Search results for ""Author Martin Edwards""
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Sepulchre Street
'Martin Edwards is a true master of British crime writing' Richard Osman ‘Highly recommended, with a touch of the gothic’ Ann Cleeves How can you solve a murder before it's happened? 'This is my challenge for you,' the woman in white said. 'I want you to solve my murder.' London, 1930s: Rachel Savernake is attending renowned artist Damaris Gethin’s latest exhibition, featuring live models who pose as famous killers. But that’s just the warm-up act... Unsure why she was invited, Rachel is soon cornered by the artist who asks her a haunting favour: she wants Rachel to solve her murder. Damaris then takes to the stage set with a guillotine, the lights go out – and Damaris executes herself. Why would Damaris take her own life? And, if she died by her own hand, what did she mean by ‘solve my murder’? There are many questions to answer, and the clues are there for those daring enough to solve them... Rachel Savernake faces her most puzzling murder yet in this glamorous gothic mystery from the winner of the CWA Diamond Dagger. Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie and Richard Osman. Praise for Martin Edwards: 'Martin Edwards celebrates and satirises the genre with wit and affection... He leaves you wanting more.' The Times 'The brilliant Savernake is a fascinatingly enigmatic character.' Washington Post 'Ingeniously plotted and racily told...This is Edwards on the top of his form.' Dorothy L Sayers Society Bulletin 'Martin Edwards holds his own with the best of classic crime.' Daily Mail ‘Reads as if Ruth Rendell were channelling Edgar Wallace.’ Mick Herron
£9.99
Allison & Busby The Crooked Shore: The riveting cold case mystery
DCI Hannah Scarlett is an acknowledged expert in solving cold cases, but is struggling under the weight of bureaucracy when Ramona Smith's disappearance from Bowness more than twenty years ago crosses her desk. The prime suspect was charged but found not guilty. Now the case has come back into the public eye as the result of a shocking tragedy on the Crooked Shore, the fount of dark legends in the south of the Lake District. Tensions mount in the summer heat as a ruthless killer, who has already got away with one murder, plans further appalling crimes. Hannah finds herself racing against the clock as she strives to solve the mysteries and save innocent lives.
£20.31
Allison & Busby The Coffin Trail: You can never bury the past…
Oxford historian Daniel Kind and his partner Miranda both want to escape to a new life. On impulse they buy a cottage in Brackdale, an idyllic valley in the Lake District. But though they hope to live the dream, the past soon catches up with them. Tarn Cottage was once home to Barrie Gilpin, suspected of a savage murder. A young woman's body was found on the Sacrifice Stone, an ancient pagan site up on the fell, but Barrie died before he could be arrested. Daniel has personal reasons for becoming fascinated by the case and for believing in Barrie's innocence. When the police launch a cold case review, Brackdale's skeletons begin to rattle and the lives of Daniel and DCI Hannah Scarlett become strangely entwined. Daniel and Hannah each find themselves risking their lives as they search for a ruthless murderer who is prepared to kill again to hide a shocking secret.
£9.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Blackstone Fell
‘A true master of British crime writing’ RICHARD OSMAN Rachel Savernake investigates a bizarre locked-room puzzle in this delicious Gothic mystery from the winner of the CWA Diamond Dagger. England, 1930. Journalist Nell Fagan is on the trail of a bizarre mystery: in 1606, a man vanished from a locked gatehouse in Blackstone Fell, a remote Yorkshire village. Three hundred years later, it happened again. Days after confiding in sleuth Rachel Savernake, Nell herself disappears. In search for answers, and determined to bring an end to the disappearances, Rachel travels to the lonely Yorkshire village, with its eerie moor and sinister tower. But Rachel must be careful – with all of these people going missing, there’s every chance she will be taken too... For anyone who loves a dazzling mystery, Blackstone Fell explores the shadowy borderlands between the spiritual and scientific, between sanity and madness, and between virtue and deadly sin. 'Martin Edwards celebrates and satirises the genre with wit and affection... He leaves you wanting more.' THE TIMES 'Suspects abound in the book’s wonderfully labyrinthine plot, and the brilliant Savernake is a fascinatingly enigmatic character.' WASHINGTON POST 'Perfect for those who love a locked-room mystery... with a wonderful golden age of crime feel.' BELFAST TELEGRAPH 'Martin Edwards holds his own with the best of classic crime.' DAILY MAIL 'Ingeniously plotted and racily told... Blackstone Fell is more or less impossible to put down – this is Edwards on the top of his form.' DOROTHY L SAYERS SOCIETY BULLETIN
£20.32
British Library Publishing Who Killed Father Christmas?: And Other Seasonal Mysteries
'The red robe concealed the blood until it made my hand sticky. Father Christmas had been stabbed in the back, and he was certainly dead.' The murder of Father Christmas at one of London's great toy shops is just one of many yuletide disasters in this new collection of stories from the Golden Age of crime writing and beyond. Masters of the genre such as Patricia Moyes and John Dickson Carr present perfectly packaged short pieces, and Martin Edwards delivers a sackful of rarities from authors such as Ellis Peters, Gwyn Evans and Michael Innes. The answer to any classic crime fiction fan's Christmas wish - and the only way for you to answer Who Killed Father Christmas? - this new anthology is set to muddle, befuddle, surprise and delight.
