemed disarmingly gentle. For who was to be trusted? Scotland Yard is soon on the scene but more deaths occur before Detective-Inspector Raikes puts the pieces together. Dorothy Bowers (1902–48) was a champion of “fair play” mysteries, in which all the clues are cunningly displayed within the story. She combined a satirist's eye (particularly for village life) with a penetrating view of character. A master of the red herring, The Bells at Old Bailey (1947) was her fifth and last novel. Bowers died in 1948 from tuberculosis, having been inducted the prestigious Detection Club a few months earlier.Trade ReviewWhen a series of threatening anonymous notes drives Bertha Tidy to the police, she is put off with the statement, "These things are worth usually no more than the paper they're written on. You were prompt to put the matter in our hands and we'll see you come to no harm." Twenty-four hours later this proprietress of a hatshop, tearoom and beauty parlor is murdered. Scotland Yard in the person of Detective Inspector Raikes goes determinedly to work on the case, which may be related to five other deaths under suspicious circumstances. Skillfully plotted against an authentic English background, the story draws to a climax not wholly unexpected. It proves that a whodunnit can be a literate and entertaing excursion into murder rather than a hackneyed, pace-ridden dialogue-laden cliche. -- Jack Glick, The New York Times * Transatlantic Mayhem *“Skillfully plotted against an authentic English background….[the story] proves that a whodunit can be a literate and entertaining excursion into murder” * The New York Times *“A really good detective story. Five suicides (or murders?) in one village may seem a little extravagant; but Detective-Superintendent Raikes goes about the business unravelling the tangle with more than competence. This is good writing, with the telling, character-revealing phrase skilfully used. Readers who prefer the detective story pure and simple should make a note of this one.” -- Laurence Meynell * The Sunday Times *The Bells at Old Bailey is a village job with sinister spinsters on the slopes of schizophrenia, and plenty of gossip in the tea shoppe. -- Maurice Richardson * The Observer *
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Moonstone Press A Deed Without a Name
Book Synopsis“My accidents can’t be accidental. Very well, there’s only one thing they can be–and that’s attempted murder.” Archy Mitfold had always loved a mystery, but he never expected to take the lead role in a thriller. Yet there was no doubt in his mind that someone was trying to kill him. First there was the narrow miss on Trumpeter’s Row, where a car accelerated straight at him. Then there were the chocolates Archy received on his birthday—with an unsigned card—that made him ill. Most recent was the sharp push in the back that almost sent him sprawling in front of an oncoming commuter train. What does Archy know that someone is willing to kill for? And does the recent kidnapping of millionaire Sampson Vick have anything to do with his accidents? Or is all this just the sign of self-absorbed and histrionic young man? Before long, Chief Inspector Dan Pardoe is called to investigate and untangles more than one mystery in the process. A Deed Without a Name has a well-realised and atmospheric setting during England’s “phony war” period in 1939.Trade Review“Curiosity is the test of detective stories. If it is continually whetted all faults can be forgiven. If it is not, then all graces of style and character tend to remove the novel into another class. Comparatively few of the goods that bear the label are “detective” through and through; the boys’ book of adventure, the nursemaids’ novelette, the tale of mystery and terror, the drawing-room melodrama, the tough school’s callisthenics and all other types of popular fiction mongrelize the strain. There is almost a thrill of discovery in recognizing the pure breed and this is what Miss Bowers gives us in “A Deed Without A Name.” She begins quietly and unpromisingly with a young man of Chelsea whose tales of poisoned chocolates, a push in the back on a railway platform and a narrow escape from being run down in the street suggest a persecution complex or self-dramatization that he will grow out of. Of course, he would climb a wall and let himself in by a back-door rather than enter his home in the usual way. And then the crimes begin. Miss Bowers’ story is exciting because it steers clear of familiar ways. There is no Fuss over detectives’ personal