A detective novel in the tradition of classic whodunnits. An Edinburgh publisher is murdered in an apparently motiveless crime in an office where the window is fastened and the door locked on the inside. Two possible clues are the wrong date on the desk calendar and the piece of plastic found in the dead man's hand. When the firm's accountant is killed at the wake, DCI Ian Forsyth solves the mysteries in masterly fashion by the use of logical deduction. The story is told by Forsyth's put-upon sergeant, Alistair MacRae

Sergeant MacRae's first case with Chief Inspector Ian Forsyth, explaining their odd relationship and giving a humorous insight into the Scottish university scene. A lecturer is murdered in Inverforth University and MacRae is appalled when Forsyth lets an academic committee loose on the investigation, making a bet with the University's Principal on who will solve the crime. A second murder occurs and MacRae is in despair, fearing for his job, when an academic admits he has solved the mystery and the other two say likewise. But it emerges each has fastened on a clue relevant to his own...

DCI Forsyth and DS MacRae skive off from a course they are attending in Inverness to investigate the murder of the alcoholic wife of a professor. She appears to have been knifed after returning to their house up a glen from a drinking binge, her body being dumped in a nearby loch. When ome of her lovers is shot dead with an arrow in the back after attempting to blackmail the murderer, Forsyth presents his former assistant, who is in charge of the case, with the solution, arrived at by logical deduction.

With DCI Forsyth on holiday, his squad investigates the murder of a couple in what looks like a gangland killing, and it turns out that the couple have lied as to how they obtained their wealth. When DS MacRae hears of a previous, similar killing, the squad is able to make the connection between the two incidents and trace other people involved, who may also be at risk. But none of the others is prepared to cooperate and, when two of them are murdered in St Andrews, MacRae joins an Inspector from the Fife Constabulary in trying to find who is behind the murders, but without success. When...

These are thirteen further cases solved by DCI Forsyth as narrated by DS MacRae.

How can a man escape from a locked room which has only one door and no windows when the door is under constant surveillance?

How is it possible for a man to be murdered in front of several people but none of them to have any idea of how he was killed?

Why is the only item stolen in a robbery a worthless bronze statuette of a horse?

How can a man be poisoned at a cocktail party but no trace of the poison or how it was put into the glass be found?

How is it possible for a man to enter a room that is constantly...

A writer of popular science fiction stories, which bear little resemblance to reality, takes a trip to the moon on a space ship. But how will he cope with the tricks that the crew will play on him? Because every robot has the Three Laws of Robotics implanted in his brain, he is unable to harm a human being. How then can robots, who are vastly superior to humans in every respect, attain their goal of becoming masters of the universe? A man goes back in time to kill his grandfather? But how is it possible for him to do so when, at the time of the killing, his father has not yet been born? A...

A volume featuring thirteen of DCI Ian Forsyth's cases narrated by DS Alistair MacRae. How can a woman under observation vanish without trace? How can half a dozen diamonds not be found in a room where they have been hidden by a thief? Why are the police unable to find a room in which a murder was seen to take place? How is it possible for a woman to be killed in an abandoned factory inside a police cordon and the murderer still escape? How can a killer leave the scene of a murder without leaving any traces in the deep snow around the house? These and eight other abstruse mysteries are solved...

When the two Merton brothers are tortured and murdered, there is no shortage of suspects. Principal among these are the Merton sister, the two Douglas brothers, whose family have been feuding with the Mertons for centuries and various inhabitants of the town of Auchenbland, which is controlled by the Mertons, who have suffered from the Mertons' arbitrary decisions. After an arson attack on the Mertons'family home and the torture and murder of the present tenant of the Merton Arms, Detective Sergeant Alistair MacRae is convinced that the former tenant of the inn, who was thrown out by the...

This book contains two of the cases of DCI Ian Forsyth. In the first, a number of men are tortured and killed, but there seems, at first, no connection between them. With Forsyth on holiday, DS Alistair MacRae and his team establish the connection and find the two people who complete the circle. When one of these two is killed, MacRae puts forward a solution to the mystery. But it is left to Forsyth to deduce who is really responsible when he gets back from holiday. In the second case, the son of wealthy, professional parents is abducted. When the paying of the ransom goes wrong, the...

In MURDERS OF NOTE DCI Ian Forsyth sees more in the mugging of a student after he has left an Edinburgh city centre bar than DS Alistair MacRae does. His version is justified when one of the people involved in the mugging is murdered. When a further person involved is found dead in his tower block flat, Forsyth is able from the clues available to deduce who is responsible for the killings and obtain the necessary evidence to convince a jury that his solution is the correct one. In THE ISLAND OF DEATH a number of people are lured to an island off the east coast of Scotland, trapped there and...