£10.99
HarperCollins Publishers Howdunit: A Masterclass in Crime Writing by Members of the Detection Club
Winner of the H.R.F. Keating Award for best biographical/critical book related to crime fiction, and nominated for the Edgar Allen Poe and Macavity Awards for Best Critical/Biographical book. Ninety crime writers from the world’s oldest and most famous crime writing network give tips and insights into successful crime and thriller fiction. Howdunit offers a fresh perspective on the craft of crime writing from leading exponents of the genre, past and present. The book offers invaluable advice to people interested in writing crime fiction, but it also provides a fascinating picture of the way that the best crime writers have honed their skills over the years. Its unique construction and content mean that it will appeal not only to would-be writers but also to a very wide readership of crime fans. The principal contributors are current members of the legendary Detection Club, including Ian Rankin, Val McDermid, Peter James, Peter Robinson, Ann Cleeves, Andrew Taylor, Elly Griffiths, Sophie Hannah, Stella Duffy, Alexander McCall Smith, John Le Carré and many more. Interwoven with their contributions are shorter pieces by past Detection Club members ranging from G.K. Chesterton, Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie and John Dickson Carr to Desmond Bagley and H.R.F. Keating. The book is dedicated to Len Deighton, who is celebrating 50 years as a Detection Club member and has also penned an essay for the book. The contributions are linked by short sections written by Martin Edwards, the current President of the Club and author of the award-winning The Golden Age of Murder.
£13.49
Andrews UK Limited All the Lonely People
£12.82
Allison & Busby The Arsenic Labyrinth: The evocative and compelling cold case mystery
Daniel Kind's relationship with Miranda is on the rocks. After the bright lights of London, Miranda feels isolated in the Lake District and Daniel fears that she will just up and leave. And Miranda wouldn't be the first: ten years ago Emma Bestwick left her cottage and never returned. Her disappearance went unaccounted for, much to the chagrin of DCI Hannah Scarlett, head of the local Cold Case Review Team. But in a small, rural community, someone is bound to know something. And that someone has recently started calling the local newspaper and dropping hints about Emma's death. With the case reopened, Hannah and Daniel are drawn together again, and discover to their cost that one person will preserve the secrets of the past at any price.
£8.99
Allison & Busby The Crooked Shore: The riveting cold case mystery
DCI Hannah Scarlett is an acknowledged expert in solving cold cases, but she is struggling under the weight of bureaucracy when Ramona Smith's disappearance from Bowness more than twenty years ago crosses her desk. The prime suspect was charged but found not guilty. Now the case has come back into the public eye as the result of a shocking tragedy on the Crooked Shore, the fount of dark legends south of the Lake District. A ruthless killer, who has already got away with one murder, plans further appalling crimes. DCI Scarlett finds herself racing against the clock as she strives to solve the mysteries and save innocent lives.
£8.99
Allison & Busby The Hanging Wood: The evocative and compelling cold case mystery
Twenty years after her brother Callum mysteriously vanished, Orla Payne is still haunted by his disappearance. The case was closed after her uncle's suicide - the police believed he killed himself in the Hanging Wood out of guilt over murdering the boy, even though no body was ever found. Daniel Kind recommends Orla contact DCI Hannah Scarlett, head of the Lake District's Cold Case Review Team, to see if she can discover the truth about what really happened all those years ago. In spite of the DCI's doubt there is anything to be done on such a long-dead case, when Orla is found dead, she reconsiders, partly out of sense of duty and partly out of guilt, and discovers that investigating the past can throw up some very dangerous truths indeed.