appearance or idiosyncrasies and though she cannot overcome the prevailing passion for apt quotations she keeps them for chapter headings instead of dialogue. Her business is strictly the unravelling of a murder mystery. Plodding police methods are unassisted by “hunches”, amateur or professional. The task is tackled like washing-day by constable, sergeant and inspector, acting on information received from a prying housemaid. Whether you spot the guilty party or not make little difference. The very nature of the crime has an interest that forbids the skipping of odd chapters. Miss Bowers brings a fresh box of tricks on the stage just when the audience was becoming jaded. Her illusions may amount to the old business of vanishing live ‘uns and producing dead ‘uns, but they seem new. She ranks with the best.” -- The Times Literary SupplementGood intellectual titillator in an adroit follow-up of Shadows Before. Innocuous Archy Mitford nosed into another murder and paid the price. Slow moving Pardoe of the Yard pulverizes all the clues -- and runs down blackmail into kidnapping into murder -- and eventually gets his man. * Kirkus Reviews *In "A Deed Without a Name" Miss Dorothy Bowers tells of the murder during the black-out of a young man already the victim of mysterious attempts on his life, of the disappearance of a millionaire, and shows, with a high degree of constructive skill, how Chief Inspector Pardoe adds one faint indication to another to prove that the two crimes are closely connected. Probably most readers will soon guess the identity of the murderer, but the clues that provide the solution to the mystery are devised and followed up with an ingenuity certain to keep those readers always interested. Especially admirable is the way in which the murderer's name is given early in the story - for those, that is, who have the necessary insight and knowledge. -- E.R. Punshon * Crime & Mystery *Table of ContentsIntroduction I Riddle-Me-Ree II A Visit and a Visitor III Ding Dong Bell IV Quest V Rope's End VI Witches' Sabbath VII Curious Behaviour of a Young Man VIII A Word of Mr. Vick IX At the Sign of the Juniper X - Of Accidents XI - Of Incidents XII Salt is Doubtful XIII Pardoe is Unsuccessful XIV The Most Unlikely Person XV At Mulberry Fountain XVI The Most Likely Person XVII At the Cinema XVIII Gas XIX Vacant Possession XX Last Word of Mr. Vick XXI A Bump on the Head XXII Leaves from a Diary XXIII The Bird
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Moonstone Press The Undetective
Book Synopsis“It was my own fault, of course. I realized that when it was too late. “ Crime writer Iain Carter has recently married and is struggling to make a decent living as an author. His brother-in-law is a likable but slightly indiscreet constable, and Iain decides to use this inside knowledge to write a satirical series featuring a pompous dictatorial police superintendent. To protect his identity, Iain creates an elaborately designed pseudonym, 'John Ky Lowell', that can’t be traced back to him. When the first book by Lowell, The Undetective, proves to be a huge success, Iain finds he must take increasingly convoluted steps to protect his secret from the press, the police and the taxman. But the real trouble begins when a local bookmaker is killed, and Iain finds his mysterious alter-ego is the prime suspect.
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Moonstone Press Seven Clues in Search of a Crime
Book Synopsis“Are you a detective, Mr. Terhune? If you will forgive my saying so, you do not look like one.” Theodore Terhune, bookseller in the tranquil Kent village of Bray-in-the-Marsh, interrupts the attempted robbery of Helena Armstrong, secretary-companion to Lady Kylstone. Someone was trying to steal the key to the Kylstone burial vault, which will shortly be open to the public for the anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt. When the key goes missing, Terhune is certain there must be something in the barren vault the thieves are after, but why bother when it will shortly be accessible to all? A series of mysterious encounters leads the curious Terhune from one clue to another, involving a trip to New York City, a professional criminal for hire, attempted murder on board a passenger ship, an automobile accident, and a mysterious person nicknamed "Blondie"; eventually leading to the secret past of two families. A 1941 bibliomystery rthat mixes detective novel, adventure thriller, quest story and satire of English village life into one highly entertaining read.
