Never, even in his most optimistic moments, had he visualised a scene of this naturehimself in one arm-chair, a police officer in another, and between them . . . a mystery. So thinks the Reverend Doddvicar of the quiet Cornish village of Boscawen and a reader of detective novelswhen 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 in Boscawen, shot through the headand the local police investigator is baffled by the complete absence of clues. Fortunately for the inspector, the...

"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? All becomes clear in time, but not before John Bude has led readers through a rousing investigation, full of unexpected twists and turns, set against the stunning...

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 afternoonand 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. Soon they uncover a tangle of secretsand clues that point to a fellow student.
This novel from...