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Dr James Earle and his wife live in comfortable seclusion near the Hog’s Back, in the Surrey countryside. When Dr Earle disappears, Inspector French is called in to investigate. At first he suspects a simple domestic intrigue, but the case soon takes a more complex turn. Other people also vanish mysteriously, but if they have been murdered, what can be the motive? This fiendishly complicated puzzle is one that only the inspector can solve.
George Surridge, director of the Birmington Zoo, is a man with many worries: his marriage is collapsing; his finances are insecure; and an outbreak of disease threatens the animals in his care. As his debts mount and the pressure on him increases, he begins to dream of miracle solutions. But is he cunning enough to turn his dreams into reality – and could he commit the most devious murder in pursuit of his goals?
With its fascinating mix of people – rich and poor, British and foreign, worthy and suspicious – London is a city where anything can happen. The possibilities for criminals and for the crime writer are endless. London has been home to many of fiction’s finest detectives, and the setting for mystery novels and short stories of the highest quality. ‘Capital Crimes’ is an eclectic collection of London-based crime stories, blending the familiar with the unexpected in a way that reflects the personality of the city.
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.
‘A Scream in Soho’ opens as the title would suggest: a scream pierces the night, and soon a bloody knife indicates sinister work afoot. Detective Inspector MacCarthy is soon on the case, plunged into the seedy Soho underworld seeking the connection between the mysterious Madame Rohmer and the theft of crucial anti-aircraft defense plans.
The Female Detective introduces the first professional female detective in British fiction, Mrs Gladden. She uses similar methods to her male counterparts – enterring scenes of crime incognito, tracking down killers while trying to conceal her own tracks and her identity from others.
For Miss Cordell, principal of Persephone College, there are two great evils in the world: unladylike behaviour 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 leads them to do some detecting of their own.
When Miss Pongleton is found murdered on the stairs of Belsize Park station, her fellow boarders in the Frampton Hotel are not overwhelmed with grief at the death of a tiresome old woman. But they all have their theories about the identity of the murderer, and help to unravel the mystery of who killed the wealthy ‘Pongle’.
‘The Lake District Murder’ opens with the discovery of a faceless body in an isolated garage, then follows Inspector Meredith through a complex investigation where every clue seems to lead only to another puzzle. Was this a bizarre suicide, or something more sinister? Why was the dead man apparently making plans to flee the country? And what does all this have to do with the newly discovered shady business dealings of the garage?
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 Dodda, vicar of the quiet Cornish village of Boscawen and a reader of detective novels when an actual mystery unexpectedly lands on his doorstep.
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