Description "He is dead. It is quite impossible that he should have killed himself. He has been murdered. About half an hour ago. By a long knife passed under the left shoulder-blade into the heart."On a fog-bound London night, a soirée is taking place in the studio of artist Laurence Newtree. The guests include an eminent psychiatrist, a wealthy philanthropist and an observant young friend of Newtree's, John Christmas. Before the evening is over, Newtree's neighbour is found stabbed to de...

Amid the danger of World War Two's London, Kate Mayhew is returning from another hopeless round of the theatrical agents. She is about to take a job in munitions when a poster about a missing child prompts her to help the war effort in a very different way. Obsessed with finding out what has happened to young Sidney Brentwood, Kate journeys to rural Wales where the boy was last seen.Aided by land-girl Aminta and the dashing young archaeologist Colin Kemp, Kate stumbles upon clandest...

Murder begins with the death of a kitten…Artist Jeanie Halliday is thrilled to move into a country cottage of her own, next door to the home of her dear childhood friend Agnes. But the countryside idyll isn't quite what she might have expected: Agnes is suddenly and unaccountably unfriendly for one thing; and then the neighbours are a little peculiar - old Mr Fone, obsessed with burial mounds; the scandalous Hugh Barchard; and an estranged mother taken to brandishing pistol...

Description"the murderer was also riding a bicycle... why, if we can trace it, we shall have the murderer!"On a cycling holiday in the idyllic Wales-Herefordshire border countryside, Nora and her friends make a gruesome discovery - the body of their missing comrade at the bottom of a quarry. But an apparently accidental fall turns out to have been murder - for the man was shot in the head.Fortunately John Christmas, last seen in The Studio Crime (1929), is on hand with his redoubtable fore...

The Second Shot by Anthony Berkeley is a clever and engaging detective novel featuring the witty and astute amateur sleuth Roger Sheringham. Known for his sharp intellect and calm reasoning, Sheringham returns to unravel a complex case that challenges even his keen mind. The story begins with a puzzling murder: a man is shot, but the circumstances surrounding the crime are mysterious and suspicious. When a second shooting occurs, the tension escalates, and the local police find themselves ...

Work was mounting up, Detective Inspector Charlton did not feel too well and he could have done without Mr Otto Bajornsen. Yet had not this untidy, smiling man come on his fact-finding trip to Downshire, the affair of the Busy Bees might have had a very different conclusion. Even as he sat talking in Charlton's office in Lulverton, the wheels were being set in motion and Mr Theophilus Mildwater, curator of the Monk Jewel Museum, was anxiously reporting the loss of Exhibit 115, a valuable -...

That settles it, thought Smith savagely. He shall be murdered, even if I have to do it myself!The Hardstaffe family are not the nicest people in the world. In fact, he - schoolteacher, lothario and bully, she - chronic malcontent - and their horsey unmarried adult daughter seem to be prime candidates for murder. A writer planning these deaths, on paper at least, and a young girl, chased by old Hardstaffe, are the only outsiders in a deliciously neat, but nasty, case.Blue Murder was the las...

They grabbed their fishing bags, and made a dive for their rods which were standing, ready for use, outside the front door.'Well, tight lines!' they called over their shoulders.'Bleeding hooks!' grinned the Major.Gladys 'Ruby' Mumsby was more interested in fishermen than fish. When her corpse is discovered near a Welsh sporting lodge that is hosting a group of fly fishing enthusiasts, it seems one of them has taken an interest in her too - of the murderous kind. For impaled in the palm of ...

"I think," said Palk slowly, "there's a homicidal maniac loose in the Hydro, but who it is, God knows."Presteignton Hydro is a drably genteel spa resort, populated by the aged and crippled who relish every drop of scandal they observe or imagine concerning the younger guests. No one however expects to see gossip turn to murder as their juniors die one by one - no one, that is, except the killer. The crusty cast of characters make solving the case all the harder for Inspector Palk - until t...

In Black Beadle, E.C.R. Lorac delivers a compelling tale of intrigue and deception, solidifying her place among the Golden Age greats of detective fiction. This gripping mystery introduces readers to a shadowy world where dark secrets and sinister motives intersect, setting the stage for one of Inspector Robert Macdonald's most challenging cases. The story begins with the discovery of a chilling murder in a quiet English village. The victim, a reclusive and enigmatic individual nicknamed "...

The Piccadilly Murder by Anthony Berkeley is a classic detective novel that combines suspense, clever twists, and Berkeley’s characteristic wit. Featuring the keen and unconventional amateur sleuth Ambrose Chitterwick, the story opens with a seemingly ordinary afternoon in a tearoom in Piccadilly, London, which quickly takes a sinister turn. Chitterwick, a quiet yet astute member of the Crimes Circle club, witnesses an unusual encounter that soon leads to the sudden death of one of the pat...

"What's the matter?" Vereker asked breathlessly, and at the same moment realised that the mass lying at Ricardo's feet was the body of a woman. "Has she fainted?""It's Mrs. Mesado, Algernon," replied Ricardo, "and if I'm not mistaken, she's dead."Algernon Vereker's best friend Manuel Ricardo is looking forward to a cruise on the luxury liner Mars, and persuades an overwrought Vereker to join him. Once on board, Ricky's mind is on romance while the amiable an...