£8.09
British Library Publishing Foreign Bodies
Today, translated crime fiction is in vogue - but this was not always the case. A century before Scandi noir, writers across Europe and beyond were publishing detective stories of high quality. Often these did not appear in English and they have been known only by a small number of experts. This is the first ever collection of classic crime in translation from the golden age of the genre in the 20th century. Many of these stories are exceptionally rare, and several have been translated for the first time to appear in this volume. Martin Edwards has selected gems of classic crime from Denmark to Japan and many points in between. Fascinating stories give an insight into the cosmopolitan cultures (and crime-writing traditions) of diverse places including Mexico, France, Russia, Germany and the Netherlands.
£8.99
HarperCollins Publishers The Golden Age of Murder
Winner of the 2016 EDGAR, AGATHA, MACAVITY and H.R.F.KEATING crime writing awards, this real-life detective story investigates how Agatha Christie and colleagues in a mysterious literary club transformed crime fiction. Detective stories of the Twenties and Thirties have long been stereotyped as cosily conventional. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Golden Age of Murder tells for the first time the extraordinary story of British detective fiction between the two World Wars. A gripping real-life detective story, it investigates how Dorothy L. Sayers, Anthony Berkeley, Agatha Christie and their colleagues in the mysterious Detection Club transformed crime fiction. Their work cast new light on unsolved murders whilst hiding clues to their authors’ darkest secrets, and their complex and sometimes bizarre private lives. Crime novelist and current Detection Club President Martin Edwards rewrites the history of crime fiction with unique authority, transforming our understanding of detective stories, and the brilliant but tormented men and women who wrote them.
£10.99
British Library Publishing Capital Crimes: London Mysteries
With its fascinating mix of people - rich and poor, British and foreign, worthy and suspicious - London is a city where anything can happen. The possibilities for criminals and for the crime writer are endless. London has been home to many of fiction's finest detectives, and the setting for mystery novels and short stories of the highest quality. Capital Crimes is an eclectic collection of London-based crime stories, blending the familiar with the unexpected in a way that reflects the personality of the city. Alongside classics by Margery Allingham, Anthony Berkeley and Thomas Burke are excellent and unusual stories by authors who are far less well known. The stories give a flavour of how writers have tackled crime in London over the span of more than half a century. Their contributions range from an early serial-killer thriller set on the London Underground and horrific vignettes to cerebral whodunits. What they have in common is an atmospheric London setting, and enduring value as entertainment. Each story is introduced by the editor, Martin Edwards, who sheds light on the authors' lives and the background to their writing.
£10.99
British Library Publishing A Surprise for Christmas: And Other Seasonal Mysteries
Two dead bodies and a Christmas stocking weaponised. A Postman murdered delivering cards on Christmas morning. A Christmas tree growing over a forgotten homicide. It's the most wonderful time of the year, except for the victims of these shocking and often elaborate murders. When there's magic in the air, sometimes even the facts don't quite add up and the impossible can happen -- and it's up to the detective's trained eye to unwrap the clues and put together an explanation neatly tied up with a bow. Martin Edwards compiles an anthology filled with tales of seasonal suspense where the snow runs red, perfect to be shared between super-sleuths by the fire on a cold winter's night.
