George A. Birmingham

"A cathedral verger very seldom turns out to be a burglar. There is a certain rather piquant antithesis between the two professions." Carminster is in a state of upheaval. The diocese has already had to deal with the verger's theft of Lady Carminster's emeralds - and now the organist Mr. Cresswood has died after a drunken accident in the organ loft. But was it an accident? And why are so many of the newcomers to Carminster so interested in the musical composition on which Cresswood was said to be working when he died? Whatever the truth, the Reverend John Dennis is determined to get to the bottom of it. Originally published in 1930, this is a classic British murder mystery from the golden age of detection.

American heiress Daisy Donovan wishes to be a queen, so her father buys the tiny island of Salissa from penniless king-in-exile Konrad Karl II, and Daisy promptly sets up a royal household in the abandoned palace and begins organizing schools for the natives. But the year is 1914, and Emperor Wilhelm has plans for the island that don't include Queen Daisy...