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';I have an idea that a certain man is going to commit murder. He told me soin so many words.'If Ludovic Travers hadn't been so sure the man was serious, he might not have gone snooping. If he hadn't kept his eyes peeled, he might have noticed what happened to the housekeeper's hair. It is even less likely he would have uncovered those dark deeds that took place in France, deeds that led to three violent deaths.The Case of the Housekeeper's Hair was originally published in 1948. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.';Christopher Bush is one of the good ones. Although he has written so many mysteries, the strange thing is that they all sound fresh, wide-eyed and dewy, as if he had written hardly any.' New York Herald Tribune
It was Murder Eve, and I was the last person in Sandbeach to suspect it.Ludovic Travers certainly isn't anticipating anything remotely resembling murder, least of all his own. But when he is invited to a strange hotel, someone does turns up murdered, and in a most peculiar way. Travers, and his Scotland Yard supremo Superintendent Wharton, are not officially connected with the case, but still co-operate with the local police. The solution will be as ingenious as the mystery is baffling.The Case of the Haven Hotel was originally published in 1948. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.';Christopher Bush is one of the good ones. Although he has written so many mysteries, the strange thing is that they all sound fresh, wide-eyed and dewy, as if he had written hardly any.' New York Herald Tribune
"We've managed to head off the Press men so far. But that won't last. We can't escape publicity, and the reading public enjoys murders."Harriet Hall, living in her isolated cottage outside the village of Larnwood, might not have been everyone's cup of tea, but why did someone feel the need to kill her on the eve of the arrival of her young niece, Amy? Why had the likeable Deene family seemingly been so in thrall to the late Harriet? The innocent in this classic murder mystery have every reason to be grateful for Inspector Collier of Scotland Yard's involvement, given the incompetent behavior of the local Chief Constable. But as Collier's investigation deepens, the case gets stranger still. Finally, however, the guilty are punished - though readers will have to read through to the book's final, quietly devastating chapter to see just how.The Strange Case of Harriet Hall was originally published in 1936. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.
Together they looked down at the inert sprawling figure of a man fantastically dressed in red-and-white-striped pyjama trousers, with a red sash belt and a white silk shirt open at the neck.A Christmas gathering of young and old in a great country house in England-a masquerade-and the lights are turned off for a game of hide and seek. Silence-then a man's cry for "Lights!" The lights come on, revealing Hugh Darrow, blind since the War, standing in the main hall, fresh blood dripping from his hands and covering his white Pierrot costume. He tells the story of having discovered a dead man, stabbed through the heart, lying in a curtained window embrasure next to the one in which he was hiding. The murdered man proves to be Stallard, one of the visitors, and a writer of mystery tales. There follows a thrilling tale in which the life of an innocent man hangs in the balance. A grand and baffling tale for the mystery lover.The Night of Fear was originally published in 1931. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.
"I want to catch them. To do that we've got to lead them on. Now listen to me."Elbert J. Pakenham of New York City is among just nine survivors of the sinking of the Coptic - not counting his black cat Jehosaphat. The benevolent Mr. Pakenham has made his fellow survivors joint beneficiaries in his will, his nephew having recently passed away. But it seems that someone is unwilling to share the fortune, as the heirs start to die under mysterious circumstances . . .Then Mr. Pakenham himself disappears, and Inspector Collier of Scotland Yard suspects dirty work. When a trap is laid that seriously wounds his best friend at the Yard, Superintendent Trask, Collier is certain his suspicions are correct. Into his net are drawn a charming young woman, Corinna Lacy, and her cousin and trustee, Wilfred Stark; a landed gentleman of dubious reputation, Gilbert Freyne, and his sister-in-law, Gladys; an Italian nobleman of ancient lineage and depleted estate, Count Olivieri; and a Bohemian English artist, Edgar Mallory. But Collier will need some unexpected feline assistance before the case is solved.One by One They Disappeared was originally published in 1929. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.
"I think you had better telephone for the police," he said. "This woman has been poisoned."Norma de Grey, the Principal in the Christmas pantomime Dick Whittington, was not popular with the rest of the Pavilion Theatre company. But was she hated enough to be killed by prussic acid, during the performance itself?Suspicion immediately falls on the Cat, her fellow actor in the fatal scene. Until it transpires that the Cat too has been poisoned - and his understudy has a solid alibi. But someone must have donned the disguise and appeared on stage incognito. Detective-Inspector Harry Manson, analytical detective par excellence, is on the case.Who Killed Dick Whittington? was originally published in 1947. This new edition includes an introduction by crime fiction historian Nigel Moss.
