A Red Badge novel of suspense

FRIENDS TO THE BLOODY END. They called themselves the Inseparables. Three young women. One rich. One ambitious. One talented. All so close… until they came together in a brownstone house that only one of them owned… until they fell for a man that only one could have… until one by one they died until only one was left. A girl engaged to a man she did not love, in love with a man she couldn't trust, and alone to face a murderer who wanted her to join her dear friends in the grave…The rent was low and life was cheap in THE BROWNSTONE HOUSE

When Inspector Appleby's car breaks down on a deserted road one dark night, he happens upon an imposing mansion, whose windows are all illuminated. His sense of curiosity gets the better of him when he discovers that the front door is wide open, and he gets a funny feeling of being watched as he wanders round this splendid house, looking for signs of life. When he finds an elaborate feast laid out, he wonders who is expected..

"You'd better stay away from me," the little girl whispered to Ellen Stacey, "or they'll get you like they did Amy. She was my friend. So they killed her." The little girl's voice held such hushed horror that Ellen felt a chill of fear. Who were they? Did the dazed child have real enemies, or were they the shadowy figures of her imagination? The young actress had found Cecily Vandering huddled on the terrace of the Cloisters Museum, half-unconscious from drugs. She wore the uniform of one of New York's most exclusive schools and in her bag were identification cards with a Fifth Avenue address and three packets of heroin. Her divorced parents had tried vainly to discover who was giving drugs to their carefully guarded daughter, but they dismissed her tale of shadowy figures as fantasy. Yet Ellen's interest in the pathetic child aroused someone's anger. There was an anonymous warning, a nearly fatal "accident." Ellen began to wonder if Amy Thornhill, Howard Vanderling's gentle fiancée, had really been murdered by thieves who broke into her apartment, or if she had been killed by an enemy who was determined to keep Cecily lonely, confiding in no one. Here is an enthralling novel of romance and suspense about a girl whose friendship with a frightened child brings her into the world of the rich and the successful, a sunlit world, but one that for Ellen and Cecily was surrounded by dark shadows where a killer waited. (book cover description)

Abracadaver begins with a magic show at the St. Hilary’s parish center on a peaceful winter’s night in Fox River, Illinois. A ring inscribed “To FG from AG. Con amore” is used in a trick, but the inscription sticks in Father Dowling’s mind because the recipient’s initials are those of a woman who has disappeared without a trace. Her husband, a wealthy real estate developer, is linked by rumor to another woman, and when one of his parishioners is murdered, Father Dowling begins to investigate the complex web of connections behind the simple ring.

After being jilted by her fiancee in Idaho, our heroine, Mary Turner, moves to downtown New York City to rebuild her life. In New York, Mary works in a bookstore where she befriends an older gentlemen customer, Charles Sheridan, who runs a nearby antique store. They develop a platonic friendship and begin having evening drinks and long conversations at his apartment. He deeds her a country cottage and changes his will to provide her a monthly income after his death. Tragically, he is murdered shortly after and Mary becomes a prime suspect in his death. Will Mary be charged for a crime she didn't commit? Can she find the clues that support her innocence? Is the murderer planning to kill Mary too? And, of course, will she find love with a fellow suspect in the Big Apple?

> Portrait painter Charles Honeybath is intrigued when he is visited by a mysterious Mr Peach and is commissioned to paint an anonymous, aristocratic sitter, known only as 'Mr X', whom relatives claim is insane. Under cover of night, Honeybath is taken to the house and asked to stay while he completes his work; but when he returns to his studio, he discovers that the bank next door has been robbed and that he is under suspicion!

The handsome young man whose body was found in the Manhattan motel room had been murdered. He registered as Carl Lamb and wife, but Mrs. Lamb has vanished. His car is gone and so is his billfold, which according to the night clerk had been bulging with hundred dollar bills. A New York model said he was Chester Loring, her husband of seven months. Then John Toyman, a toy manufacture, identified him as his salesman Christopher Lansing, who the year before had married to Jane Forsyth of East Hampton and Palm Beach. Jane heard the devastating news from her cousin Mike Heald. At first she couldn't believe that her devoted, ardent Chris had a criminal record and another wife. Her rich uncle had been dead set against her marriage, but Jane refused to listen to him. And she had been happy in the shabby little apartment as long as Chris was with her. Now she had to find out for herself who and what her husband had been. Warned not to interfere, she plunges recklessly ahead into terrifying danger. Neither Mike nor the police can protect her until they find the motel murderer. There is an old proverb, “Every door has a slippery step,” but would such a clever killer make a slip in time?

At Mullion Castle, sumptuous stately home, we meet the Earl and his family, who include his delightful daughters, Patty and Boosie, and dotty Great-aunt Camilla. Old school chum, Charles Honeybath, who has been commissioned to paint a portrait of the Earl's wife, finds himself at the helm of a complex investigation involving ancestral works of art and a young under gardener, Swithin, who seems to possess the family features somewhat strikingly . . .

Each of the three young men in the framed photograph belonging to Alan Drummond was to play a role for good or evil in Kate Forbes' life. Multimillionaire Fillmore Hatfield III would die, the victim of a brutal, senseless murder only hours after he told her about receiving mysterious death threats. Tommy Eakins, an irresistible playboy, would give her reason to mistrust him even as she felt herself succumbing to his practiced charms. And Allan himself, a kindly sensible family friend, with the best intentions in the world would draw her into danger.

Celia Brett was a heavy, dowdy and inarticulate girl who left her home in the slums of New England to try to improve her lot in life at the age of 18. A quick learner despite her lack of education, she observed everything around her and absorbed knowledge like a sponge. Working firstly as a maid, she aped the manners and style of her employer, slimming down and then moving from one position to another to improve herself. While working as a housekeeper for an elderly widower who was a semi invalid, she became indispensable to him to such a degree that he made her the chief beneficiary in his will.While not actually doing anything to cause his accidental death, she certainly did nothing to help him either and ended up with a tidy sum with which to begin a new life. Constructing a fictitious background of gentility, she slowly ascended the ladder of San Francisco's social set and began to carve out a prosperous future as the intended wife of a business magnate. Again, while never actually doing any harm, she allowed events to happen which could only be coped with by someone of a frigidly cold personality who could keep her emotions totally in check. It was a strange, cold little book, rather like it's heroine.

After three years in Europe, Maggie Barclay had come home to the house where her parents had died of a freak accident, only to be faced with a vicious campaign to scare her away from the small Connecticut village. Was the culprit the handsome neighbor who was an invalid or the curiously helpful, well-educated Dale Curtis--a stranger in the village?

> When tycoon Charles Povey is killed in a bizarre boating accident, his corrupt, look-alike brother, Arthur, adopts his identity and his financial empire. But the charade becomes complicated when one of Charles's many mistresses sees through the guise and blackmails Arthur. Enter retired detective, Sir John Appleby...

When portrait-painter and occasional detective Charles Honeybath pays a visit to his old friend Edwin Lightfoot, there are a few surprises in store. Edwin's irksome wife is packing her bags, while Edwin is indulging in an eccentric game of pretence - acting the part of a long-dead petty criminal named Flannel Foot. Days later, when Edwin disappears, Honeybath finds himself with a mystery to solve and some decisions to make about his life - will he be lured by his intended haven?

A murder mystery thriller featuring Inspector Appleby and his son. A corpse is discovered in a bunker on a golf course but by the time the police have arrived the corpse has vanished.