In his London townhouse, city magnate Sir Christopher Clarke is found lying murdered. At the other end of the house his safe hangs open and rifled, and earlier in the day he had visited his solicitors in order to make a drastic change in his will. Later it is discovered that there has been fraud connected with the dead man, and this is but one of the many complications with which Superintendent Mitchell is faced. Fortunately he has the assistance of young Constable Owen, a talented young Oxford graduate who, finding all other careers closed to him by the ‘economic blizzard’ of the early thirties, has joined the London Police force. Information Received is the first of E.R. Punshon’s acclaimed Bobby Owen mysteries, first published in 1933 and the start of a series which eventually spanned thirty-five novels. This edition features a new introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

Description The body of a brilliant woman journalist is recovered from the wreck of a burning car. It is soon discovered that the smash did not kill her; she was dead already, shot by a Browning automatic that was found near by. Superintendent Mitchell, with the help of Owen, a young University graduate turned policeman, follows the enigmatic clues backwards and forwards between a furrier, a picture dealer, and the establishment of a fanatical sunbathing enthusiast. Then dramatically the story begins to repeat itself, as the persistently recurring figure of an old lag who calls himself ‘Bobs-the-boy’ carries another body out into the night. Death Among The Sunbathers is the second of E.R. Punshon’s acclaimed Bobby Owen mysteries, first published in 1934 and part of a series which eventually spanned thirty-five novels. This edition features a new introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans. “What is distinction? The few who achieve it step – plot or no plot – unquestioned into the first rank. We recognized it in Sherlock Holmes, and in Trent’s Last Case, in The Mystery of the Villa Rose, in the Father Brown stories and in the works of Mr. E.R. Punshon we salute it every time.” Dorothy L. Sayers

What could be more innocent than a crossword puzzle? A game to while away an idle hour, a diversion for the lonely. And yet its cunning formula could still be turned to sinister purpose. The curious crossword devised by Mr. George Winterton turned out to be part of a game for high stakes – it was the creation of a man whose brother had just drowned and who feared for his own life. Yet the dog hadn’t barked... When Detective-Constable Owen (B.A. Oxon, pass degree only) arrives in the picturesque village of Suffby Cove, he is faced with the mystery of an appallingly ingenious murder – one whose ramifications reach out of England to the continent, and touch the lives of many men and women.

Con Conway, the notorious cat burglar, was not the kind of person to be scared out of his wits for nothing. So it seemed odd to Sergeant Bobby Owen, when he met Con quite by chance rushing, terrified, along a road in the Brush Hill district just before midnight. Afterwards he investigated the house where it seemed Conway had been, yet there was nothing, not a shred of evidence to suggest that swag had been hidden there or taken from there. It was a strange place, Tudor Lodge; it had an eerie atmosphere and disturbing associations. Twice Sergeant Owen returned to look it over but all he encountered was a very pretty and very frightened girl. Finally he found in the house a murdered man - murdered years ago. Yet still he could not make out why Conway had been quite so frightened - until he went to work in earnest on the job. Mystery Villa is the fourth of E.R. Punshon's acclaimed Bobby Owen mysteries, first published in 1934 and part of a series which eventually spanned thirty-five novels. This edition features a new introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

Mr. Sargent, the manager of the Brush Hill Central Cinema, wished he had never held a Beauty Competition. Caroline Mears, the predicted winner, had already caused trouble with one of the other girls. Paul Irwin, a strong Puritan and influential councillor, had taken it into his head to come backstage to look for his son Leslie, who hoped to marry Caroline against his father’s wishes. Just as the winner of the competition was being announced, different news spread through the cinema like lightning – Caroline Mears had been murdered! Superintendent Mitchell of Scotland Yard and his young sergeant, Bobby Owen, were faced with one of the most puzzling cases of their careers. There were at least seven suspects, against four of whom an equally good case could be made out. There was Paul Irwin’s maddening reiteration that he had ‘nothing to say’ to all questions, and a multitude of confusing evidence, none of which fitted the main jigsaw puzzle. Conundrums abound in this whodunit: one which will keep even the most seasoned mystery reader guessing – right to the very last page.

Police officer Bobby Owen is a weekend guest at Lady Cambers’s majestic country pile, there to advise on security following recent burglary scares. But when the lady of the house disappears, her bed unslept-in, it’s a case of murder not burglary – for Bobby discovers her ladyship, strangled, in a nearby field. One of the finest of the early Bobby Owens novels, Death Comes to Cambers combines wit and excellent characterization in a satisfying and classic whodunit, featuring an eccentric creationist, a superior archaeologist and an inventive cipher.

Bobby Owen is on a mission of unusual delicacy, finding himself conducting an investigation which involves his own titled but impecunious family. This time the cards were stacked against Bobby. He knew full well the cause of his cousin’s mysterious disappearance, but he could not understand the baffling circumstances surrounding Ronnie Owen’s death. Ronnie was a drunkard, but even a drunkard has sufficient presence of mind to refrain from remaining in a tub of boiling water for thirty-six hours! Was Ronnie’s death caused accidentally, or was it a deliberate case of murder? Moreover, why had Ronnie taken out a heavy insurance policy shortly before his death?

