Kirjahaku

London. 1945. The capital is shrouded in the darkness of the blackout, and mystery abounds in the parks after dusk. During a stroll through Regent's Park, Bruce Mallaig witnesses two men acting suspiciously around a footbridge. In a matter of moments, one of them has been murdered; Mallaig's view of the assailant but a brief glimpse of a ghastly face in the glow of a struck match. The murderer's noiseless approach and escape seems to defy all logic, and even the victim's identity is quickly thrown into uncertainty. Lorac's shrewd yet personable C.I.D. man MacDonald must set to work once again to unravel this near-impossible mystery.

Bruce Attleton dazzled London's literary scene with his first two novels – but his early promise did not bear fruit. His wife Sybilla is a glittering actress, unforgiving of Bruce's failure, and the couple lead separate lives in their house at Regent's Park. When Bruce is called away on a sudden trip to Paris, he vanishes completely – until his suitcase and passport are found in a sinister artist's studio, the Belfry, in a crumbling house in Notting Hill. Inspector Macdonald must uncover Bruce's secrets, and find out the identity of his mysterious blackmailer. This intricate mystery from a classic writer is set in a superbly evoked London of the 1930s.

The Second World War is drawing to a close. Nicholas Vaughan, released from the army after an accident, takes refuge in Devon - renting a thatched cottage in the beautiful countryside at Mallory Fitzjohn. Vaughan sets to work farming the land, rearing geese and renovating the cottage. Hard work and rural peace seem to make this a happy bachelor life. On a nearby farm lives the bored, flirtatious June St Cyres, an exile from London while her husband is a Japanese POW. June's presence attracts fashionable visitors of dubious character, and threatens to spoil Vaughan's Prized seclusion. When Little Thatch is destroyed in a blaze, all Vaughan's work goes up in smoke - and Inspector Macdonald is drafted in to uncover a motive for murder.

When Dr Raymond Ferens moves to a practice at Milham in the Moor in North Devon, he and his wife are enchanted with the beautiful hilltop village lying so close to moor and sky. At first they see only its charm, but soon they begin to uncover its secrets - envy, hatred and malice. Everyone says that Sister Monica, warden of a children's home, is a saint - but is she? A few months after the Ferens' arrival her body is found drowned in the mill race. Chief Inspector Macdonald faces one of his most difficult cases in a village determined not to betray its dark secrets to a stranger.

Trouble is brewing once more for the Hoggetts and their friend Chief Inspector Macdonald in Lunesdale, deep in the Lancashire fell country. The treacherous slopes and still waters of a quarry pool have become the backdrop for strange happenings by night, and after an architect surveying the area is nearly hoisted into the cold waters by an unseen assailant, the suspicions of local farmers become a matter for the CID. Lorac's authentic writing of the Lunesdale countryside is paired with a twisting plot in this classic of lake district crime fiction, first published in 1949.

Bruce Attleton dazzled London's literary scene with his first two novels-but his early promise did not bear fruit. His wife Sybilla is a glittering actress, unforgiving of Bruce's failure, and the couple lead separate lives in their house at Regent's Park. When Bruce is called away on a sudden trip to Paris, he vanishes completely-until his suitcase and passport are found in a sinister artist's studio, the Belfry, in a crumbling house in Notting Hill. Inspector Macdonald must uncover Bruce's secrets, and find out the identity of his mysterious blackmailer. This intricate mystery from a classic writer is set in a superbly evoked London of the 1930s.

Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder"The intricacies of the characters' relationships and the trove of secrets Scotland Yard Inspector Macdonald uncovers make for riveting reading." --BooklistBruce Attleton dazzled London's literary scene with his first two novels--but his early promise did not bear fruit. His wife Sybilla is a glittering actress, unforgiving of Bruce's failure, and the couple lead separate lives in their house at Regent's Park.When Bruce is called away on a sudden trip to Paris, he vanishes completely--until his suitcase and passport are found in a sinister artist's studio, the Belfry, in a crumbling house in Notting Hill. Inspector Macdonald must uncover Bruce's secrets, and find out the identity of his mysterious blackmailer.This intricate mystery from a classic writer is set in a superbly evoked London of the 1930s.

Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder"Readers will enjoy watching the conflicts that arise between the wary country folk and the cocktail-drinking Londoners invading their habitat. In sum, this is jolly good fun." --Publishers WeeklyThe Second World War is drawing to a close. Nicholas Vaughan, released from the army after an accident, takes refuge in Devon--renting a thatched cottage in the beautiful countryside at Mallory Fitzjohn. Vaughan sets to work farming the land, rearing geese and renovating the cottage. Hard work and rural peace seem to make this a happy bachelor life.On a nearby farm lives the bored, flirtatious June St Cyres, an exile from London while her husband is a Japanese POW. June's presence attracts fashionable visitors of dubious character, and threatens to spoil Vaughan's prized seclusion.When Little Thatch is destroyed in a blaze, all Vaughan's work goes up in smoke--and Inspector Macdonald is drafted in to uncover a motive for murder.

Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder"A terrifically atmospheric puzzler...the ending is a stunner...like the best Golden Age crime fiction." --Booklist STARRED review'"A man who played about on the fringes of the Black Market, who had fought for Sinn Fein, who lived by his wits--and who finally became dangerous to somebody and was knocked over the head in the blackout. It may prove to be a sordid story, but I certainly find it an interesting one."'London, 1945. The capital is shrouded in the darkness of the blackout, and mystery abounds in the parks after dusk.During a stroll through Regent's Park, Bruce Mallaig witnesses two men acting suspiciously around a footbridge. In a matter of moments, one of them has been murdered; Mallaig's view of the assailant but a brief glimpse of a ghastly face in the glow of a struck match.The murderer's noiseless approach and escape seems to defy all logic, and even the victim's identity is quickly thrown into uncertainty. Lorac's shrewd yet personable C.I.D. man MacDonald must set to work once again to unravel this near-impossible mystery.

Discover the captivating treasures buried in the British Library's archives. Largely inaccessible to the public until now, these enduring crime classics were written in the golden age of detective fiction."Never make trouble in the village" is an unspoken law, but it's a binding law. You may know about your neighbor's sins and shortcomings, but you must never name them aloud. It'd make trouble, and small societies want to avoid trouble.When Dr Raymond Ferens moves to a practice at Milham in the Moor in North Devon, he and his wife are enchanted with the beautiful hilltop village lying so close to moor and sky. At first, they see only its charm, but soon they begin to uncover its secrets--envy, hatred, and malice.Everyone says that Sister Monica, warden of a children's home, is a saint--but is she? A few months after the Ferens' arrival her body is found drowned in the mill-race. Chief Inspector Macdonald faces one of his most difficult cases in a village determined not to betray its dark secrets to a stranger.Also in the British Library Crime Classics: Smallbone Deceased The Body in the Dumb River Blood on the Tracks Surfeit of Suspects Death Has Deep Roots Checkmate to Murder

" An] excellent fair-play mystery...this British Library Crime Classic more than deserves that status."--Publishers Weekly, STARRED ReviewOn a dismally foggy night in Hampstead, London, a curious party has gathered in an artist's studio to weather the wartime blackout.As World War II takes its toll around them, 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 miser is discovered by his nephew, it's not long before Inspector Macdonald of Scotland Yard is at the scene, faced with perplexing alibis and with the fate of the young man in his hands. In the search for the culprit, Macdonald and his team of detectives must figure out if one of the members of the studio party is somehow involved in the death, or if some other scurrilous neighbour could be responsible.The British Library of Crime Classics is pleased to revive this clever, classic mystery for amateur sleuths and fans of British historical fiction.

Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of MurderIt is a dark and misty night--isn't it always?--and bachelors Nicholas and Ian are driving to the ball at Fordings, a beautiful concert hall in the countryside. There waits the charming Dilys Maine, and a party buzzing with rumours of one Rosemary Reeve who disappeared on the eve of this event the previous year, not found to this day. With thoughts of mysterious case ringing in their ears, Dilys and Nicholas strike a stranger on the drive back home, launching a new investigation and unwittingly reviving the search for what really became of Rosemary Reeve.Written in the last years of the author's life, this previously unpublished novel is a tribute to Lorac's enduring skill for constructing an ingenious puzzle, replete with memorable characters and gripping detective work.Crime fiction lovers can't miss the classic golden age mysteries published in the acclaimed British Crime Classics series " An] excellent fair-play mystery...this British Library Crime Classic more than deserves that status."--Publishers Weekly, STARRED Review, for Checkmate to Murder, another excellent entry in the acclaimed British Crime Classics mystery series

E. C. R. Lorac spins a twisting tale full of wry humor and red herrings, poking some fun at her contemporary reviewers, who long suspected the Lorac pseudonym to belong to a male author.Vivian Lestrange--celebrated author of the popular mystery novel The Charterhouse Case and total recluse--has apparently dropped off the face of the Earth. After he was reported missing by his secretary Eleanor, whom Inspector Bond suspects to be the author herself, crime and murder are afoot when Lestrange's housekeeper is also found to have disappeared.Bond and Warner of Scotland Yard set to work to investigate a murder with no body and a potentially fictional victim.With copies of the first and only edition incredibly rare today, Death of an Author returns to print for the first time since 1935. This edition includes an introduction by CWA Diamond Dagger and Edgar(R) Award-winning author Martin Edwards.

First published in 1946 and set in the fell country of Lunesdale over the course of a rainy September, The Theft of the Iron Dogs is the very picture of a cosy crime mystery and showcases Lorac's masterful attention to detail and deep affection for both Lunesdale and its residents.While hot on the heels of serial coupon-racketeer Gordon Ginner, Chief Inspector MacDonald of Scotland Yard receives word of an intriguing incident up in Lancashire - the summer cottage of local farmer Giles Hoggett has been broken into, with an assortment of seemingly random items missing which include a complete reel of salmon line, a large sack, and two iron dogs from his fireplace.What first appears to Insp. MacDonald as a simple break-in quickly spirals into a mystery of contested land grabs for fishing between farmers, made all the more enticing to MacDonald when a body is then found in the river - the body of Gordon Ginner. It's up to Insp. MacDonald, aided by the locals of Lunesdale, to determine who broke into Hoggett's cottage, where his irons dogs have gone, and how Ginner met his watery end.