£9.99
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Sepulchre Street
'Martin Edwards is a true master of British crime writing' Richard Osman ‘Highly recommended, with a touch of the gothic’ Ann Cleeves How can you solve a murder before it's happened? 'This is my challenge for you,' the woman in white said. 'I want you to solve my murder.' London, 1930s: Rachel Savernake is attending renowned artist Damaris Gethin’s latest exhibition, featuring live models who pose as famous killers. But that’s just the warm-up act... Unsure why she was invited, Rachel is soon cornered by the artist who asks her a haunting favour: she wants Rachel to solve her murder. Damaris then takes to the stage set with a guillotine, the lights go out – and Damaris executes herself. Why would Damaris take her own life? And, if she died by her own hand, what did she mean by ‘solve my murder’? There are many questions to answer, and the clues are there for those daring enough to solve them... Rachel Savernake faces her most puzzling murder yet in this glamorous gothic mystery from the winner of the CWA Diamond Dagger. Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie and Richard Osman. Praise for Martin Edwards: 'Martin Edwards celebrates and satirises the genre with wit and affection... He leaves you wanting more.' The Times 'The brilliant Savernake is a fascinatingly enigmatic character.' Washington Post 'Ingeniously plotted and racily told...This is Edwards on the top of his form.' Dorothy L Sayers Society Bulletin 'Martin Edwards holds his own with the best of classic crime.' Daily Mail ‘Reads as if Ruth Rendell were channelling Edgar Wallace.’ Mick Herron
£20.32
British Library Publishing Silent Nights: Christmas Mysteries
Christmas is a mysterious, as well as magical, time of year. Strange things can happen, and this helps to explain the hallowed tradition of telling ghost stories around the fireside as the year draws to a close. Christmas tales of crime and detection have a similar appeal. When television becomes tiresome, and party games pall, the prospect of curling up in the warm with a good mystery is enticing - and much better for the digestion than yet another helping of plum pudding. Crime writers are just as susceptible as readers to the countless attractions of Christmas. Over the years, many distinguished practitioners of the genre have given one or more of their stories a Yuletide setting. The most memorable Christmas mysteries blend a lively storyline with an atmospheric evocation of the season. Getting the mixture right is much harder than it looks.This book introduces readers to some of the finest Christmas detective stories of the past. Martin Edwards' selection blends festive pieces from much-loved authors with one or two stories which are likely to be unfamiliar even to diehard mystery fans. The result is a collection of crime fiction to savour, whatever the season.
£8.99
HarperCollins Publishers The Life of Crime
Now revised and expanded for its first paperback publication, The Life of Crime was the winner of four major prizes for the best critical/biographical book related to crime fiction: the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity and H.R.F. Keating Awards; and was shortlisted for both the Agatha and Gold Dagger AwardsIn this groundbreaking history of crime fiction, acclaimed expert Martin Edwards traces the evolution of the genre from the eighteenth century to the present, offering a brand-new perspective on the world''s most popular form of storytelling.The Life of Crime is the result of a lifetime of reading and enjoying all types of mystery fiction from around the world. Martin Edwards has drawn on his experience as an award-winning novelist to capture the breadth and complexity of crime writing, telling the story of the genre''s development and evolution in a way that will fascinate and entertain anyone who delights in a good mystery.With crime fiction being read more widely than ever, The Life of Cr
£13.49
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Mortmain Hall
‘A true master of British crime writing’ RICHARD OSMAN 'The brilliant Savernake is a fascinatingly enigmatic character.' WASHINGTON POST A superb Golden Age mystery packed with twists, from the winner of the Diamond Dagger 2020 ENGLAND, 1930. Grieving widows are a familiar sight on London's Necropolis Railway. So when an elegant young woman in a black veil boards the funeral train, nobody guesses her true purpose. But Rachel Savernake is not one of the mourners. She hopes to save a life – the life of a man who is supposed to be cold in the grave. But then a suspicious death on the railway track spurs her on to investigate a sequence of baffling mysteries: a death in a blazing car; a killing in a seaside bungalow; a tragic drowning in a frozen lake. Rachel believes that the cases are connected – but what possible link can there be? Rich, ruthless and obsessed with her own dark notions of justice, she will not rest until she has discovered the truth. To find the answers to her questions she joins a house party on the eerie and remote North Yorkshire coast at Mortmain Hall, an estate. Her inquiries are helped – and sometimes hindered – by the impetuous young journalist Jacob Flint and an eccentric female criminologist with a dangerous fascination with perfect crimes... Mortmain Hall is at once a gripping thriller and a classic whodunit puzzle: a Golden Age Gothic mystery, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers. Reviews