Anthony Berkeley

A. Monmouth Platts

Republished for the first time in nearly 95 years, a classic winter country house mystery by the founder of the Detection Club, with a twist that even Agatha Christie couldn't solve! Stephen Munro, a demobbed army officer, reconciles himself to taking a job as a footman to make ends meet. Employed at Wintringham Hall, the delightful but decaying Sussex country residence of the elderly Lady Susan Carey, his first task entails welcoming her eccentric guests to a weekend house-party, at which her bombastic nephew - who recognises Stephen from his former life - decides that an after-dinner séance would be more entertaining than bridge. Then Cicely disappears! With Lady Susan reluctant to call the police about what is presumably a childish prank, Stephen and the plucky Pauline Mainwaring take it upon themselves to investigate. But then a suspicious death turns the game into an altogether more serious affair... This classic winter mystery incorporates all the trappings of the Golden Age - a rambling country house, a séance, a murder, a room locked on the inside, with servants, suspects and alibis, a romance - and an ingenious puzzle. First published as a 30-part newspaper serial in 1926 - the year The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was published, The Wintringham Mystery was written by Anthony Berkeley, founder of the famous Detection Club. Also known as Cicely Disappears, the Daily Mirror ran the story as a competition with a prize of £500 (equivalent to £30,000 today) for anyone who guessed the solution correctly. Nobody did - even Agatha Christie entered and couldn't solve it. Can you?

The Wintringham Mystery

The Poisoned Chocolates Case

Mr Victor Stanworth, an apparent carefree sixty-year old, is entertaining a party of friends at his summer residence, Layton Court. When one morning he is found shot dead in the library it is hard to believe it is either suicide or murder. As one of the country-house guests, gentleman sleuth Roger Sheringham resolves to solve the murder. As he pursues the truth he does not conceal any of the evidence, and the reader is able to follow Sheringham's detection work to the conclusion of this original mystery story.

The Layton Court Mystery

Death in the House

A mérgezett csokoládé rejtélye

O Mistério dos bombons envenedados

Cutia cu bomboane otrăvite

The tale of a murderer who has to prove his own guilt Lawrence Todhunter is in search of a victim. After an academic conversation with friends he decides that he is going to commit a murder - and so he does. Todhunter's carefully chosen prey is a glamorous actress and he pulls off the killing with aplomb. When another man is arrested for the crime Todhunter resolves to confess but is staggered when no one believes him. He will have to prove himself guilty.

Trial and Error

Ngaio Marsh

Dorothy L. Sayers

Nicholas Blake

Agatha Christie

This anthology of rare stories of crime and suspense brings together 18 tales from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction for the first time in book form, including uncollected stories by Ngaio Marsh and John Dickson Carr.

Bodies from the Library 3

Has Mr Ambrose Chitterwick witnessed suicide or murder at the Piccadilly Palace Hotel? Chief Inspector Moresby of Scotland Yard believes Major Sinclair, her nephew and heir, poisoned the old lady, and he has Chitterwick down as chief witness for the prosecution. Chitterwick finds himself drawn ever deeper into the case following a succession of unexpected twists and turns of the plot... Book jacket.

The Piccadilly Murder

El misterio de Layton Court

The Story of a Commonplace Crime

Malice Aforethought

"A witty and tricky plot and a genuinely shocking conclusion."—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review A mystery dinner theater party thrown by local author with a taste "for rather gruesome humor" requires guests come dressed as infamous killers—Jack the Ripper, Dr. Crippen, and the like. Whatever could go wrong? Know-it-all amateur criminologist Roger Sheringham settles in for an evening of beer, small talk, and analyzing his companions. Ena Stratton, the host's sister-in-law, catches his attention. Her erratic mood swings and loud, gossipy talk is winning her more than a few enemies amongst the guests. When she's found dead, it's clear that one of the partygoers helped her to an early grave. Noticing a key detail that could implicate a friend in the crime, Sheringham decides to meddle with the scene and unwittingly makes himself a suspect. Tightly paced and cleverly defying the conventions of the classic detective story, Anthony Berkeley's dark sense of humor and taste for the macabre drive this 1933 classic. This edition includes an introduction by CWA Diamond Dagger and Edgar ® Award-winning author Martin Edwards.

Jumping Jenny

One of the earliest psychological crime novels.

The Wychford Poisoning Case (Detective Club Crime Classics)

The renowned British crime writer’s classic locked-room Golden Age mystery that introduced amateur sleuth Roger Sheringham. A party at Layton Court, the country house of Victor Stanworth, is disrupted when the host is found shot through the forehead in his own library, a suicide as far as the police are concerned. After all, the gun is found in his hand, a note has been left, and the room is locked from the inside. But one of the guests, author Roger Sheringham, has his doubts. The bullet wound is not positioned where it could have been easily self-inflicted. With a house full of partygoers and servants, suspects abound. It will take Sheringham’s sharp wit and fearless investigating to deduce who brought the festivities to a fatal end. The founder of the Detection Club in London, along with Agatha Christie and other writers, Anthony Berkeley wrote numerous novels, sometimes using the pseudonyms Francis Iles and A. Monmouth Platts. The Layton Court Mystery is his first book in the Roger Sheringham Cases, which includes The Poisoned Chocolates Case and The Silk Stocking Murders, among other titles. “Certainly, Berkeley’s short and fascinating career deserves to be saluted. For fans of the classic English crime novel, his books remain enjoyable to this day. Nobody has ever done ironic ingenuity better than Anthony Berkeley.” —Mystery Scene “He was one of the most influential crime novelists of the 1920s and 1930s, but has languished somewhat in obscurity since. A troubled, dark, incredibly innovative writer . . .” —Shedunnit

A Case for Roger Sheringham

Murder in the Basement

Zatrute czekoladki

Graham and Joan Bendix have apparently succeeded in making that eighth wonder of the modern world, a happy marriage. But into the middle of it drops a box of chocolates. Joan Bendix is killed by a poisoned box of liqueur chocolates that cannot have been intended for her. The police investigation reaches a dead end. Chief Inspector Moresby calls on Roger Sheringham and his Crimes Circle - six amateur but intrepid detectives - to consider the case. The evidence is laid before them and they take turns to offer a solution. Each is more convincing than the last, slowly filling in the pieces of the puzzle, until the dazzling conclusion.

Anthony Berkeley

About

Books

Join the club