Lythway classics of crime and detection

Inspectors Hannasyde & Hemingway #4 Who would kill the perfect gentleman? When Ernest Fletcher is found bludgeoned to death in his study, everyone is shocked and mystified: Ernest was well liked and respected, so who would have a motive for killing him? Inspectors of Scotland Yard felt it was an unlikely crime for the London suburbs: a perfectly respectable chap at home with his head bashed in. It seems the real Fletcher was far from the gentleman he pretended to be. There is, in fact, no shortage of people who wanted him dead. Superintendent Hannasyde and Sergeant Hemingway, with consummate skill, uncover one dirty little secret after another, and with them, a host of people who all have reasons for wanting Fletcher dead. Who tiptoed into the study to do the deed? The rather nefarious nephew Neville? A neighbor's wandering wife? A fat man in a bowler hat? The mystery's key was a blunt instrument--a weapon that the police could not find... and that the murderer can to use once more. Then, a second murder is committed, with striking similarities to the first, giving a grotesque twist to a very unusual case, and the inspectors realize they are up against a killer on a mission....

> While walking home from work early one June morning along Fleet Street, just before 3 a.m., newspaper editor Frank Spargo notices a police officer whom he knows standing at the entrance to Middle Temple Lane just off Fleet Street. Knowing that he's a newsman, the officer invites Spargo to accompany him to observe the body of a dead man—lying on the pavement at the entryway of one of the small apartment buildings on the lane—who has, apparently, been murdered. Although the dead man had seemingly been stripped of all of his valuables and papers, one small grey paper—with the name "Ronald Breton, Barrister, King's Bench Walk, Temple, London" scrawled in pencil on it—had slipped into a hole of the dead man's waistcoat and was found by the police. Knowing Ronald Breton, Spargo's curiosity about the murder is piqued, and he decides then and there to commit himself to fully investigating the mysterious crime in hopes of discovering the truth.

Mr. J. G. Reeder, mild-mannered, slightly shabby, and a throw-back with his mutton-chops and silk hat, is often mistaken for an office clerk. But his superiors have recognized his special gift: Reeder has a criminal mind. As an employee of the Department of Public Prosecutions, he’s frequently called upon to exercise his unusual talent to solve crimes that have confounded the local police. In this collection of eight stories, Mr. Reeder solves robberies, burglaries, and murders, often at great risk to his personal health and well-being, and frequently employing his great insight into human nature and the criminal mind. Published under the title The Murder Book of Mr. J. G. Reeder in the United States, these stories were adapted for British television between 1969 and 1971 and also for BBC Radio in 2007.

Driving through Italy, Sir John Appleby of Scotland Yard calls on his old acquaintance Lewis Packford. Their conversation over dinner ranges from Shakespeare to the psychology of forgery. Later, back in England, Packford unexpectedly commits suicide - or does he? His solicitor, the dour but arrogant Mr. Room, believes it was murder and persuades Appleby to investigate. The plot thickens ... A "Country House Mystery", with Innes' characteristic light touch on reality and plenty of odd characters. Not for those who require gritty authenticity and snappy dialogue.

Sir Clinton Driffield Mystery series #6 When Chief Constable Sir Clinton Driffield goes to stay with his friend Wendover, mysterious goings-on in the boathouse he owns soon attract the duo's attention. Lights go on and off, strangers come in and out, and a game warden is found murdered nearby. And as they work to solve the crime, a second body is dredged up from the lake.

>Dr. Priestley's Quest, first published in 1926, is the second book in the Dr. Priestley detective story series. >Mysterious warnings are sent to the murder victims instructing them to avoid the places where their corpses are afterwards found, and this, not unnaturally, preys upon the mind of the recipient of the second of these documents. All precautions taken to preserve his life are in vain. It is a spine tingling plot, but Doctor Priestley's fortunate discovery of a packing case of unusual manufacture, held together with brass screws, puts him upon the track of the very last person who could reasonably be suspected of the crime.

Mr Marble is in serious debt, desperate for money to pay his family's bills, until the combination of a wealthy relative, a bottle of Cyanide and a shovel offer him the perfect solution. In fact, his troubles are only just beginning. Slowly the Marble family becomes poisoned by guilt, and caught in an increasingly dangerous trap of secrets, fear and blackmail. Then, in a final twist of the knife, Mrs Marble ensures that retribution comes in the most unexpected of ways ...First published in 1926, C.S. Forester's gritty psychological thriller took crime writing in a new direction, portraying ordinary, desperate people committing monstrous acts, and showing events spiralling terribly, chillingly, out of control. Payment deferred is a superbly written crime novel. The main charachter is well developed and the dark plot leads to the excellent final twist. Truely a milestone in crime fiction this book was unfortunatly overshadowed by Agatha Christie's 'Murder of Roger Ackroyd ' published the same year. In my opinion this book is second only to ' The general ' as forester's best work and shows that Hornblower is only a small part of the man's literary achievments.