Who killed Mr. Jessop? Who stole the Fellows necklace? Who attacked Hilda May? The web of suspicion encompasses a dealer in ‘hot goods’, respected jewellers, a millionaire, an ex-pugilist, a playboy, members of the nobility, a hard-boiled moll and a girl who could not forget her past. All the clues are there, as the indefatigible Bobby Owen works his way through a real peasouper of a London mystery and pierces the fog – displaying not only magnificent analytical powers but and admirable courage in the face of danger.

The hour of dusk was the climax in the strange case of the man found dead in the chalk pit. Who was the murdered man? And why did so many clues lead to that infamous London nightclub, the ‘Cut and Come Again’? E.R. Punshon leads the redoubtable Sergeant Bobby Owen and his readers on a dizzy chase through a maze of suspicions to a surprise ending – though the clues are there for anyone astute enough to interpret them.

When an old acquaintance of Bobby Owen’s from Oxford days turns up out of the blue, he needs help. Bobby little suspects that investigating the sinister enclave of ‘Dictator’s Way’ will quickly set in train a series of momentous events, involving Bobby in a fistfight with an ex-professional boxer, kidnap, peril at sea and international intrigue – not to mention encounters with the mysterious and attractive Olive Farrar in whom Bobby might just have met his match.

“You see,” Miss Kayne said, “I committed a murder once myself.” Miss Kayne’s proud boast to Detective-Sergeant Bobby Owen is that she has committed the Perfect Murder – a crime with no clues. Bobby thinks at first it is a macabre joke, but before long a body is reportedly found, stabbed in the world-famous Kayne Library. When Bobby gets to the scene, the corpse has disappeared. But instead Miss Kayne’s cousin, Nat, is found in a nearby country lane – shot through the heart. Were the two murders connected – or were there even two? Bobby finds himself embroiled in one of the most ingenious and sinister cases of his career. Can he prove this was not a case of Perfect Murder

“Know him?” he asked. Bobby was for a moment too surprised to answer. He had thought of every one else but not of the man whose dead face now was staring up at him. “Yes. I know him,” he said. Bobby Owen’s fiancée and milliner to the wealthy, Olive Farrar, has a problem. It concerns two competitive society matrons and a missing hat. But it becomes a case of murder when the butler of one of the ladies is shot dead, his body stabbed after the fact. While investigating, Bobby encounters many suspicious characters who might have done it – eight in total. Lurking in the shadows is a ninth suspect – but who can it be?

Perhaps the victim had not been unconscious but had known her fate, had sent upwards from the black pit a cry that none but murderers had heard. Bobby takes the rare opportunity for a holiday - albeit a working one. Prompted by his fiancée Olive, he sets off to France, charged with finding out what happened to Miss Polthwaite’s diamonds - and why her dead body was discovered at the bottom of a well. The local police have a ready-made suspect, it appears, but Bobby soon forms theories of his own regarding what happened to the unfortunate spinster.

“You think it’s murder, don’t you?” “There is no proof of that as yet, sir,” Bobby answered cautiously. “No, I know, but it’s what you think,” Glynne answered. After a pause, he added: “So do I.” Viscount Byatt was found dead in his car without a mark on him. Millionaire Andy White’s corpse was discovered in a remote cottage in Wales – no clue to the cause of death. When a grotesque-looking visitor calls on Detective-Sergeant Bobby Owen in the middle of the night, the latter’s help is urgently needed – if a third young man isn’t to suffer the same murderous and mystifying fate. Accompanied by his fiancée Olive Farrar, Bobby is up against more than one femme fatale in this delicious and diabolical golden age mystery.

“I’ll have breakfast ready before you’re dressed,” Olive said, her mind full of bacon and eggs, tea, toast. “Can’t stop,” Bobby told her. “I’ve to be at Castle Wych at once.” “What’s happened there?” “Murder,” Bobby answered as he made for the door. Bobby Owen has left London and is now a policeman in the bucolic county of Wychshire. The local community is stunned when a missing heir returns to Castle Wych, determined to claim his inheritance. But following the ensuing dispute over his identity, Castle Wych plays host to murder. There are ten “star clues” investigated by the resourceful Bobby, with help from his wife Olive, in this delightful and classic example of the golden age mystery novel.

Late in the afternoon a man, unidentified, had been seen to throw a glove into the Midwych, Wychshire and Southern Canal… Osman Ford said he would kill the lawyer Mr. Anderson. So when the latter is found dead, with a bullet in the back, the disagreeable Mr. Ford is top suspect. But the lawyer’s office was also a cauldron of repressed feelings, and not all the staff are sorry to see the lawyer’s demise. In particular, Inspector Bobby Owen fears the dark, brooding clerk Anne Earle. Will her quest for justice lead her to a terrible fate of her own, amid family secrets and lies? The novel combines a satisfying whodunit with elements of the fantastic and macabre, and contains some of Punshon’s best set-pieces.