Why should a holidaymaker, sitting to enjoy a game of village cricket, suddenly meet with death in the shape of a flying bullet?That most English of sporting pastimes: a cricket match between two rivalrous village teams. The game has just ended in a closely fought draw, and the village green is emptied of all spectators, bar one. A dead man is found sitting in a deck chair on the boundary line, clearly shot during the match. The man is a stranger, with no obvious clue to his identity or that of his killer. Nobody has seen or heard the shot fired. The local police are baffled, and call in Scotland Yard. Enter Dr. Manson, investigative detective par excellence, to solve a seemingly impossible crime.Murder Isn't Cricket was originally published in 1946. This new edition includes an introduction by crime fiction historian Nigel Moss.';A front-rank place among contemporary writers of crime fiction . . . There is no flagging in the technique of either the authors or of the Doctor' Western Morning News
There is so much War News in News Bulletins, in Newspapers, and so much talk about the war that I do not intend to write about it in my diary. Indeed my diary is a sort of escape from the war . . . though it is almost impossible to escape from the anxieties which it brings.Bestselling author D.E. Stevenson's charming fictional alter-ego, Hester Christie-or "Mrs. Tim" as she is affectionately known to friends of her military husband-was first introduced to readers in Mrs. Tim of the Regiment, published in 1932. In 1941, Stevenson brought Mrs. Tim back in this delightful sequel, to lift spirits and boost morale in the early days of World War II.With her husband stationed in France, Hester finds plenty to keep her busy on the Home Front. From her first air raid and a harrowing but hilarious false alarm about a German invasion, to volunteering at the regiment's "Comforts Depot," guiding the romantic destinies of her pretty houseguest and an injured soldier, and making a flying visit to a blacked-out, slightly bedraggled London with its fighting spirit intact, Mrs. Tim does indeed carry on-in inimitable style.Mrs. Tim returns in two subsequent novels, Mrs Tim Gets a Job (1947) and Mrs Tim Flies Home (1952), all back in print for the first time in decades from Furrowed Middlebrow and Dean Street Press. This new edition features an introduction by Alexander McCall Smith."She admirably preserves her lightness of touch, with a tinge of melancholy added, which perfectly suits the mood of 1940." Glasgow Herald"This is not merely a war book to which cheerfulness keeps breaking in, it is a book of cheerfulness from which the war cannot be kept out . . . Major Tim's amazing escape from Dunkirk is high drama superbly handled, and her word pictures are both lifelike and lively." Manchester Evening News
Frances was free. She had enough money for her holiday, and when it was over she would find useful work. Her plans were vague, but she would have plenty of time to think things out when she got to Cairn. One thing only was certain-she was never going back to prison again.Young Frances Field arrives in a scenic coastal village in Scotland, having escaped her dreary life as an orphan treated as little more than a servant by an uncle and aunt. Once there, she encounters an array of eccentric locals, the occasional roar of enemy planes overhead, and three army wives-Elise, Tommy, and Tillie-who become fast friends. Elise warns Frances of the discomforts of military life, but she's inclined to disregard the advice when she meets the dashing and charming Captain Guy Tarlatan.The ensuing tale, one of D.E. Stevenson's most cheerful and satisfying, is complicated by a local laird with a shady reputation, a Colonel's daughter who's a bit too cosy with Guy, a spring reputed to guarantee marriage within a year to those who drink from it, and a series of misunderstandings only finally resolved in the novel's harrowing climax.Spring Magic, first published in 1942, is here reprinted for the first time in more than three decades. Furrowed Middlebrow and Dean Street Press are also reprinting four more of Stevenson's best works-Smouldering Fire, Mrs. Tim Carries On, Mrs. Tim Gets a Job, and Mrs. Tim Flies Home. This new edition includes an introduction by Alexander McCall Smith."The author tells of what befell a young woman who, while on a seaside holiday in Scotland, enters the social life surrounding a battalion of troops and of how she found personal happiness. Lively and charming." Sunday Mercury"The cheeriest company . . . charmingly told" Sunday Times
