Three intriguing World War II–era whodunits featuring the Scotland Yard detectives from the “timelessly charming” Miss Silver Mysteries (Charlotte MacLeod). Inspector Ernest Lamb and Det. Frank Abbott of Scotland Yard, who also made regular appearances in Patricia Wentworth’s beloved Miss Silver mystery series, confront a range of villains—from greedy landlords to ruthless blackmailers to diabolical Nazi spies. The Blind Side: Lucy Craddock has lived at No. 7 Craddock House for years. But now she’s about to be turned out of her home—by her own nephew. Since greedy Ross Craddock inherited the once-magnificent family estate, he has divided it into rented flats. But before he can boot out his aunt, he’s found shot to death with his own revolver. With a mansion full of suspects, Inspector Lamb comes to the door. Who Pays the Piper?: Lucas Dale is not above blackmail to get what he wants—in this case another man’s fiancée. Susan Lenox has no choice but to break off her engagement to up-and-coming architect Bill Carrick and agree to marry Dale—until he’s found in his study with a bullet in his head. Now it’s up to Inspector Lamb and Detective Abbott to construct a solid case. Pursuit of a Parcel: When a parcel from a double agent containing secrets the Nazis would love to get their hands on is delivered to a British law firm, an innocent woman becomes a pawn in a deadly game of international espionage, and Scotland Yard’s Inspector Lamb and Detective Abbott—along with Frank Garrett of the Foreign Office—step in to solve a cold-blooded murder.

A blackmailing businessman turns up dead in this mystery featuring Scotland Yard’s Inspector Ernest Lamb, from the creator of the Miss Silver series. Lucas Dale always gets what he wants. And this time he wants another man’s fiancée: Susan Lenox. Never mind that she’s engaged to Bill Carrick, an up-and-coming architect without a farthing to his name. Cathleen O’Hara, Dale’s mousy social secretary, serves as the unwitting instrument of his plan, and a nasty blackmail scheme is set in motion. Soon, Susan has no choice but to break off her engagement and agree to marry Dale—until he’s found in his study with a bullet in his head. Scotland Yard is called in, and before long, Inspector Ernest Lamb and Detective Frank Abbott have a suspect: Carrick. But as Lamb and Abbott dig deeper, they discover others with means, motive, and opportunity, including the victim’s penniless former wife who was handy with a gun, and his American business partner who wanted the money Dale owed him. No one has an alibi for the time of Dale’s demise. And someone else will die before the price of murder is paid. Who Pays the Piper? is the 2nd book in the Ernest Lamb Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Enemy forces will stop at nothing to retrieve an incriminating package in this gripping international thriller from the author of the Miss Silver Mysteries Double agent Cornelius Roos is about to become dispensable to the Germans—until he reveals the existence of a recording that will guarantee the death of a high-ranking Nazi official if it finds its way into the hands of Hermann Goering. So Roos strikes a bargain: If he walks out of Gestapo headquarters alive, he will ensure that the compromising recording never reaches Goering. Meanwhile, in the Foreign Intelligence office in England, agent Antony Rossiter is interrogated about Roos, his older, adopted brother. A few days later, Rossiter parachutes into Holland to make contact with Roos. But when a brown paper parcel with Rossiter’s name on it is delivered to a British law firm, Rossiter’s fiancée, Delia Merridew, becomes an innocent pawn in a deadly game of international espionage and cold-blooded murder. Now it’s up to Scotland Yard Inspector Ernest Lamb and Detective Frank Abbott to ferret out the truth before a desperate enemy claims another victim. Pursuit of a Parcel is the 3rd book in the Ernest Lamb Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Who killed Ross Craddock? Inspector Ernest Lamb will sift through multiple clues and suspects to find out in this golden age mystery from the author of the acclaimed Miss Silver Mysteries Lucy Craddock has lived at No. 7 Craddock House for years. But now she’s about to be turned out of her home—by her own nephew. She was at his christening, for mercy’s sake! Greed is what drives Ross Craddock, who inherited the once-magnificent family home built ninety years earlier and has since divided it into flats rented by quarreling, passionate tenants. But none is more wicked than Ross himself, his handsome visage concealing an evil heart. He gets his comeuppance when he’s found sprawled on the hearthrug in a pool of blood—shot to death with his own revolver. Who had a motive to kill him? Who didn’t? Is the murderer Peter Renshaw, a soldier with His Majesty’s Army, who may have been protecting pretty young Mavis Grey from Ross’s unwanted advances? Bobby Foster, Mavis’s jealous suitor? Or Lucy’s niece, Lee Fenton, who walks in her sleep? Then there’s Miss Lucy herself. They’re all concealing secrets. But one is worth killing for, as Inspector Ernest Lamb and Detective Frank Abbott of Scotland Yard discover in this classic British puzzler that will keep readers guessing until the shocking denouement. The Blind Side is the 1st book in the Ernest Lamb Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Governess-turned-detective Miss Silver investigates a deadly conspiratorial ring Charles Moray has come home to England to collect his inheritance. After four years wandering the jungles of India and South America, the hardy young man returns to the manor of his birth, where generations of Morays have lived and died. Strangely, he finds the house unlocked, and sees a light on in one of its abandoned rooms. Eavesdropping, he learns of a conspiracy to commit a fearsome crime. Never one for the heroic, Charles’s first instinct is to let the police settle it. But then he hears her voice. Margaret, his long lost love, is part of the gang. To unravel their diabolical plot, he contacts Miss Maud Silver, a onetime governess who applies reason to solve crimes and face the dangers of London’s underworld.

