Martin Edwards
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English
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"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...
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When Professor Julius Arnell breathes his last in the hushed atmosphere of the British Museum Reading Room, it looks like death from natural causes. Who, after all, would have cause to murder a retired academic whose life was devoted to Elizabethan literature? Inspector Shelley's suspicions are aroused when he finds a packet of poisoned sugared almonds in the dead man's pocket; and a motive becomes clearer when he discovers Arnell's connection to...
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"This addition to the Crime Classics series is an immersive musical mystery, featuring diagrams of the orchestra arrangement and four pages of musical notation with relevance to the plot. First published in 1941 but out-of-print since, this is by a lost writer of the genre, Sebastian Farr (a pseudonym for Eric Walter Blom), a prolific Swiss-born and British-naturalised music lexicographer, music critic and writer. The headline from The Maningpool...
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"Chief Inspector Brett Nightingale and Sergeant Beddoes have been called to a gloomy flat off Islington High Street. An elderly woman-Princess Olga Karukhin, an emigrant of Civil War Russia-lies dead on the bed, and her trunk has been looted of its glittering treasure... Out in the festive chaos of the capital a colourful cast of suspects abound: the downtrodden grandson, a plutocratic jeweller, Bolsheviks with unfinished business? Beddoes and Nightingale...
66) Castle Skull
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English
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"A classic mystery from the esteemed British Library Crime Classics series. The great magician, Maleger, has bought Schloss Schädel (Castle Skull) on the Rhine and has transformed it into a fitting abode for his stage persona, replete with all the trappings of gothic romance. When a man is seen atop the battlements, running aflame and then plunging to his doom, the calamitous reputation of the Castle seems to have become reality. And when Maleger...
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English
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The English country house is an iconic setting for some of the greatest British crime fiction. This new collection gathers together stories written over a span of about 65 years, during which British society, and life in country houses, was transformed out of all recognition. It includes fascinating and unfamiliar twists on the classic closed circle plot, in which the assorted guests at a country house party become suspects when a crime is committed....
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"First published in 1942, this reissue of one of Carr's most highly rated mysteries featuring series detective Gideon Fell offers readers a tense and enjoyable game of cat and mouse between the detective and the chief suspect. 'The supreme conjuror; the king of the art of misdirection ... once you begin a book of his, you simply cannot put it down.' -- Agatha Christie on John Dickson Carr When the police arrive at the holiday bungalow of the haughty...
70) The traitor
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English
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"In the final year of the Great War, Capt. Alan Clinton, a British army officer, loses vital military information due to an infatuation with a woman who's a German agent. He conceals his misdeeds and devotes himself to the service of his kingdom in penance. War is threatening again 17 years later when Clinton's adopted son, Robert Wingate, an officer in the Tank Corps, takes it upon himself to conduct some unauthorized espionage in the capital of...
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"The offices of the Excelsior Joinery Company have been blown to smithereens; three of the company directors are found dead amongst the rubble, and the peace of a quiet town in Surrey lies in ruins. When the supposed cause of an ignited gas leak is dismissed and the presence of dynamite revealed, Superintendent Littlejohn of Scotland Yard is summoned to the scene.But beneath the sleepy veneer of Evingden lies a hotbed of deep-rooted grievances. The...
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"In the celebrated author's first mystery novel, Inspector Bencolin must unravel a dumbfounding locked-room mystery and apprehend a sadistic killer. In the smoke-wreathed gloom of a Parisian salon, Bencolin has summoned his allies to discuss a peculiar case. A would-be murderer imprisoned for attempting to kill his wife has escaped and is known to have visited a plastic surgeon. Bencolin predicts his return, and his worst suspicions are realized when...
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British Library Crime Classics volume 93
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English
Description
"With Martin Edwards as librarian and guide, delve into an irresistible stack of bibliomysteries, perfect for every booklover and armchair sleuth, featuring much-loved Golden Age detectives Nigel Strangeways, Philip Trent, Detective Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn, and others. But readers should be warned that the most riveting tales often conceal the deadliest of secrets... "If much of the action is set in a bookshop or a library, it is a bibliomystery,...
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British Library crime classics volume 100
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English
Description
"An honest policeman, Sergeant Wigan, escorts a drunk man home one night to keep him out of trouble and, seeing his fine book collection, slowly falls in to the gentle art of book collecting. Just as the friendship is blossoming, the policeman's book-collecting friend is murdered. To solve the mystery of why the victim was killed, and which of his rare books was taken, Wigan dives into the world of 'runners' and book collectors, where avid agents...
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"A London crowd awaits the trial of Victoria Lamartine, suspected for the murder of her former lover. Lamartine - who years ago escaped from the Gestapo - is set to meet her end at the gallows. One final opportunity remains: solicitor Nap Rumbold is called to replace the defence counsel, granting an eight-day reprieve. Without any time to spare, Rumbold crosses the Channel to trace the roots of the crime back into the war-torn past. Expertly combining...
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English
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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...
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"Two classic cases featuring Detective Inspector Littlejohn. In the winter of 1940, the Home Guard unearth a skeleton on the moor above the busy town of Hatterworth. Twenty-three years earlier, the body of a young textile worker was found in the same spot, and the prime suspect was never found--but the second body is now identified as his. Soon it becomes clear that the true murderer is still at large... Nathaniel Wall, the local quack doctor, is...
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Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder
"The book fairly races along to its surprising resolution. Fans of vintage crime fiction will hope for more reissues of Hull's work." —Publishers Weekly
Edward Powell lives with his Aunt Mildred in the Welsh town of Llwll. His aunt thinks Llwll an idyllic place to live, but Edward loathes the countryside—and thinks the company even worse.
...79) Family matters
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Robert Arthur Kewdingham is an eccentric failure of a man. In middle age he retreats into a private world, hunting for Roman artifacts and devoting himself to bizarre mystical beliefs. Robert's wife, Bertha, feels that there are few things more dreadful than a husband who will persist in making a fool of himself in public. Their marriage consists of horrible quarrels, futile arguments, incessant bickering. Scarcely any friends will visit the Kewdinghams...