Iain stood for a few minutes on the little bridge that crossed the burn and looked at the house-he felt that he had betrayed it. No people save his own had ever lived in the house, and now he had sold it into slavery. For three months it would shelter strangers beneath its roof, for three months it would not belong to him.Despite his passionate love for Ardfalloch, Iain has been driven to let his home and estate to Mr Hetherington Smith, a wealthy London businessman, and his kindly wife (who was, truth be told, happier when they were poor).MacAslan stays on in a cottage by the loch, aided by his devoted keeper Donald and Donald's wife Morag. But he finds himself irresistibly drawn to Linda Medworth and her young son, invited to Ardfalloch by Mrs Hetherington Smith. Lush Highland scenery and a ruined castle set the stage for a mystery, and tension builds to a shocking conclusion.Smouldering Fire was first published in the U.K. in 1935 and in the U.S. in 1938. Later reprints were all heavily abridged. For our reprint, Furrowed Middlebrow and Dean Street Press have followed the text of the first U.K. edition, and are proud to be producing the first complete, unabridged edition of the novel in eighty years."A charming love story set in the romantic Scottish highlands, with plenty of local colour, a handsome hero, a lonely, lovely heroine and a curious mystery into the bargain." Sunday Mercury"A tale in which those who love the Highlands will delight, for the minor characters are gloriously alive and the atmosphere is profoundly right." Punch
';He's dead all right. Taken him clean through the heart. It's murder, Rose!'Michael Maddison, the host of the Fox Inn, is hellbent on preventing his sister and niece from marryinga difficult task when both ladies are being ardently courted in the district. When one of the suitors, expert archer Harry Saunders, finds two of his lethal arrows missing, it seems Maddison is in deadly earnestyet it is the latter who is found murdered, two green-and-white fletched arrows sticking out of his ribs.Inspector Knollis is back on cracking form in this, his seventh mystery. A tale of archery and assasination in which Knollis must pull from his own quiver the solution lest the mysterious Bowman strike again . . .The Elusive Bowman was originally published in 1951. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.';Mr. Vivian keeps his story as taut as the string on his elusive murderer's bow.' Liverpool Evening Express';Francis Vivian skips all tedious preliminaries and is commendably quick off the mark; we meet his characters with lively pleasure.' Observer
What was I to be this time? A Commandant again of a Prisoner of War Camp? Was I to get a sedentary job at the War Office itself, and begin the slow process of fossilisation? Was I due for some wholly new job of which the rank and file had never even heard? As it turned out, I most certainly was.Ludovic Travers reports to room 299 of the War Office to receive new orders. He is sent up to Derbyshire to be a training officer for the local Home Guard, and to be plunged headlong into a new wartime mystery. It is not long before he meets the ';fighting soldier' of the title, a tough veteran of the Spanish Civil War and dozens of other bloody battlefields.But when chewing-gum is discovered wedged into the barrel of a bomb launcher, it is obvious there's an individualor more than onein the camp out to make sure someone doesn't live to fight another day. And it's not long before their diabolical intent leads to explosive murder. Once again, it will be down to Travers's quick wits to make sense of it and bring the guilty to justicewith able support from George Wharton of Scotland Yard.The Case of the Fighting Soldier was originally published in 1942. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.