DIVMiss Silver visits the country to keep an eye on a friend who may be in peril/divDIV/divDIVIt is time for Judy to get out of London. Her sister and brother-in-law have just perished in an air raid, leaving her in charge of their four-year-old daughter, and Judy wants no more to do with death. She arranges for work in a piece of the countryside untouched by the war: a charming manor called Pilgrim’s Rest. But it may be that she has more to fear than the Blitz./divDIV /divDIVWhen she tells Frank Abbott of her plans, he warns her that strange things have been happening at Pilgrim’s Rest. The family patriarch is recently dead of mysterious circumstances, and his heir has just suffered a series of near-fatal accidents. He cannot sway Judy, for she needs the work. But he does convince the governess-turned-detective Maud Silver to follow Judy to the village, to be on hand in case country living turns dangerous./div

A golden age mystery novel, first published in 1940.

Chloe Dane inherits a fabled ancestral estate—and plunges into deadly danger—in this novel of romance and suspense from the author of the acclaimed Miss Silver Mysteries The lowly assistant to a London dressmaker, Chloe Dane yearns for a new life. She has bittersweet memories of being a carefree child playing hide-and-seek at Danesborough, her family’s magnificent country estate. Decades later, the ancestral mansion has been restored to its former glory—and Chloe is shocked to discover that she is the sole heir. Danesborough is not the sun-filled, evergreen place she remembers. The trees are bare and the house is shrouded in mist. But the enormous gold-and-black lacquered Chinese cabinet in the drawing room is exactly the same. Chloe’s childhood imagination created an entire story out of the intricate carvings on the cabinet: a flowing river filled with boats and fishermen and one frightening man she called Mr. Dark. But now, as Chloe begins to uncover Mitchell Dane’s true motives for bequeathing her the centuries-old manse, she has a very real reason to be afraid: The truth about what’s hidden in the black cabinet will soon threaten her life.

The “marvelous” British-governess-turned-sleuth investigates a disappearance in a village near a top-secret government research facility (Daily Mail). Jenny Maxwell is a bright young child. After an automobile accident leaves her barely able to walk, she retreats into a world of fantasy, devouring novel after novel of steamy romance. Now she has begun to write, and for a twelve-year-old she shows great promise. After she sends her work off to a publisher, the house sends a representative to meet the young woman and guide her. But the stories she tells him are hardly fictional. Trapped in her room for hours at a time, Jenny hears all. She knows about the young woman who disappeared from town, and about the strange young man who works at the nearby military research center. What sounds like harmless gossip could actually be a grave threat to national security—one which only private investigator Miss Silver is capable of unearthing.

Tanis Lyle was one of those passionate women who always get their own way. Her cousin Laura hated her. Most women did. But men found her irresistible and she used them mercilessly. So when Tanis was found murdered there seemed to be any number of suspects on hand. But Miss Silver had her own suspicions . . .