Douglas G. Browne
Personal Information
Description
Douglas Gordon Browne was a British writer of detective fiction and non-fiction. He was the son of Gordon Browne, R.I., R.B.A., and grandson of Hablot K. Browne, better known as "Phiz." Although brought up as a painter, at the age of 27, shortly before WWI, Mr Browne started writing short stories. He went on to produce a number of detective stories, several of which featured the archaeologist and amateur detective Major Hemyock, or the Mephistophelean public prosecutor Harvey Tuke.
Books
Too Many Cousins
> England, toward the close of the Second World War. Six cousins, descendants of the wealthy Victorian merchant Rutland Shearsby, are all healthy and in their prime, survivors of the worst war in history. Then one of them, an army captain in London, abruptly steps into the path of a speeding van and meets instant death. A few months later, his cousin, a writer, is found in a remote country lane, his head smashed against a stone wall. And a few days afterward, another cousin, a rural schoolteacher, is discovered in her cottage, poisoned to death. Of the six, now only three remain. >A bizarre confluence of accidents? Or has there been foul play? Parmiter, an eccentric obituarist in possession of some disturbing facts about the deaths, attempts to persuade Harvey Tuke, the most venerated man in the public prosecutor's office, to look into this abrupt rise in one family's mortality rate. Tuke remains skeptical until he runs into a fourth Shearsby cousin, panic-stricken and convinced that someone has been trying to kill her. >Thus begins one of the most extraordinary cases in modern British detective fiction. Caught in a mind-boggling maze, Tuke - a Mephistopheles look-alike on the side of the law - unearths some curious facts about a very strange family; a bitter conflict over an unconventional legacy: a Victorian skeleton in the family closet; a short story entitled "Too Many Cousins" - inexplicably withdrawn from publication that reportedly predicted the precipitous decline in the family population; and Uncle Martin, a black sheep who refuses to remain dead. >Along a trail laid with suspense and more surprises than a conjurer's act, the author, a noted historian of his day and master of a captivatingly witty style, provides us with a fascinating picture of bomb-shattered London and the effects of war and profound social change on an England in transition. With something for everyone, this devilish tale, one of the most charming and challenging detective stories of postwar England - or any time - will keep you guessing until the last page.
The Floating Bulwark
Young Luzolo tries very hard to sit still while her father preaches at the village Matondo, a celebration of thanksgiving, but when a puppy, chickens, pigs, goats, and a monkey show up, it is very difficult.