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Moonstone Press House With Crooked Walls
Book Synopsis“So you know House-on-the-Hill, Mr. Terhune?” Local bookseller and amateur detective Theodore Terhune is asked to investigate the history of an ancient Kentish manor house for its new owner, Dr. Vincente Salvaterra. Recently arrived from Panama, Salvaterra wants to know why the house was shunned by the locals and abandoned for nearly a century, despite commanding the best views in the county. Terhune digs deep into the mansion’s past and find more than one unsolved—and disturbing—mystery, dating back hundreds of years. When tragedy later strikes the eccentric Salvaterra family in their new home, Terhune must determine if the cause is the Gothic House-on-the Hill itself, or whether a sinister human plot is afoot.
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Moonstone Press A Case for Solomon
Book SynopsisFrank Hugh Smallwood was first murdered on the 15th of April, 1927. Bookseller Theodore Terhune investigates an old homicide case after he stumbles on the freshly murdered corpse of seaman Frank Smallwood, a man thought to have been killed nearly twenty years previously during a houseboat party on the Thames. Smallwood’s alleged killer, Charles Cockburn, was convicted and served a lengthy prison sentence before being killed in the war. So who wants Smallwood dead now? And what actually happened between Smallwood and Cockburn all those years ago? A book of poetry found lying near the body puts Terhune on the trail of an unlikely murderer, in this entertaining blend of detective story and courtroom drama. Bruce Graeme (1900–82) was a pseudonym of Graham Montague Jeffries, an author of more than 100 crime novels and a founding member of the Crime Writers’ Association. He created six series sleuths, including bookseller and accidental detective Theodore Terhune, whose adventures—Seven Clues in Search of a Crime (1941); House with Crooked Walls (1942); A Case for Solomon (1943); Work for the Hangman (1944); Ten Trails to Tyburn (1944); A Case of Books (1946) and And a Bottle of Rum (1949)—are republished by Moonstone Press.
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Moonstone Press Work for the Hangman
Book Synopsis“What I read in your hand is tragedy—a horrible tragedy that doesn’t come to one in a million people.” Bookseller Theodore Terhune buys the substantial library of recently deceased James Strudgewick, a wealthy Yorkshireman who drowned at a local beauty spot. Deemed anaccidental death by the coroner, the locals remain suspicious, and dislike Strudgewick’s nephew and heir. But Ronald Strudgewick has a cast-iron alibi – he was 30 miles away visiting with friend Robert Shilling in Thirsk at the time of his uncle’s death, and the police have already picked over his movements. But Terhune and his friend Julia have met Shilling before, and know there is a mysterious accidental death in his past too… Work for the Hangman is a classic blend of a traditional detective novel and inverted ‘how-to-catch-em” mystery. It showcases Bruce Graeme’s use of local geography and small details to build an intriguing puzzle.
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Moonstone Press Ten Trails to Tyburn
Book SynopsisBut Pierre could never know that in death Fame was his, for his was the second corpse. When well known local vagrant "Peter the Hermit" dies of seemingly natural causes, the police uncover an old Bulgarian newspaper and a beautiful bejeweled comb worth substantial money in his ramshackle hut in the woods. Before long, bookseller Theodore Terhune receives a series of five anaonymous short stories, each subtitled "Ten Trails to Tyburn" that clearly aim to help Terhune (and the police) solve the mystery behind Peter's death. A crime classic from 1944 back in print for the first time; the fifth book in the Theodore Terhune series.
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Moonstone Press A Case of Books
Book SynopsisIn the beginning was the Word— When Theodore Terhune’s wealthy client Arthur Harrison is found stabbed and his library ransacked, the police suspect the murderer was looking for a book. Harrison collected rare early printed books called incunabula, but as the provenance of such titles is well documented in the book world it would make little sense to steal one. Terhune is hired by the estate to sell off Harrison’s library, but another armed break-in and a very strange book auction suggest the killer is still searching for something. Soon Terhune himself becomes a target, but what exactly does the murderer want? And why are crosses appearing in the turf of local fields? The sixth book in the entertaining series involving bookseller and amateur sleuth Theodore Terhune.
