John Bude

Already it looked as if the police were up against a carefully planned and cleverly executed murder, and, what was more, a murder without a corpse! Two brothers, John and William Rother, live together at Chalklands Farm in the beautiful Sussex Downs. Their peaceful rural life is shattered when John Rother disappears and his abandoned car is found. Has he been kidnapped? Or is his disappearance more sinister- connected, perhaps, to his growing rather too friendly with his brother's wife? Superintendent Meredith is called to investigate- and begins to suspect the worst when human bones are discovered on Chalklands farmland. His patient, careful detective method begins slowly to untangle the clues as suspicion shifts from one character to the next.

In the seeming tranquility of Regency Square in Cheltenham live the diverse inhabitants of its ten houses. One summer's evening, the square's rivalries and allegiances are disrupted by a sudden and unusual death - an arrow to the head, shot through an open window at no. 6.Unfortunately for the murderer, an invitation to visit had just been sent by the crime writer Aldous Barnet, staying with his sister at no. 8, to his friend Superintendent Meredith. Three days after his arrival, Meredith finds himself investigating the shocking murder two doors down. Six of the square's inhabitants are keen members of the Wellington Archery Club, but if Meredith thought that the case was going to be easy to solve, he was wrong...

When Kurt Goldmayer's latest "musical" opens at a South-Coast theatre, prior to its West End run, death stalks in the wings. One night Adrienne Daw, his leading lady, vanishes from her dressing-room after the show. Kurt calls in the local police and they, in turn, rope in Detective-Inspector Meredith of the Yard. His investigations lead to the tragic discovery that Adrienne has been murdered. But how and by whom? With his usual energy, efficiency and well-reasoned deductions Meredith sets out to solve the problem. With its authentic theatrical setting, lively characterisation and fast-moving plot, John Bude's new mystery novel throws out a challenge to his readers— Guess Who? Guess How?

Never, even in his most optimistic moments, had he visualised a scene of this nature—himself in one arm-chair, a police officer in another, and between them . . . a mystery.” So thinks the Reverend Dodd—vicar of the quiet Cornish village of Boscawen and a reader of detective novels—when an actual mystery unexpectedly lands on his doorstep in The Cornish Coast Murder. Julius Tregarthan, a secretive and ill-tempered magistrate, is found at his house in Boscawen, shot through the head—and the local police investigator is baffled by the complete absence of clues. Fortunately for the inspector, the Reverend Dodd is at hand, ready to put his lifetime of vicarious detecting experience to the test.

When a body is found at an isolated garage, Inspector Meredith is drawn into a complex investigation where every clue leads to another puzzle: was this a suicide, or something more sinister? Why was the dead man planning to flee the country? And how is this connected to the shady business dealings of the garage?

During a party the host, an internationally famous impresario, is kidnapped and his wife murdered.

When a counterfeit currency racket comes to light on the French Riviera, Detective Inspector Meredith is sent speeding southwards--out of the London murk to the warmth and glitter of the Mediterranean. Along with Inspector Blampignon--an amiable policeman from Nice--Meredith must trace the whereabouts of Chalky Cobbett, crook and forger. Soon their interest centres on the Villa Paloma, the residence of Nesta Hedderwick, an eccentric Englishwoman, and her bohemian house guests--among them her niece, an artist, and a playboy. Before long, it becomes evident that more than one of the occupants of the Villa Paloma has something to hide, and the stage is set for murder. This classic crime novel from 1952 evokes all the sunlit glamour of life on the Riviera, and combines deft plotting with a dash of humour. This is the first edition to have been published in more than sixty years and follows the rediscovery of Bude's long-neglected detective writing by the British Library.

'Small hostilities were growing; vague jealousies were gaining strength; and far off, wasn't there a nebulous hint of approaching tragedy in the air?' Welworth Garden City in the 1940s is a forward-thinking town where free spirits find a home - vegetarians, socialists, and an array of exotic religious groups. Chief among these are the Children of Osiris, led by the eccentric High Prophet, Eustace K. Mildmann. The cult is a seething hotbed of petty resentment, jealousy and dark secrets - which eventually lead to murder. The stage is set for one of Inspector Meredith's most bizarre and exacting cases. This witty crime novel by a writer on top form is a neglected classic of British crime fiction.

Death in White Pyjamas: At the country home of Sam Richardson, a group of actors have gathered along with their somewhat sinister producer Basil Barnes and a playwright whose star is rising in the theater scene. The drama isn't staying in the production, as competitive tension in the air begins to rise between the three actresses Clara, Angela and Deirdre. But nobody expects to find Deirdre's murdered body on the grounds wearing, for some unknown reason, white pyjamas... An inspector Meredith mystery of the kind John Bude does best: a well-drawn and authentic period setting, and a satisfying mystery following the traditional rules and style of the golden age of the genre. Death Knows No Calendar: The "locked-room" element of the mystery is simple: Lydia Arundel, a fairly wealthy painter, is found shot dead in her locked studio, with suicide seemingly impossible due to the position of the weapon. Many figures in the local village, Beckwood, have a motive for her murder: the Reverend, who seems to have had an affair with her; her husband, who inherits all her money; Hawkinge, who used to be in love with her but now wants to marry Honororia, and Honororia herself, who saw Hawkinge with Lydia. All suspects were in the area the night she was killed, and local bobby Major Boddy is left to untangle the curious web. Once again, Bude is on form playing with the pettiness and pocket intrigue of village politics, and the reader is treated to heaps of misunderstanding, double-crossing and subterfuge even on this small-scale case.