William, the gardener at Layton Court, was a man of melancholy deliberation. It did not pay, William held, to rush things; especially the important things of life, such as the removal of greenfly from roses. Before action was taken, the matter should be studied, carefully and unhappily, from every possible point of view, particularly the worst. On this summer’s morning William had been gazing despondently at the roses for just over three quarters of an hour. Pretty soon now he would feel h...

"Detection and crime at its wittiest—all Berkeley's stories are amusing, intriguing and he is a master of the final twist." —Agatha ChristieIn this classic Golden Age British mystery, Anthony Berkeley—the renowned author of the Roger Sheringham series—delivers a tense political thriller that starts with a shocking assassination . . .The House of Commons has been breached in the most unthinkable manner. In the middle of his speech introducing a controversial...

Republished for the first time in nearly 95 years, a classic winter country house mystery by the founder of the Detection Club, with a twist that even Agatha Christie couldn’t solve!Stephen Munro, a demobbed army officer, reconciles himself to taking a job as a footman to make ends meet. Employed at Wintringham Hall, the delightful but decaying Sussex country residence of the elderly Lady Susan Carey, his first task entails welcoming her eccentric guests to a weeke...

As the novel opens, the sparkling and witty Roger Sheringham has been asked by the Daily Courier to visit Hampshire to report on an apparent murder in the small seaside town of Ludmouth Bay. With him he takes his cousin Anthony Walton. "Although there were more than ten years between the cousins (Roger was now thirty-six, Anthony a bare twenty-five), they had always been good friends, and that also in spite of the fact that they had scarcely a taste or a feeling in common." The two of them...

MYSTERY AT LOVERS CAVE, THE by ANTHONY BERKELEY offers a concentrated, compelling experience within fiction / mystery & detective. This concise work presents carefully drawn characters and purposeful plotting that together explore themes of choice, consequence, and human connection. The prose is precise and economical, balancing vivid scenes with clear pacing to maintain narrative momentum. Ideal for readers seeking a thoughtful, accessible read, the book is well-suited to book clubs and c...

The noted amateur detective Roger Sheringham has formed his own private club of criminologists. As a challenge, he proposes that they individually attempt to solve a murder that has baffled Scotland Yard: the death of wealthy businessman Graham Bendix's wife after he presented her a box of poisoned chocolates.Rather than converging on a single criminal, each of the six members of the Crimes Circle arrives at a completely different solution to the same murder.Anthony Berkele...

Berkeley, like his contemporaries Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers, "were fascinated by murder in real life," according to Martin Edwards, who makes another observation. True crime tales provided them with inspiration and motivation. (four) The Wychford Poisoning Case drew inspiration from the case of Florence Maybrick, who faced accusations of poisoning her husband, James Maybrick, and ultimately proved guilty of the crime. Both Edwards and Tony Medawar have mentioned this fact. Sher...

"The Amateur Crime" is a captivating mystery novel that showcases the author's knack for intricate plots and clever twists. Set in 1930s England, the story revolves around Roger Sheringham, an amateur sleuth and part-time novelist, who is invited to a country house party where a murder soon takes place. Known for his sharp intellect and unorthodox methods, Sheringham takes it upon himself to unravel the mystery behind the crime.The novel intricately explores the dynamics among the ...

This anthology of rare stories of crime and suspense brings together 18 tales from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction for the first time in book form, including uncollected stories by Ngaio Marsh and John Dickson Carr.The Golden Age of detective fiction had begun inauspiciously with the publication of E.C. Bentley’s schismatic Trent’s Last Case in 1913, but it hit its stride in 1920 when both Agatha Christie and Freeman Wills Crofts – latterly crowned que...

The renowned British crime writer's classic locked-room Golden Age mystery that introduced amateur sleuth Roger Sheringham.A party at Layton Court, the country house of Victor Stanworth, is disrupted when the host is found shot through the forehead in his own library, a suicide as far as the police are concerned. After all, the gun is found in his hand, a note has been left, and the room is locked from the inside. But one of the guests, author Roger Sheringham, has...

Graham and Joan Bendix have apparently succeeded in making that eighth wonder of the modern world, a happy marriage. And into the middle of it there drops, like a clap of thunder, a box of chocolates. Joan Bendix is killed by a poisoned box of liqueur chocolates that cannot have been intended for her to eat. The police investigation rapidly reaches a dead end. Chief Inspector Moresby calls on Roger Sheringham and his Crimes Circle – six amateur but intrepid detectives – to consider the cas...

When two newlyweds move into their new home, only to discover that a corpse has been buried in their basement a few months prior, a gruelling case is begun to trace the identity of the victim. With all avenues of investigation approaching exhaustion, a tenuous lead offers a chance for Chief Inspector Moresby, and leads him to the amateur criminologist Roger Sheringham, who has recently been providing cover work in a school south of London. Desperate for evidence of any kind on the basement...