for Mortmain Hall: 'Maintains a cracking pace... Elegant period escapism' Mail on Sunday 'A classic whodunit' Daily Express 'Rachel Savernake is on spectacular form... A Miss Marple for the 21st century' Daily Mail 'Martin Edwards is a guru of the Golden Age... His work pays homage to the intricate puppetry and byzantine plotting popular in the period' The Times Reviews for Martin Edwards: 'Superb – a pitch-perfect blend of Golden Age charm and sinister modern suspense, with a main character to die for. This is the book Edwards was born to write' Lee Child 'Edwards has managed, brilliantly, to combined a Golden Age setting with a pace that is bang up-to-date. A great sense of the era observed through a cut-throat-sharp eye, every page dripping with brilliant period authenticity' Peter James 'A ripping tale of retribution and rough justice, set against a finely realised 1930s London. It reads as if Ruth Rendell were channelling Edgar Wallace' Mick Herron 'Gripping' Peter Robinson
£8.99
Flame Tree Publishing Vintage Crime: from the Crime Writers’ Association
"A book that should provide hours of entertainment and discovery for fans of mysteries and especially those with British roots and overtones." — Criminal Element Vintage Crime is a CWA anthology with a difference, celebrating members’ work over the years. The book will gather stories from the mid-1950s until the twenty-first century by great names of the past, great names of the present together with a few hidden treasures by less familiar writers. The first CWA anthology, Butcher’s Dozen, appeared in 1956, and was co-edited by Julian Symons, Michael Gilbert, and Josephine Bell. The anthology has been edited by Martin Edwards since 1996, and has yielded many award-winning and nominated stories in the UK and overseas. This new edition includes an array of incredible and award-winning authors: Robert Barnard, Simon Brett, Liza Cody, Mat Coward, John Dickson Carr, Marjorie Eccles, Martin Edwards, Kate Ellis, Anthea Fraser, Celia Fremlin, Frances Fyfield, Michael Gilbert, Paula Gosling, Lesley Grant-Adamson, HRF Keating, Bill Knox, Peter Lovesey, Mick Herron, Michael Z. Lewin, Susan Moody, Julian Symons and Andrew Taylor.
£9.95
British Library Publishing Murder by the Book: Mysteries for Bibliophiles
'If much of the action is set in a bookshop or a library, it is a bibliomystery, just as it is if a major character is a bookseller or a librarian.' - Otto Penzler A bookish puzzle threatens an eagerly awaited inheritance; a submission to a publisher recounts a murder that seems increasingly to be a work of non-fiction; an irate novelist puts a grisly end to the source of his writer's block. There is no better hiding place for clues - or red herrings - than inside the pages of a book. But in this world of resentful ghost writers, indiscreet playwrights and unscrupulous book collectors, literary prowess is often a prologue to disaster. With Martin Edwards as librarian and guide, delve into an irresistible stack of tales perfect for every book-lover and armchair sleuth, featuring much-loved Golden Age detectives such as Nigel Strangeways, Philip Trent and Detective Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn. But readers should be warned that the most riveting tales often conceal the deadliest of secrets...
£9.99
Allison & Busby The Cipher Garden: The evocative and compelling cold case mystery
In the peaceful village of Old Sawrey, set in the idyllic Lake District, a murderer strikes. Warren Howe, a husband and father of two, is brutally slaughtered with his own scythe by a mysterious hooded figure. The police manage to identify several suspects, but due to the lack of evidence they fail to make an arrest. Years later an anonymous tip-off sparks the interest of DCI Hannah Scarlett, who heads the local Cold Case Review Team. Scarlett's investigations lead her to suspect Howe's widow, Tina. Meanwhile, someone is sending vicious poison pen letters to Tina and her two children. With the help of a historian, and his information on the goings on in his unusual garden, Inspector Scarlett delves deeper and deeper in her quest for the truth, discovering old sins that are casting long shadows. The clues are eventually pieced together, leading to a shocking revelation that will change Hannah's life forever.
£8.99
Allison & Busby The Dungeon House
Twenty years ago, Malcolm Whiteley discovers his attractive wife Lysette is having an affair. The Whiteleys are wealthy, and live with their 16-year-old daughter Amber in the magnificent Dungeon House, overlooking Cumbria's remote western coast. But Malcolm is under financial and emotional pressure, and he begins to disintegrate psychologically, suspecting the men in their circle of being Lysette's lover. When Lysette tells Malcolm their marriage is over, he snaps, and takes out the old Winchester rifle he has been hiding from Lysette... Back to the present day, and Hannah Scarlett's cold case team are looking into the three-year-old mystery of the disappearance of Lily Elstone, whose father was Malcolm Whiteley's accountant. Their investigation coincides with the disappearance of another teenage girl, Shona Whiteley, daughter of Malcolm's nephew Nigel. Nigel now lives in the Dungeon House, despite its tragic history. Twenty years earlier, Malcolm shot his wife and apparently killed his daughter before shooting himself. But as Hannah's team dig down into the past, doubts arise about what exactly happened at the Dungeon House twenty years ago...
