J. Jefferson Farjeon

On Christmas Eve, heavy snowfall brings a train to a halt near the village of Hemmersby. Several passengers take shelter in a deserted country house, where the fire has been lit and the table laid for tea – but no one is at home. Trapped together for Christmas, the passengers are seeking to unravel the secrets of the empty house when a murderer strikes in their midst.

STRANGE sounds rumbled beneath the desolate house near the edge of the cliff. Some said they were caused by the booming of the waves. Others said they were ghostly echoes from a dead mine, while others again said stranger things still and spoke with bated breath of underground creatures working their way upwards towards the earth's crust. Was any of these theories correct -- or was there yet another that struck nearer to the truth. In Mr. Jefferson Farjeon's latest novel, Mystery Underground, answers will be found to these and to many other puzzling questions, and incidentally the reader will be introduced to a little clerk with a big soul, who suddenly left his lunch in search of high adventure and who most assuredly found it!

When Peter Hanby advertised for a secretary and took her to an isolated cottage in the sea marshes to write his fiftieth novel, he hadn't an idea in his head. Poison, kidnapping, torture, cheating, blackmail, the duchess's diamonds—Hanby had drained them all. They had nothing fresh to offer his spinning brain... But while desperately searching for some new mystery he himself became the mystery that he sought, and it was his secretary who was set the job of solving it. [Note — the one edition currently available is incomplete]

Richard Temperley arrives at Euston station early on a fogbound London morning. He takes refuge in a nearby hotel, along with a disagreeable fellow passenger, who has snored his way through the train journey. But within minutes the other man has snored for the last time; he has been shot dead while sleeping in an armchair. Temperley has a brief encounter with a beautiful young woman, but she flees the scene. When the police arrive, Detective Inspector James discovers a token at the crime scene: a small piece of crimson coloured, enamelled metal, in the shape of the letter Z. Temperley sets off in pursuit of the mysterious woman, only to find himself embroiled in a cross-country chase on the tail of a sinister serial killer.

>An inspector and four uniformed constables arrive one morning, unannounced, at Greystones, the imposing and remote country house of the Elderly family. Inspector Biggs brushes past the immaculate and outraged butler and demands to see John Elderly, head of the family. Behind the dark oak library door is the scene of a struggle; overturned and disarranged furniture, the telephone receiver is off the hook.... Where has the master gone? Who has cut the telephone wires and disabled the motor-cars? As more people seem to disappear, what is the inspector holding back from the assembled guests and staff of Greystones?

When the Brown children set out alone for a holiday in Wales the biggest adventure they look forward to is climbing the Welsh hills, which could certainly be exciting enough, but little do they dream of uncovering - not to mention solving - the mystery of the Llewellyn jewels. But for the ugliness of Tabitha, David's pet cat, they might never have become involved in the mystery at all; and her escape from her basket at Plyn-y-Fawr station is the first link in a chain of curious circumstances which leads the children into the most alarming and exciting adventures. The last people they expect to meet in Wales are a gang of crooks, but, happily, "The Brown Detective Agency" is equal to almost any situation. J. Jefferson Farjeon is a familiar name to readers of adult detective fiction and now he has written a mystery story specially for children which has the plot and all the thrills of his well-known, grown-up books.

A shipwreck brings many interested people to a hamlet. Close by the wreck, a gentleman discovers a swatch of fabric on the beach where a youth reports seeing a dead body. Why has the innkeeper of the nearby Mermaid Hotel disappeared? What is on the wreck that is so important? And what motivates the various strangers who are looking into the wreck - romance, a thirst for adventure, or something more serious?

On a fine autumn weekend Lord Aveling hosts a hunting party at his country house, Bragley Court. Among the guests are an actress, a journalist, an artist and a mystery novelist. The unlucky thirteenth is John Foss, injured at the local train station and brought to the house to recuperate but John is nursing a secret of his own. Soon events take a sinister turn when a painting is mutilated, a dog stabbed and a man strangled. Death strikes more than one of the house guests, and the police are called. Detective Inspector Kendall's skills are tested to the utmost as he tries to uncover the hidden past of everyone at Bragley Court.

Ted Lyte, amateur thief, has chosen an isolated house by the coast for his first robbery. But Haven House is no ordinary country home. While hunting for silverware to steal, Ted stumbles upon a locked room containing seven dead bodies. Detective Inspector Kendall takes on the case with the help of passing yachtsman Thomas Hazeldean. The search for the house's absent owners brings Hazeldean across the Channel to Boulogne, where he finds more than one motive to stay and investigate.

When Mr. Sigsbee Manderson is found brutally murdered in his lavish home, Detective Gilbert marks this as just another case to crack. But as he delves deeper into the enigmatic world of Manderson, he unravels a labyrinthine web of deceit, jealousy, and long-buried grudges. The key to the truth lies in the house opposite—a dwelling that guards its own sinister mysteries. With each page turned, the tension mounts, and the race against time accelerates. As Gilbert inches closer to the heart of darkness, he'll confront secrets that could shatter the very foundations of the seemingly idyllic neighborhood.