The Constable was content to call it a suicide pact. All the evidence was there. The bodies of John Barratt and Mrs Callis were discovered in a lovers' nook among some bracken. Beside them was a pistol with Barratt's fingerprints on it, and torn up letters in the handwriting of Barratt and Mrs Callis were scattered around. Arrangements for the elopement had apparently been complete. Why had their plans fallen through? Why had they turned their backs on the railway station with tickets to London in their pockets? Sir Clinton Driffield is not so sure that the obvious solution is the right one ...

'Mr J. J. Connington is a name revered by all specialists on detective fiction' Spectator When Oswald F. Preston is shot dead on the 10.35 local train from Horston, two obvious suspects are immediately in the frame: his wife's lover and an employer with a grudge. With red herrings a-plenty, and a number of other contenders for murderer, including a young heiress, Superintendant Ross has his work cut out for him.

It was at the hidden stone wall in the spinney that Johnnie Brandon, rabbit shooting with a party of guests, was instantly killed by a shotgun charge. That day he had attained his majority, but the night before he had been discovered in a compromising situation with the wife of the man who had been his mentor. The inquest ruled 'accidental death' but Inspector Hinton was soon to discover that it was murder that was the motive ...

Fourteen-year-old twins, Lucy and Archie Scott, can’t wait to visit their Uncle Jacob in Cornwall and arriving at Gull Cottage, they’re not disappointed. Greeted by their uncle, his eighteen-year-old nephew Troy, and Kristo, a high-tech, electronic Great White shark, the twins know they’re in for an action-packed summer. There’s just one problem: the Riddle brothers. Len and Joe, known thieves and archenemies of the Scott family, own the local scrap yard. With dreams of caravan parks and tourists’ wallets, the Riddles have their eyes on Gull Cottage, intending to demolish the house for their own moneymaking goals. With the Stinger (a mini submarine) on their side, they set about their goals to outsmart the Scotts. A storm is brewing. Can the Scotts solve the puzzle the Riddles present? And what other dangers lurk beneath the waves?

On New Year's Eve, Callum Ormond is chased down the street by a crazed man with a deadly warning: They killed your father. They'll kill you. You must survive the next 365 days! Cal has hit rock bottom. He's lost the only clues he had to the Ormond Singularity: the family secret that's turned his life into a nightmare. And now, trapped in a high-security prison for the insane, he's lost his identity too. Against all the odds, he must escape and carry on his father's quest for the truth - but how? Nobody knows where he is, and no one can hear him scream. He has 235 days. His life is on the line ...

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.