J. Jefferson Farjeon

With his usual knack of getting into trouble, Ben the tramp finds himself hunted by the law and the lawless.in this breathless adventure. Returning home to his Cockney roots after a trip to Spain, Ben meets a mysterious stranger on a cross-Channel steamer and is promised a job. On arrival at Southampton they take a taxi. Ben gets out to post a letter, but on returning to the cab finds the stranger has been murdered! Pursued by a mysterious foreigner, Ben escapes his clutches, only to find the police are now after him and the whole political establishment is in danger. Combining laughs and thrills, J. Jefferson Farjeon’s sinister tale of murder and blackmail is made all the more exciting thanks to the presence of Ben, the big-hearted vagabond who gets himself into scrape after scrape.

Ben the tramp, with his usual genius for trouble, runs into danger when he finds a dead body and decides to help out. Ben knew that whenever his thumbs were itching, something ‘orrible’ was about to happen. Sure enough, on one foggy afternoon of itchy thumbs, the hapless Ben is implicated in criminal activity by the police – the kind of mistake it isn’t easy to explain. Doing a runner, Ben hides in the basement of a deserted house, where he discovers the body of a well-dressed man, shot through the head . . . and much more trouble than he bargained for. The subsequent hair-raising events are charged with all the mounting excitement that made J. Jefferson Farjeon a peerless storyteller and Ben one of the most popular but unorthodox amateur detectives of his day.

'The horror on the train, great though it may turn out to be, will not compare with the horror that exists here, in this house.' On Christmas Eve, heavy snowfall brings a train to a halt near the village of Hemmersby. Several passengers take shelter in a deserted country house, where the fire has been lit and the table laid for tea but no one is at home. Trapped together for Christmas, the passengers are seeking to unravel the secrets of the empty house when a murderer strikes in their midst. Out of print since the 1930s, this classic Christmas mystery was republished by the British Library in 2014 and became an instant Sunday Times bestseller. Now republished with an updated introduction by CWA Diamond Dagger Award-winning crime writer and president of the Detection Club, Martin Edwards, this glittering special edition of A Mystery in White makes the perfect gift for any crime lover this Christmas.

Ben encounters a dead man on a London bridge and is almost shot dead himself but is saved by a posh lady in a limousine. But all is not what it seems. Seeking escape from a gang of international conspirators, Ben is whisked off to the Scottish highlands and mountains to foil the plans of the organisation. With its startling opener, Detective Ben is a glorious adventure, told with the signature mix of humour and “creepy thrills” that made J. Jefferson Farjeon his reputation and Ben the tramp one of the best-loved characters of Golden Age crime fiction.

An express train rushing toward the north of England; a group of exceedingly mysterious characters; suspicious happenings in rapid succession; a humorous yokel; a bicycle accident; a lady in distress; and after much mystery a satisfactory conclusion, making this Farjeon story one of the best of its kind. Young Freddy Reeve wants an adventure, but may get more than he bargained for when he encounters the lovely Miss Lydia Leveridge, who provokes more questions than she answers. Freddy finds himself questioning the actions of various fellow passengers, but is quickly thrust into the wake of a criminal plot. He jumps at the chance to save the girl, which brings even more trouble than he imagined. The fast-paced plot leads to a dangerous climax, where several lives are on the line. The 5.18 Mystery was first published in 1929.

Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder"Originally published in 1939, this reissue in the British Library Crime Classics series from Farjeon (1883-1955) is a standout, with a particularly horrifying opening." --Publishers Weekly STARRED reviewTed Lyte, amateur thief, has chosen an isolated house by the coast for his first robbery. But Haven House is no ordinary country home. While hunting for silverware to steal, Ted stumbles upon a locked room containing seven dead bodies.Detective Inspector Kendall takes on the case with the help of passing yachtsman Thomas Hazeldean. The search for the house's absent owners brings Hazeldean across the Channel to Boulogne, where he finds more than one motive to stay and investigate.Seven Dead is an atmospheric crime novel first published in 1939.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MARTIN EDWARDS Ted Lyte, amateur thief, has chosen an isolated house by the coast for his first robbery. But Haven House is no ordinary country home. While hunting for silverware to steal, Ted stumbles upon a locked room containing seven dead bodies. Detective Inspector Kendall takes on the case with the help of passing yachtsman Thomas Hazeldean. The search for the house's absent owners brings Hazeldean across the Channel to Boulogne, where he finds more than one motive to stay and investigate. Seven Dead is an atmospheric crime novel first published in 1939.

