Catalog Search Results
Author
Language
English
Description
Welworth Garden City in the 1940s is a forward-thinking town where free spirits find a home--vegetarians, socialists, and an array of exotic religious groups. Chief among these are the Children of Osiris, led by the eccentric High Prophet, Eustace K. Mildmann. The cult is a seething hotbed of petty resentment, jealousy and dark secrets--which eventually lead to murder. The stage is set for one of Inspector Meredith's most bizarre and exacting cases"--Publisher...
Author
Series
Language
English
Formats
Description
"It is 1942, and at the new Kent military hospital Heron's Park, postman Joseph Higgins delivers seven letters of acceptance for infirmary roles. He has no idea that one of the recipients will later cause his demise. When Higgins returns to Heron's Park with injuries from a bombing raid in 1943, his inexplicable death in the operating theatre casts four nurses and three doctors under suspicion, and a second, sudden death brings Inspector Cockrill...
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
""A war's on and a murder has been committed and we sit here talking nonsense about almond whirls and mince pies!" First published in 1944, Murder After Christmas is a lively riot of murder, mince pies and misdirection, cleverly twisting the tropes of Golden Age detective fiction to create a pacey, light-hearted package admirably suited for the holiday season. Featuring an introduction by CWA Diamond Dagger Award-winning author and series editor Martin...
Author
Language
English
Description
"Never, even in his most optimistic moments, had he visualised a scene of this nature--himself in one arm-chair, a police officer in another, and between them ... a mystery." So thinks the Reverend Dodd--vicar of the quiet Cornish village of Boscawen and a reader of detective novels--when an actual mystery unexpectedly lands on his doorstep in The Cornish Coast Murder. Julius Tregarthan, a secretive and ill-tempered magistrate, is found at his house...
Author
Language
English
Description
"Renowned for its authentic characters and settings based partly on the author's own experiences of life in the Lune Valley, E. C. R. Lorac's classic rural mystery returns to print for the first time since 1953. This edition includes an introduction by award-winning author Martin Edwards. "I'm minded of the way a fire spreads in dry bracken when we burn it off the fellside: tongues of flame this way and that-tis human tongues and words that's creeping...
Author
Series
Language
English
Description
"First published in Britain in 1949, Brand's exuberant novel is still regarded as one of the great masterpieces of the classic mystery genre for its fiendishly constructed puzzle, memorable setting, dumbfounding acts of misdirection and thrilling denouement. This edition includes an introduction by award-winning author Martin Edwards. "A very neat version of the 'sealed room' mystery... provides [Miss Brand] with excellent opportunities to indulge...
Author
Language
English
Description
A mysterious disappearance is at the center of Bats in the Belfry. Shortly after waving away a telephone request from a persistent caller named Debrette, Bruce Attleton leaves his home in Regent's Park for Paris. He never arrives, but his suitcase turns up in a sculptor's studio slated for renovation. After Attleton's friend Neil Rockingham takes his concerns to DCI Macdonald, Macdonald soon discovers a corpse secreted in the studio. Unfortunately,...
Author
Language
English
Description
"Amidst the confusion of too many fake names, clues, ciphers, and convoluted alibis, Chief Inspector Macdonald and his allies in the CID must unravel a truly tangled case in this metafictional masterpiece, which returns to print for the first time since its publication in 1937. This edition includes an introduction by CWA Diamond Dagger Award-winning author Martin Edwards. "Should detectives go to parties? Was it consistent with the dignity of the...
Author
Language
English
Description
"First published in 1952, The Widow of Bath offers intricate puzzles, international intrigue, and a richly evoked portrait of post-war Britain, all delivered with Bennett's signature brand of witty and elegant prose. This edition includes an introduction by CWA Diamond Dagger Award-winning author Martin Edwards. Hugh Everton was intent on nothing more than quietly drinking in the second-rate hotel he found himself in on England's south coast-and then...
Author
Language
English
Description
"Miss Tither, the village busybody, is not the best-loved resident of Hilary Magna. She has made many enemies: bombarding the villagers with religious tracts, berating drunkards, and informing the spouses of cheating partners. Her murder, however, is still a huge shock to the Reverend Ethelred Claplady and his parish. Inspector Littlejohn's understanding of country ways makes him Scotland Yard's first choice for the job. Basing himself at the village...