£8.99
Allison & Busby The Frozen Shroud
Death has come twice to Ravenbank, a remote community in England's Lake District, each time on Hallowe'en. In 1914, a young woman's corpse was found, with a makeshift shroud frozen to her battered face. Her ghost - the Faceless Woman - is said to walk through Ravenbank on Hallowe'en. Five years ago, another woman was murdered, and again her face was covered to hide her injuries. Daniel Kind becomes fascinated by the old cases, and wonders whether the obvious suspects really did commit the crimes.
£8.99
Allison & Busby The Serpent Pool: The evocative and compelling cold case mystery
The Lake District's cold case specialist, DCI Hannah Scarlett, is determined to uncover the truth behind Bethany Friend's apparent suicide in the Serpent Pool. Why would Bethany, so afraid of water, drown herself? Hannah fears that her partner, bookseller Marc Amos, is keeping dark secrets. Does he hold the key to Bethany's past - and why was his best customer burnt to death in an Ullswater boathouse? Hannah still carries a torch for Daniel Kind, who is researching Thomas De Quincey and the history of murder. Once Daniel and Hannah suspect connections between Bethany's drowning and a current sequence of killings, death comes dangerously close to home.
£8.99
British Library Publishing Green for Danger
It is 1942, and struggling up the hill to the new military hospital, Heron's Park, Kent, postman Higgins has no idea that the sender of one of the seven letters of application he is delivering will turn out to be a murderer in a year's time. When Higgins is brought in following injuries from a bombing raid in 1943, his inexplicable death from asphyxiation at the operating table casts four nurses and three doctors under suspicion, and a second death in quick succession invites the presence of the irascible - yet uncommonly shrewd - Inspector Cockrill to the scene. As the prospect of driving back across Kent amid falling bombs detains the inspector for the night, a tense and claustrophobic investigation begins to determine who committed the foul deeds, and how it was possible to kill with no evidence left behind.
£9.99
British Library Publishing These Names Make Clues
'Should detectives go to parties? Was it consistent with the dignity of the Yard? The inspector tossed for it-and went.' Chief Inspector Macdonald has been invited to a treasure hunt party at the house of Graham Coombe, the celebrated publisher of Murder by Mesmerism. Despite a handful of misgivings, the inspector joins a guestlist of novelists and thriller writers disguised on the night under literary pseudonyms. The fun comes to an abrupt end, however, when 'Samuel Pepys' is found dead in the telephone room in bizarre circumstances. Amidst the confusion of too many fake names, clues, ciphers and convoluted alibis, Macdonald and his allies in the CID must unravel a truly tangled case in this metafictional masterpiece, which returns to print for the first time since its publication in 1937.
£9.99
British Library Publishing The Theft of the Iron Dogs: A Lancashire Mystery
E.C.R. Lorac must be seriously considered for the position of leading writer of classic detective stories.' - Birmingham Post While hot on the heels of serial coupon-racketeer Gordon Ginner, Chief Inspector MacDonald of Scotland Yard receives word of a peculiar incident up in Lancashire - the fishing cottage of a local farmer has been broken into, with an assortment of seemingly random items missing which include a reel of salmon line, a large sack and two iron dogs (or andirons) from his fireplace. This incident becomes all the more enticing to MacDonald when a body washes up on the banks of the River Lune not far from the cottage in question; the body of Gordon Ginner. First published in 1946 and set in the fell country of Lunesdale over the course of a rainy September, The Theft of the Iron Dogs is the very picture of a cosy crime mystery and showcases Lorac's masterful attention to detail and deep affection for both Lunesdale and its residents.
£9.99
British Library Publishing The Lost Gallows: A London Mystery
John Dickson Carr lays on the macabre atmosphere again in this follow-up to It Walks by Night, in which Inspector Bencolin attempts to piece together a puzzle involving a disappearing street, a set of gallows which mysteriously reveals itself to a number of figures traipsing through the London fog, and the bizarre suggestion that a kind of fictional bogeyman, Jack Ketch, may be afoot and in the business of wanton execution. An early gem from one of the great writers of the classic crime genre. This edition also includes the rare Inspector Bencolin short story ‘The Ends of Justice’.