Ted Lyte, amateur thief, has chosen an isolated house by the coast for his first robbery. But Haven House is no ordinary country home. While hunting for silverware to steal, Ted stumbles upon a locked room containing seven dead bodies. Detective Inspector Kendall takes on the case with the help of passing yachtsman Thomas Hazeldean. The search for the house's absent owners brings Hazeldean across the Channel to Boulogne, where he finds more than one motive to stay and investigate. Seven Dead is an atmospheric crime novel first published in 1939.

"The settings of train, blizzard, and the eerily welcoming home are all engrossing. Dorothy L. Sayers characterized Farjeon as 'unsurpassed for creepy skill in mysterious adventures.' This reissue proves it." --Booklist STARRED review'The horror on the train, great though it may turn out to be, will not compare with the horror that exists here, in this house.'On Christmas Eve, heavy snowfall brings a train to a halt near the village of Hemmersby. Several passengers take shelter in a deserted country house, where the fire has been lit and the table laid for tea--but no one is at home.Trapped together for Christmas, the passengers are seeking to unravel the secrets of the empty house when a murderer strikes in their midst. This classic Christmas mystery is now republished for the first time since the 1930s, with an introduction by the award-winning crime writer Martin Edwards.

Ben the tramp, the awkward Cockney with no home and no surname, turns detective again – and runs straight into trouble. Ben encounters a dead man on a London bridge and is promptly rescued from the same fate by a posh lady in a limousine. But like most posh ladies of Ben’s acquaintance, this one isn’t what she seems. Seeking escape from a gang of international conspirators, Ben is whisked off to the mountains of Scotland to thwart the schemes of a poisonous organisation and finds himself in very unfamiliar territory. With its startling prelude, Detective Ben is a glorious adventure, told with the unsurpassed mixture of humour and creepy thrills that made J. Jefferson Farjeon famous and Ben the tramp one of the best-loved characters of the Golden Age.

Ben the tramp is back at sea, a stowaway bound for Spain in the company of a wanted man – the Hammersmith murderer. Ben, wandering hungry through the foggy back alleys of Limehouse, is spooked by news of an old man murdered in Hammersmith – and runs! He crosses a plank, slips through an iron door, and goes to sea with the coal. But so does the man who did the murder, and a very pretty lady who did not. On the way, the Atlanta loses a stowaway, a pickpocket, a murderer, a super-crook, a wealthy passenger, the third officer and a lifeboat. And that is how Ben gets to Spain . . . Combining laughs and thrills on every page, J. Jefferson Farjeon’s books about the adventures of Ben the tramp entertained 1930s detective readers like no other Crime Club series, and Murderer’s Trail was more popular than ever.

The return of Ben, the prince of tramps with his rich Cockney humour and naïve philosophies – and in trouble as usual. Strange things are happening in the untenanted houses of Jowle Street. There are unaccountable creakings and weird knockings on the door of No.29, where the homeless ex-sailor Ben has taken up residence. But even stranger things are happening in the House Opposite, from where a beautiful woman in an evening gown brings Ben a mysterious message – and an errand that puts him in more danger than he bargained for. Once Ben the ‘passing tramp’ had been immortalised on film by Alfred Hitchcock in No.17, his return in a new novel was guaranteed. The House Opposite tells the story of criminal goings-on from both sides of a London street, and was admired for being delightfully amusing and genuinely uncanny.