Red mask mystery

"Two naked nuns available Philadelphia" is the strangest cable ever to come to Flaxborough. Inspector Purbright is at first unperturbed by rumours of white slave traffic and international crime. But when the town is hit by a bloody and sudden death, rumour begins to look like fact.

48 pages : 19 cm

Gypsy in Amber is a 1971 mystery novel by Martin Cruz Smith as "Martin Smith". It was first published on January 1, 1971 through Putnam and was Smith's second novel and first mystery novel. Plot Summary The story's protagonist is Romano Grey, a gypsy antique expert who is pulled into a murder investigation when one of his friends dies in an automobile accident and is posthumously accused of the murder of a girl whose body, neatly sliced into six pieces, is found at the scene of the accident. Grey reappears in Canto for a Gypsy, published in 1972.

A mystery set in the quiet and respectable market town of Flaxborough and featuring the pertinacious Inspector Purbright.

Leaving his wife, son, and his name behind, Robert Cravenhead, one of England's foremost industrialists. eschews polite retirement - the gold watch, gardening, et al. - in favor of a new life at his seaside cottage in Cornwall. But Cravenhead's long-dreamed-of tranquility crumbles into a nightmare when he discovers a young girl, small, strange, and waiflike, locked in the bathroom of his newly renovated house. If the girl's presence disarms Robert, police reports of her absence, rape, and subsequent murder shatter the remains of his peace and set him on a new and uncharted path toward self-discovery.

Elderly, endearing, delightful Martin Pendle Hill unwisely decides to liven up existence by taking lodgers into his top-floor flat, and the ensuing battle with his octogenarian landlady, Miss Smite, results in their blossoming friendship. Things take an unsettling turn when Miss Smite disappears and is found in the garden hammock murdered. Pendle Hill, inexplicably her heir, discovers also the theft of her valuable ceramic collection. Life becomes quite dangerous as Pendle Hill pries into the unfortunate events.

An infinitely entertaining thriller about a would-be pizza baron who dabbles in extortion and finds himself mired in murder. Gideon was young, callow, and very ambitious. He'd left his London job for Cragness, a resort town on the English coast where he planned to set up his own pizza business on the beach. All he needed was money and a van. Surely Towser, his former employer and a fence, could be black-mailed out of 1,000 pounds and wheels. But no sooner did Gideon arrive than he became an unwilling "Hero of the Hour" by rescuing a drowning child. To make matters worse, he found himself double-crossed by his own intended victim.