Cyril Hare's short stories were mostly written for the London Evening Standard. Among them, The Story of Hermione, in which the eponymous character grows rich from the all too convenient deaths of several relatives, has been called one of the most chilling short stories ever written. Sister Bessie describes vividly the agonies of a blackmail victim and the desperate crimes he commits in the hope of freeing himself from his tormentor. Miss Burnside's Dilemma

The picturesque village of Yew Hill, Markshire becomes an idyllic retreat for Francis Pettigrew and his wife until Francis is suddenly summoned to sit in as the County Court Judge and an elderly neighbor is brutally murdered.

England is in the grip of the Second World War and the Blitz has forced the evacuation of various government offices from London. Francis Pettigrew, an unsuccessful barrister and amateur detective, accompanies his ministry to the distant seaside resort of Marsett Bay where the civil servants must make the best of their temporary home. In this strange atmosphere, Pettigrew begins to fall in love with his secretary, Miss Brown, who is also being courted by a widowed man who is much older tha...

An Inspector Mallett mystery - Daylesford Gardens, South Kensington, is an unlikely address for the discovery of death by strangulation. Even more unusual is that the house does not belong to the deceased financier. In the meantime, the mysterious tenant, Colin James, has disappeared. Inspector Mallett of Scotland Yard is brought in to unravel a complicated trail.

Suicide Excepted shows a man committing an almost perfect murder, only to find that a quirk of the insurance laws may deprive him of the reward.

Who killed solo violinist Lucy Carless during a concert by the Markshire Orchestra? Was it her first husband? Or her second? Womanizer Bill Ventry? Or perhaps the clarinetist and fellow Polish émigré, Zbartorowski, with whom she'd had a violent argument? "A plot compounded of musical knowledge, a Dickens allusion, and a subtle point in law is related with delightfully unobtrusive wit, warmth, and style." - The New York Times

Curl up by the fire with this Christmas Eve-set Golden Age classic festive whodunnit.Some things have happened in this house that are not to be cured by pots of tea . . .The snow is thick, the phone line is down, and no one is getting in or out of Warbeck Hall. With friends and family gathered round the fire, all should be set for a perfect country house Christmas - but as the bells chime midnigh...

Francis Pettigrew travels to Exmoor for a holiday with his wife - an area in which as a young boy he was traumatised by coming across a dead body on the moor. In an attempt to exorcise this trauma, Pettigrew walks across the moor to the place where the incident occurred - only to find another dead body. Moreover when he returns to the scene with the police, the body is gone. Did he really see a body - or is it a hallucination conjured up by his return to the scene of the crime that has hau...

The banks of the Didder on a sunny summer afternoon when the trout are rising seem an unlikely place for a murderer to strike. But when the body of a local landowner is discovered it soon becomes apparent that there are a number of people with good reason to dislike him. Inspector White, always deeply suspicious of the country, is brought in from Scotland Yard. Although quick to disentangle the complex relationships linking the suspects and the victim, it is only by mastering the subtletie...

Alfred Alexander Gordon Clark was born on the 4th September 1900 at Mickleham, Surrey, England.Born into a traditional legal family, Clark studied history at New College, Oxford, before being called to the bar in 1924. He enjoyed a highly successful legal career, practicing in civil and criminal courts and eventually serving as a Surrey County court judge from 1950 until his death.Clark began writing fiction at age 36, seamlessly integrating his impeccable, first-hand knowl...

Tragedy at Law follows a rather self-important High Court judge, Mr Justice Barber, as he moves from town to town presiding over cases in the Southern England circuit. When an anonymous letter arrives for Barber, warning of imminent revenge, he dismisses it as the work of a harmless lunatic. But then a second letter appears, followed by a poisoned box of the judge's favourite chocolates, and he begins to fear for his life. Enter barrister and amateur detective Francis Pett...

The Detective Stories Library is a rich and engaging collection of classic mysteries by some of the greatest writers of the genre. This illustrated volume brings together brilliant tales of crime, deduction, and suspense, featuring works by masters of the Golden Age of detective fiction such as Dorothy L. Sayers, John Dickson Carr, Ngaio Marsh, John Rhode, and Christianna Brand. Among the highlights are intriguing stories such as The House of the Poplars, Grand Guignol, Boots, The Yellow S...