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Moonstone Press And a Bottle of Rum
Book SynopsisStretched across the road was the body of a policeman. On the way home one evening in the Romney Marsh, Bookseller Theodore Terhune and friend Julia are caught in heavy coastal fog. A passing lorry provides some guidance on the narrow country roads, but the night ends with intentional mishap and a dead body. It becomes clear that the constable’s death was not accidental, but what possessed Tom Kitchen to try to stop a lorry singlehandedly at 1am? His widow is frightened; local farms vandalized; his home ransacked. Suspicion centres around the Load of Hay, an ancient Dickensian pub full of unsavoury characters, and Terhune finds the clues may lay in the history of 18th century smuggling in the Romney Marsh.
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Moonstone Press Five to Five
Book SynopsisWhen wealthy elderly Simon Ewing is found murdered in his flat, it appears to be a robbery gone wrong. Two rings were taken from the dead man's hands, but his hidden jewelery strongbox remained untouched, except for one missing diamond solitaire. An unknown man was spotted exiting the building; there is evidence that he had searched the upper floors before attacking Ewing when the old man was briefly left unattended. But how could an outsider have known when to strike? And why take only one ring from a treasure trove? Superintendent Woods is called in, and through patient careful detection begins slowly to disentangle the clues, as suspicion shifts from one character to the next. This classic detective novel from the 1930s is now republished for the first time.Table of ContentsIntroduction by Curtis Evans I The Watcher II The Prey III The Tea-Party IV The Return V The Dead VI The Detective VII The Dealer VIII The Heir IX The Hypothesis X The Suspects XI The Doctor XII The Wife XIII The Artist XIV The End XV The First Solution XVI The Complete Case
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Moonstone Press In Memory of Charles
Book SynopsisCharles was in a vile temper and Anne was catching the full benefit of it. Charles Courtley is a difficult man. Prone to violent outbursts and a bully to his wife and daughters, he has uprooted the family from London to an old manor house in remote East Anglia. Spoilt by his growing wealth and increasingly intolerant of any dissent, Charles enjoys controlling everyone around him. His family, his employees and even the locals - banned from using the traditional footpaths on his forested estate - have multiple reasons to bear a grudge. When Charles is shot dead in a woodland clearing, evidence from an unreliable witness points to Courtley’s secretary, but he has a cast iron alibi and the resulting trial ends in an acquital. A year later, a seemingly innocent death and an odd cenotaph leads Chief Inspector Simon Sturt to reconsider the case. Dorothy Erskine Muir (1889–1977) was one of seventeen children of John Sheepshanks, Bishop of Norwich. She attended Oxford, worked as an academic tutor, and began writing professionally to supplement the family income after the unexpected death of her husband in 1932. Muir published historical biographies and local histories, as well as three accomplished detective novels: In Muffled Night (1933), Five to Five (1934) and In Memory of Charles (1941). Table of ContentsIntroduction by Curtis Evans I Charles Shows His Temper II Why They Married III Who Was in the Yard? IV Breakfast Party V Scene with a Secretary VI Last Appearance of Charles VII The Shot in the Wood VIII Police on the Scene IX The Pellets X The Handsome Agent XI Finding Traces XII Pamela and the Inspector XIII A Tough Customer XIV Fresh Discoveries at an Inn XV Anne's Strange Story XVI What Was in the Letter? XVII An Arrest XVIII Trial and Error XIX The Monument in the Wood XX The Second Death XXI Mrs. Gwyn's Revelations XXII Drugs XXIII The Accident XXIV At Bay XXV The Third Death XXVI The Last Struggle Epilogue
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