£8.99
Penzler Publishers Obelists at Sea
£11.00
British Library Publishing Fell Murder: A Lancashire Mystery
First published in 1944 Fell Murder sees E.C.R. Lorac at the height of her considerable powers as a purveyor of well-made, traditional and emphatic detective fiction. The book presents a fascinating `return of the prodigal’ mystery set in the later stages of the Second World War amidst the close-knit farmerfolk community of Lancashire’s lovely Lune valley. The Garths had farmed their fertile acres for generations and fine land it was with the towering hills of the Lake Country on the far horizon. Garthmere Hall itself was old before Flodden Field, and here hot-tempered Robert Garth, still hale and hearty at eighty-two, ruled his household with a rod of iron. The peaceful dales and fells of the north country provide the setting for this grim story of a murder, a setting in fact which is one of the attractive features of an unusual and distinctive tale of evil passions and murderous hate in a small rural community.
£8.99
RMC Media The Milk Lady at New Park Farm: The Wartime Diary of Anne McEntegart June 1943 - February 1945
Anne McEntegart wanted to support the War Effort. Her Royal Air Force officer husband was working abroad and her only child was in Canada, evacuated for safety. Aged thirty-eight, Anne left London, and her life as the wife of an officer, to work on the land and deliver milk for Walter Gossling at New Park Farm, just outside the village of Brockenhurst, in the New Forest. Though not an official member of the Women's Land Army, Anne milked cows and stacked corn alongisde the land girls on the farm. Engagingly detailing the brim-full days of farm life during the build-up to the D-Day and after, this book celebrates the people and places - not to mention a wayward pony - which made up the wartime Brockenhurst community. The Milk Lady at New Park Farm is a World War Two diary of farmwork, friendship and fulfilment among the ponies and corn sheaves of the New Forest.
£10.64
British Library Publishing Murder's a Swine: A Second World War Mystery
‘“I should imagine this was murder, too, because it would be very difficult to build yourself into a heap of sandbags and then die…”’ In the blackout conditions of a wintry London night, amateur sleuth Agnes Kinghof and a young air-raid warden have stumbled upon a corpse stowed in the walls of their street’s bomb shelter. As the police begin their investigation, the night is interrupted once again when Agnes’s upstairs neighbour Mrs Sibley is terrorised by the sight of a grisly pig’s head at her fourth-floor window. With the discovery of more sinister threats mysteriously signed ‘Pig-sticker’, Agnes and her husband Andrew – unable to resist a good mystery – begin their investigation to deduce the identity of a villain living amongst the tenants of their block of flats. A witty and lighthearted mystery full of intriguing period detail, this rare gem of Golden Age crime returns to print for the first time since its publication in 1943.
£8.99
British Library Publishing The Body in the Dumb River: A Yorkshire Mystery
'For the most part, the dead man received public sympathy. A decent, hardworking chap, with not an enemy anywhere. People were surprised that anybody should want to kill Jim.' But Jim has been drowned in the Dumb River, near Ely, miles from his Yorkshire home. His body, clearly dumped in the usually silent (`dumb’) waterway, has been discovered before the killer intended – disturbed by a torrential flood. With critical urgency it’s up to Superintendent Littlejohn of Scotland Yard to trace the mystery of the unassuming victim’s murder to its source, leaving waves of scandal and sensation in his wake as the hidden, salacious dealings of Jim Teasdale begin to surface.
£8.99
British Library Publishing Till Death Do Us Part
Crime author Dick Markham is in love again; his fiancée the mysterious newcomer to the village, Lesley Grant. When Grant accidentally shoots the fortune teller through the side of his tent at the local fair – following a very strange reaction to his predictions – Markham is reluctantly brought into a scheme to expose his betrothed as a suspected serial husband-poisoner. That night the enigmatic fortune teller – and chief accuser – is found dead in an impossible locked-room setup, casting suspicion onto Grant and striking doubt into the heart of her lover. Lured by the scent of the impossible case, Dr Gideon Fell arrives from London to examine the perplexing evidence and match wits with a meticulous killer at large. First published in 1944, Till Death Do Us Part remains a pacey and deeply satisfying impossible crime story, championed by Carr connoisseurs as one of the very best examples of his mystery writing talents.
