At the height of Warton Hospital Carnival Ball, six hundred pairs of eyes gaze on enraptured as the Mayor presents the Carnival Queen with a beautiful silver paper-knife, before retiring backstage for a private supper. Shortly afterwards, a piercing scream alerts the crowd to a terrible tragedy. Amongst the first on the scene are nephew and uncle detective duo Charlie and Peter Ryan, who are greeted by a gruesome sight. For the Mayor lies dying from a gaping wound, the body of the Carnival...

Edward Dennison, of Coote and Dennison, is found murdered - killed by a bullet fired from his own marked pistol, which had been stolen that evening by Colonel Somers, after a stormy interview concerning some missing jewels belonging to the Colonel's niece. Detective Inspector Kilby is called in from Scotland Yard, ably assisted by Inspector Hemingway of the local police. But with such an unsavoury victim, there is no shortage of possible motives - amongst them, Dennison's step-daughter, th...

Detective Charlie Ryan and his assistant Isabel Fraser (a.k.a. "Boston Belle") are the dinner guests of their client, the solicitor Richard Windermere and his wife. Also present are three of their host's friends and business acquaintances: an underwriter, a bank manager, and Doctor Dunlavin. Tensions are already fraught after Windermere's unexpected announcement that he would shoot his wife rather than allow her to be unfaithful to him. But the uncomfortable occasion reaches a climax when ...

"She ought to be poisoned!" For Charlie and Isabel Ryan (previously known as Boston Belle), this sinister remark is the harbinger of a tragedy that threatens to disturb the peace of their honeymoon. For shortly afterwards, the woman in question, Pauline Miller, is found dead in the grounds of the hotel where she is staying with her husband and aunt. Inspector Kilby, an old friend of the Ryans, is also on a fishing holiday in the area - and he is not satisfied that Pauline's death is accide...

Scotland Yard is busy investigating the appearance of forged bank notes into general circulation, and Charlie Ryan and his Uncle Peter immediately suspect that master-forger Isabel Fraser (a.k.a. "Boston Belle") is up to her old tricks. Assisting Detective-Inspector Beecham in tracking the counterfeiters, Charlie suspects that a mysterious bookshop may hold the key to the mystery. But an old antagonist of Charlie's, an unstable criminal genius know only as "The Professor", is on the loose ...

"Why is this decent country and my family’s home asked to tolerate the presence of an obscene infection like this man?"Lady Lanivet is worried. Why has her brother Sir James, Squire of the West Country coastal town of Bosenna, invited the objectionable Albert Tenterton to his shooting party? Tenterton is well-known in City circles as a swindler and thief - and Sir James himself has recently been a victim of one of his schemes. Keen to ferret out the mystery of the man's relationshi...

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...

I am going to commit a murder. I offer no apology for the curtness of the statement.An individual taking the name ‘Marius’ boasts in a series of letters that he will commit the Perfect Murder, daring Scotland Yard detectives to catch him if they can. Ex-CID officer John Franklin and the amateur but astute detective Ludovic Travers will need to draw conclusons from a soiled letter, a locked room murder, four cast-iron alibis, and trips to France, in a feverish search for th...

Licensed for Murder, first published in 1958, is part of the series of mysteries featuring private detective Dr. Priestley. Author John Rhode, a pen name of Cecil Street (1884-1964), was a prolific writer of mostly detective novels, publishing more than 140 books between 1924 and 1961. Licensed for Murder concerns the new managers of an English country inn, who, during the inn's renovation, discover the grisly, burned remains of a man behind corrugated sheeting in...

The Mysterious Suspect, first published in 1953 (and also known by the title By Registered Post), is part of the series of mysteries featuring private detective Dr. Priestley. Author John Rhode, a pen name of Cecil Street (1884-1964), was a prolific writer of mostly detective novels, publishing more than 140 books between 1924 and 1961.In The Mysterious Suspect, wealthy industrialist Peter Horningtoft is found dead in his study after apparently dri...

'Mr J. J. Connington is a name revered by all specialists on detective fiction' SpectatorIn the fourth Sir Clinton Driffield mystery, the detective finds himself up against a missing heir, an accidental bigamist, a series of secret marriages and impersonations and an ingenious scientific murder. Aided by his wit and powers of reasoning, as well as Wendover, his very own Watson, Sir Clinton once again succeeds in piecing together a solution as the novel reaches its thrillin...

Pamela Norwood always carries her gas mask with her. After all, John Hawthorne, her uncle and employer has always stressed the importance of being on the alert for whatever the enemy might throw at one - or rain down on one - during wartime. Even so, she is taken completely by surprise when the siren sounds ominously through the fog on the common as she makes her way home. Luckily for Pamela, in the confusion, her friend Mr. March is on hand to provide assistance. But this is no ordinary a...