WHEN DEATH PAYS A CALL he generally leaves a card behind . . . even if it sometimes takes a pathologist to find it. But on the morning that he visited the bathroom at Forstal Farm, he did it incognito. It took a man with a crowbar to break down the bathroom door, and there on the floor was Basil Maplewood, naked, with one foot still hanging over the edge of the bath. Basil was only twenty-one, and in the very pink of health, but the post-mortem didn't help much . . . no violence, no sign of poison. Here is a mystery in a thousand, and one that almost - but not quite - threw dust in the eyes of Inspector Arnold and his colleagues.

In 1972, in an attempt to elevate the stature of the "crime novel," influential crime writer and critic Julian Symons cast numerous Golden Age detective fiction writers into literary perdition as "Humdrums," condemning their focus on puzzle plots over stylish writing and explorations of character, setting and theme. This volume explores the works of three prominent British "Humdrums"--Cecil John Charles Street, Freeman Wills Crofts, and Alfred Walter Stewart--revealing their work to be more complex, as puzzles and as social documents, than Symons allowed. By championing the intrinsic merit of these mystery writers, the study demonstrates that reintegrating the "Humdrums" into mystery genre studies provides a fuller understanding of the Golden Age of detective fiction and its aftermath.

"My Friend, I Care addresses the normalcy of grieving while offering suggestions for moving forward into living. It is often used as a sympathy card. It offers an expression of caring while giving support and guidance"--Publisher description.

Containing reports from Pennsylvania judicial districts and other leading decisions.