£8.99
British Library Publishing The Chianti Flask
“[Belloc Lowndes] brings to the making of a mystery a literary sense and an imagination that puts life into the tale and into the readers.” – The Observer An enigmatic young woman named Laura Dousland stands on trial for murder, accused of poisoning her elderly husband Fordish. It seems clear that the poison was delivered in a flask of Chianti with supper, but according to the couple’s servant in the witness-box, the flask disappeared the night Fordish died and all attempts to trace it have come to nothing. The jury delivers its verdict, but this is just the end of the beginning of Marie Belloc Lowndes’ gripping story. First published in 1934, this exquisitely crafted novel blends the tenets of a traditional mystery with an exploration of the psychological impact of death, accusation, guilt and justice in the aftermath of murder.
£8.99
British Library Publishing The Corpse in the Waxworks: A Paris Mystery
'"The purpose, the illusion, the spirit of a waxworks. It is an atmosphere of death. It is soundless and motionless... Do you see?"' Last night Mademoiselle Duchene was seen heading into the Gallery of Horrors at the Musee Augustin waxworks, alive. Today she was found in the Seine, murdered. The museum's proprietor, long perturbed by the unnatural vitality of his figures, claims that he saw one of them following the victim into the dark - a lead that Henri Bencolin, head of the Paris police and expert of 'impossible' crimes, cannot possibly resist. Surrounded by the eerie noises of the night, Bencolin prepares to enter the ill-fated waxworks, his associate Jeff Marle and the victim's fiance in tow. Waiting within, beneath the glass-eyed gaze of a leering waxen satyr, is a gruesome discovery and the first clues of a twisted and ingenious mystery. First published in 1932 at the height of crime fiction's Golden Age, this macabre and atmospheric dive into the murky underground of Parisian society presents an intelligent puzzle delivered at a stunning pace. This new edition also includes 'The Murder in Number Four', a rare Inspector Bencolin short story.
£8.99
British Library Publishing He Who Whispers
'It almost seemed that the murder, if it was a murder, must have been committed by someone who could rise up unsupported in the air...' When Miles Hammond is invited to a meeting of the Murder Club in London, he is met instead with just two other guests and is treated to a strange tale of an impossible crime in France from years before; the murder of a man on a tower with only one staircase, under watch at the time at which the murder took place. With theories of levitating vampires abounding, the story comes home to Miles when he realises that the librarian he has just hired for his home is none other than Fay Seton, a woman whose name still echoes from the heart of this bizarre and unsolved murder of the past. First published in 1946, in later years Carr considered this novel one of his finest works. It shows the masterful author at the height of his powers, boasting an ingenious plot delivered with an astounding pace and striking characters including none other than the great detective, Dr Gideon Fell.
£9.99
British Library Publishing The Division Bell Mystery
`Through the double clamour of Big Ben and the shrill sound of the bell rang a revolver shot.' A financier is found shot in the House of Commons. Suspecting foul play, Robert West, a parliamentary private secretary, takes on the role of amateur sleuth. Used to turning a blind eye to covert dealings, West must now uncover the shocking secret behind the man's demise, amid distractions from the press and the dead man's enigmatic daughter. Originally published in 1932, this was the only mystery novel to be written by Ellen Wilkinson, one of the first women to be elected to Parliament. Wilkinson offers a unique insider's perspective of political scandal, replete with sharp satire.
£9.99
Flame Tree Publishing Cosy Crime Short Stories
Cosy crime fiction is a popular phenomenon, with its safe but intriguing boundaries. This latest addition to the Gothic Fantasy series is packed with armchair detectives, murders in the vicarage, family secrets unravelling in gossipy ears, and the ingredients of a genteel bloodbath in an otherwise delightful village. Contains a fabulous mix of classic and brand new writing, with contemporary authors from the US, Canada, and the UK. New, contemporary and notable writers featured are: Stephanie Bedwell-Grime, Joshua Boyce, Sarah Holly Bryant, Jeffrey B. Burton, C.B. Channell, Gregory Von Dare, Amanda C. Davis, Michael Martin Garrett, Philip Brian Hall, E.E. King, Tom Mead, Trixie Nisbet, Annette Siketa , B. David Spicer, Nancy Sweetland, Louise Taylor, and Elise Warner. These appear alongside classic stories by authors such as Arthur Conan Doyle, R. Austin Freeman, Arthur Morrison, Baroness Orczy, Catherine Louisa Pirkis and G.K. Chesterton.
£18.00
Arcturus Publishing Ltd Sherlock Holmes: A Gripping Casebook of Stories: A Gripping Casebook of Stories
£19.99