The curtain had been drawn back and there was the bed. Wharton and a stranger were standing by it, and when Wharton moved to meet me, I saw on the bed the body of Penelope Craye.';She's dead,' I said.Wharton merely nodded.Once again, we meet our old friend Ludovic Traversnow Major Travers, and commandant of Camp 55 in England during World War Two. Nearby lives the rather mysterious Colonel Brendemysterious because he is in possession of certain fact relating to aerial defence.Travers's suspicions that all is not well are intensified when Penelope, the colonel's flashy secretary, is murdered. Then George Wharton appears on the scenethe Scotland Yard man who has already solved some strange mysteries. In the rush of exciting events which follow, Travers plays a major part in solving the baffling happenings. Christopher Bush, Ludovic Travers, and George Whartonat their best!The Case of the Kidnapped Colonel was originally published in 1942. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.';Curiosity is whetted by the aptness and neatness of his plots. . . All kinds of whys and wherefores could plainly be devised, but it would be hard to imagine any so satisfying as Mr. Bush's.' Times Literary Supplement';Well written, supplied with good characters, its setting and military incidentals realistic . . . in short, a good specimen of detective-story fitted to war-time England.' Sunday Times';No wonder Ludovic Travers is puzzled, and so will be the reader in this amusing variety of the orthodox spy story.' Guardian
Frank Jennings was a keen murder-mystery fan, but no one was more surprised than he to find himself mixed up in a murder mystery in real life, and that the victim was the wife of one of his own neighbours.Paul Murray was the sort of man who ought to have hanged for murder. There everybody who knew him was agreed. It was on the question of whether he was responsible for the murder of his wife, Brenda, that they disagreed.The case is not made any easier for Inspector Knollis because of the attempts of Roy Palmer and Peter Fairfax to incriminate Murray by interference and careful lies. And, of course, there is Jennings, the spare-time criminologist who is a voluble nuisance but with some occasional bright ideas; and the kippers of which Fairfax makes red herrings. A difficult case, but the genial Inspector will not be beaten.The Sleeping Island was first published in 1951. This new edition includes an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.';Francis Vivian skips all tedious preliminaries and is commendably quick off the mark; we meet his characters with lively pleasure.' Observer';Mr. Vivian neatly fits everything in its place.' Times Literary Supplement
Madeleine Burke is prepared to swear that she was Dr. Challoner's last patient on Tuesday evening, and that he was alive and in good spirits when she bade him good night.While holidaying in Algiers, Hugh Challoner encounters the lightning-sketch artist Aubrey Highton. Highton is desirous of finding a job back in England, and Challoner agrees to helpbut then his enigmatic new friend disappears.Back in England, Dr. Challoner is strangled in his own surgery, and it is discovered that Highton is one of the last to have seen the slain man alive. Who exactly is Highton, other than a former Foreign Legionnaire? And why was a drawing of a laughing dog left in the diary just beforeor just afterthe unfortunate doctor's demise?The Laughing Dog was originally published in 1949. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.';The author's pen has struck the gold with this one.' The Writer';The reputation of detective and author are maintained in a swiftly moving story.' Sheffield Telegraph';A detective story with a clever plot, good construction, and fine writing is a thing to welcome at all times. Mr. Vivian's latest adventure of Inspector Knollis is very good indeed.' Edinburgh Evening News
If Lesley Dexter had not been a snob her husband might have lived out his three-score-and-ten years.Five years have passed without any major crime disturbing the provincial peace of the city of Burnham, and then, on an October night, a scream rends the midnight air in the residential suburb of Westford Bridge. P.C. Daker, hurrying to the door of Himalaya Villa in River Close, finds the tenant, Robert Dexter, lying dead across his own threshold. After a nights investigation, Sir Wilfrid Burrows, the Chief Constable, decides to call in New Scotland Yard.Inspector Gordon Knollis, transferred to the Yard during the war years, is sent down to the city where he had once been the head of the C.I.D. He finds himself faced with a disturbing puzzle, a crime with no apparent motive, and even his knowledge of local conditions does little to help him in his endeavours to unravel it. There is a host of alibis, but he breaks them down one by one in his own inimitable way, eventually resolving the situation and providing a denouement that comes as a surprise even to his own assistant, Sergeant Ellis.Sable Messenger was originally published in 1947. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.';Francis Vivian skips all tedious preliminaries and is commendably quick off the mark; we meet his characters with lively pleasure.' Observer';Mr. Vivian neatly fits everything in its place.' Times Literary Supplement
';';This is something desperately secret,' she said. ';Something I want you to do for me . . . But I can't tell you now. It's something I'm frightened about.'Ludovic Travers, consulting specialist for Scotland Yard, receives two invitations at once to visit Beechingford. One comes from Cuthbert Daine, his literary agent. Daine is an important and busy man, and it seems strange that he would want to see Travers personally about a matter that might have been handled by mail. The other invitation comes from Austin Chaice, the successful mystery writer. He is, he says, preparing a manual for detective story writers, and needs advice on certain points.The puzzlement aroused in Travers's mind by these two letters is crystallized by a half-hysterical telephone call from Chaice's attractive wife.Travers is prepared to find a delicate and involved situation at Beechingfordbut not prepared for the murder of his host!The Case of the Missing Men was originally published in 1946. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.
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