11) Two-way murder
Author
Language
English
Description
"A lost novel from the golden age of crime, published for the very first time. It happened on a dark and misty night; the night of the ball at The Prince's Hall, Fordings. Abuzz with rumours surrounding the disappearance of Rosemary Reeve on the eve of last year's ball, the date proves ill-fated again when two homebound partygoers, Nick and Dilys, come to a swerving halt before a corpse on the road. Arriving at the scene to the news that Nick has...
Author
Language
English
Description
"On a dismally foggy night in Hampstead, London, a curious party has gathered in an artist's studio to weather the wartime blackout A civil servant and a government scientist are matching wits in a game of chess, while an artist paints the portrait of his characterful sitter, bedecked in Cardinal's robes at the other end of the room. In the kitchen, the artist's sister is hosting the charlady of the miser next door. When the brutal murder of said...
Language
English
Description
Crimson Snow brings together a dozen vintage crime stories set in winter. Welcome to a world of Father Christmases behaving oddly, a famous fictional detective in a Yuletide drama, mysterious tracks in the snow, and some very unpleasant carol singers. There's no denying that the supposed season of goodwill is a time of year that lends itself to detective fiction.On a cold night, it's tempting to curl up by the fireside with a good mystery. And more...
14) The spoilt kill
Author
Language
English
Description
"Staffordshire in the 1950s. Within the clay tanks at the pottery company Shentall's, a body has been found. Amid cries of industrial espionage and sabotage of this leader of the pottery industry, there is a case of bitter murder to solve for Inspector Hedley Nicholson. Kelly's mystery won the CWA Gold Dagger Award in 1961 for its impeccable sense of place and detail, and for the emotional weight of its central crime. The novel is part of a shift...
Author
Language
English
Description
""Now tell us about your crime novel. Take my advice and don't try to be intellectual over it. What the public likes is blood." The Surrays and their five children form a prolific writing machine, with scores of treatises, reviews, and crime thrillers published under their family name. Following a rare convergence of the whole household at their Oxfordshire home, Ruth-middle sister who writes "books which are just books"- decides to spend some weeks...
Author
Language
English
Description
For Miss Cordell, principal of Persephone College, there are two great evils in the world: unladylike behavior among her students and bad publicity for the college. This means it's a very, very bad day when a secret society of her students meets by the river on a gloomy January afternoon--and finds the drowned body of the college bursar. Death on the Cherwell follows the investigation, which initially focuses on the girls themselves and ultimately...
Author
Language
English
Description
"Samuel Whitehead, landlord of the Rose and Crown, is a stranger in the lonely East Anglian village of High Eldersham. When the newcomer is stabbed to death in his pub, and Scotland Yard are called to the scene, it seems that the veil dividing High Eldersham from the outside world is about to be lifted. Detective-Inspector Young forms a theory about the case so utterly impossible that merely entertaining the suspicion makes him doubt his own sanity....
Language
English
Description
"From the Highlands to the borders, the bustling cities to the remote isles in cold seas, the unique landscapes and locales of Scotland have long inspired writers of the very best Golden Age mysteries. Beginning with the adventures of Sherlock Holmes from Edinburgh-born Arthur Conan Doyle, this new collection includes the ingenious scientific mysteries of Anthony Wynne, the dark and sardonic work of Margot Bennett and contributions from neglected...
Author
Language
English
Description
Aunt Mildred declared that no good could come of the Melbury family Christmas gatherings at their country residence Flaxmere. So when Sir Osmond Melbury, the family patriarch, is discovered by a guest dressed as Santa Klaus with a bullet in his head on Christmas Day, the festivities are plunged into chaos.
Language
English
Appears on these lists
Description
"A Postman murdered while delivering cards on Christmas morning. A Christmas pine growing over a forgotten homicide. A Yuletide heist gone horribly wrong. When there's as much murder as magic in the air and the facts seem to point to the impossible, it's up to the detective's trained eye to unwrap the clues and neatly tie together an explanation (preferably with a bow on top). Martin Edwards has once again gathered the best of these seasonal stories...