Colin Watson

"Two naked nuns available Philadelphia" is the strangest cable ever to come to Flaxborough. Inspector Purbright is at first unperturbed by rumours of white slave traffic and international crime. But when the town is hit by a bloody and sudden death, rumour begins to look like fact.

From Maurice Prior's review in The Spectator, 17 March 1967: "A fine example of an oblique murder mystery is Lonely Heart 4122 by Colin Watson. In provincial Flaxborough two marriage bureau lady members disappear. What connection has Lonely Heart 4122 - - identifying a retired naval commander and a bureau member - -with Miss Teatime, also playing the same game? Inspector Purbright has quite a problem to solve. Colin Watson, whose crime stories are unfortunately all too rare, purposefully, wittily and ingeniously executes a tour de force in this very good comedy whodunit."

"Can you tell us how to be saved?" "Yes, that is my principal business in life." Such was the philosophy of Walter Lewis Wilson, medical doctor, salesman, businessman, and preacher, but most of all, soulwinner extraordinaire. Whatever activity was occupying him at the moment, he was always seeking a lost soul whom God had prepared to receive the gospel. With his remarkable talent for turning every situation, however unlikely, into an opportunity, he helped lead multitudes of people from all walks of life to know the Saviour. Dr. Wilson, who died in 1969, recorded many of his remarkable experiences in a series of books to instruct and inspire others in the great work of spreading the gospel. They were like fascinating textbooks on soulwinning, showing by example how compassion, imagination, and hard work under the guidance of the Holy Spirit are the keys to effective witnessing for the Lord in everyday life. Just What the Doctor Ordered is an anthology of over thirty of those soulwinning stories for the benefit of a new generation. - Back cover.

A mystery set in the quiet and respectable market town of Flaxborough and featuring the pertinacious Inspector Purbright.

First published in 1942, this collection of essays on Maine life has been in print almost without interruption. The author began this collection as a series of pieces for Harper's Magazine when he left New York City and moved to a saltwater farm in Brooklin, Maine. His observations on town meetings, poultry, the weather, songbirds, compost, taxes, war, winter, and much more will resonate just as strongly today, to anyone attuned to Maine life, as they did half a century ago.