This exceedingly rare mystery, first published in 1956, makes its triumphant return to print for the first time since its original appearance.On a bright autumn morning, Superintendent Macdonald boards the plane bound for Vienna to visit his old friend Dr. Natzler. His detective's eye notes some unusual passengers including Elizabeth Le Vendre, new secretary to the diplomat Sir Walter Vanbrugh--but this is supposed to be a holiday. After arriving with the Natzlers and crossing paths with Elizabeth again, Macdonald settles into the trip as best he can, determined to relax for once.But when Elizabeth is reported missing and a string of violence and murder encircles Vanbrugh and Natzler's social set, Macdonald's short-lived stint as a tourist comes to an end--and the race to stop a killer on the loose begins.

Discover the captivating treasures buried in the British Library's archives. Largely inaccessible to the public until now, these enduring classics were written in the golden age of detective fiction."...this crime is conditioned by the place. To understand the one you've got to study the other."The Garths had farmed their fertile acres for generations, and fine land it was with the towering hills of the Lake Country on the far horizon. Here hot-tempered Robert Garth, still hale and hearty at eighty-two, ruled Garthmere Hall with a rod of iron. Until, that is, old Garth was found dead--'dead as mutton'--in the trampled mud of the ancient outhouse.Glowering clouds gather over the dramatic dales and fells as seasoned investigator Chief Inspector Macdonald arrives in the north country. Awaiting him are the reticent Garths and their guarded neighbors of the Lune Valley; and a battle of wits to unearth their murderous secrets.E.C.R Lorac was a prolific writer who penned over forty bestselling mystery books over the course of her career. First published in 1944, Fell Murder is a tightly-paced mystery with authentic depictions of its breathtaking locales and Second World War setting. Rife with detail and suspenseful historical crime, this novel earns its place among the classic British mysteries.This edition also includes the rare E.C.R. Lorac short story 'The Live Wire'.Other books in the British Library Crime Classics: Death in Fancy DressThe Body in the Dumb RiverIt Walks by NightMeasure of MaliceSurfeit of SuspectsDeath Has Deep RootsThe Notting Hill Mystery

"An invitation to a "treasure hunt" open to thriller writers and lesser mortals confronts Scotland Yard's Chief Inspector Macdonald with two baffling deaths."-- Kirkus ReviewsIt's all fun and games (and fake names) until someone ends up dead...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 Yard? The inspector tossed for it--and went."Chief Inspector Macdonald has been invited to a treasure hunt party at the house of Graham Coombe, the celebrated publisher of Murder by Mesmerism. Despite a handful of misgivings, the inspector joins a guest list of novelists and thriller writers disguised on the night under literary pseudonyms. The fun comes to an abrupt end, however, when "Samuel Pepys" is found dead in the telephone room in bizarre circumstances.

A] twisty "snake in the garden" country-house mystery where] Lorac constructs a challenging puzzle and provides a marvelous glimpse into pre-WWII Oxford life." -- Booklist, Starred Review"Lorac keeps everything professional and smartly paced"-- Kirkus Reviews"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 there recovering from the pressures of the writing life, while the rest of the brood scatter to the winds again. Their next return is heralded by the tragic news that Ruth has taken her life after an evening at the Surrays's hosting a set of publishers and writers, one of whom is named as Ruth's literary executor in the will she left behind.Despite some suspicions from the family, the verdict at the inquest is suicide--but when Ruth's brother Richard receives a letter from the deceased which was delayed in the post, he enlists the help of CID Robert Macdonald to investigate what could only be an ingeniously planned murder.

The newly formed Ministry of Fine Arts has a staffing problem - one minister dead within six months of its inception, his successor snuffed out shortly before the General Election. When a third victim, Permanent Secretary Edwin Pompfret is fatally crushed by the fall of a giant bust, Inspector Julian Rivers is drawn into a case of murder of artistic devilment. "Her best yet. A classic story with well concealed and ingenious clues, sufficiently difficult to leave us properly surprised by both murderer and method." Spectator, 1953

At Firenze, the reclusive artist Adrian Delafield's Florentine enclave in St John's Wood, the whispers of an impending tragedy are growing louder. The tension between the fanatical zealot of a housekeeper Miss Trimming and Delafield's sister Virgilia is just shy of fever pitch, when a cold morning at the house finds Trimming and Adrian sprawled at either end of the staircase upstairs, an injury; downstairs, death. The windows and doors were all locked from the inside, and yet Inspector Julian Rivers, trained to see the malice behind deadly accident, suspects that a murderer had a hand in the fell deed. But if this is true, Rivers is faced with both the inexplicable puzzle of motive, and the task of untangling an impossible crime in Carnac's compelling and twisting 1956 mystery exploring the demands of kinship, art-world secrets and religious mania.