“Ode to a chocolate,” murmured Bobby. Olive, Inspector Bobby Owen’s wife, is on a mission to obtain the recipe for some uncommonly good chocolates. But the most innocent beginning means trouble for Bobby Owen: take one wood-dwelling hermit, a girl who talks to animals, an evil stepfather and two exceedingly valuable works of art, and you have the recipe, not for chocolate, but for one of Punshon’s most satisfying and devilish mysteries. This beguiling story of labyrinths and seemingly impossible murder is a challenge and a treat for armchair sleuths everywhere. Diabolic Candelabra was originally published in 1942. It is the seventeenth of the Bobby Owen mysteries, a series including thirty-five novels. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans. “What is distinction? … in the works of Mr. E.R. Punshon we salute it every time.” Dorothy L. Sayers

“I wouldn’t come any nearer if I were you. It’s not a thing to see unless you have to.” The remote Conqueror Inn, possibly the oldest licensed house in England, has an unexpectedly key role to play in World War Two. Lorry drivers, army camps, black marketeers and even the IRA become entangled in the sinister web which draws this novel’s plot together. Bobby Owen, after finding a case of banknotes, has to identify a corpse mutilated in its grave, ignore the red herrings thrown in his way … and identify a ruthless killer who uses the confusion of war to conceal his tracks. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans. Page Numbers Source ISBN: 191141335X

“I’ve got to hurry,” Bobby said. “Mr Weston has been found dead from a knife-wound in his study.” It's not easy for a county police Inspector to handle prominent local citizens diplomatically, while getting on with the real work of crime detection. But it’s particularly hard when Bobby Owen finds himself the victim of a sinister swindle worked by a millionaire business executive. Not to mention the machinations of a radical political movement, a secretary with a puzzling alibi, and a young scientist-inventor, willing to do anything, even murder, to put his schemes into action … Night’s Cloak was first published in 1944, the nineteenth of the Bobby Owen mysteries, a series eventually including thirty-five novels. This edition features a new introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans. “What is distinction? … in the works of Mr. E.R. Punshon we salute it every time.” Dorothy L. Sayers

Deep in bucolic Wychshire something dreadful is stirring … The disappearance of a club-footed and inquisitive youth leads to a tangle involving two instances of stolen jewels, a water-colour which may be the most remarkable picture ever painted … and eventually to the discovery of a body in a forest with ‘a smell of rotting, a smell of things decaying’. The scene abounds with the intense, the afflicted, and the darkly humorous in classic Punshon style. But the murderer himself is on a collision cause with fate – aided of course by Inspector Bobby Owen. Secrets Can’t be Kept was first published in 1944, the twentieth of the Bobby Owen mysteries, a series eventually including thirty-five novels. This edition features a new introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

With a slow gesture of one lifted hand, Bobby pointed. There, in a space between the prostrate stag and posturing goddess, was a human leg, a twisted, motionless leg in a strained, unnatural position. Bobby Owen, now Deputy Chief Constable of Wychshire, finds himself taking part in a ghost hunt at legendary haunted mansion Nonpareil. What he discovers is the very real corpse of a paranormal investigator. It seems that among the phantoms there are fakes – but will that end up including a priceless painting by Vermeer? This edition features a new introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

“Give me gossip or Sherlock Holmes, and I take gossip every time. The detective’s first aid and ever present help in time of doubt.” Why should anyone want to murder a man like Alfred Brown? Yet slain he was, in his own home and with a poker. The murder seems to be connected to a bout of religious fervour gripping the village of Oldfordham – in particular a battle royal between the Reverend Alexander Childs, and his nemesis Duke Dell, boxer turned revivalist preacher. But Deputy Chief Constable Bobby Owen has numerous other local suspects, and local gossips, to contend with in a puzzler of a case that indeed might lead anywhere. This edition features a new introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

“I don’t like it, Olive. No good, plain evidence, not so much as the smell of a fingerprint. Nothing but psychology and an atmosphere of doubt, menace, and suspicion.” Bobby Owen’s latest case begins with him warily lending five shillings to an old reprobate. But this is driven from his mind when he hears of the murder of one Itter Bain, found shot in the woods. Bobby is called into the case, one already made controversial by the alleged shielding of an aristocratic suspect. The evidence certainly ought to make the aristocrat a figure of particular interest to the police. But Bobby needs to tread lightly to prevent a national scandal. Other suspects include the irresistibly beautiful Helen, Wing Commander Winstanley (a rival for Helen’s affections), and a suspiciously well-informed reporter on a local newspaper. All the while the killer is biding time before striking again – unless Bobby can unmask the fiend first. This edition features a new introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

It all starts with a stroke of incredibly good luck—Detective-Inspector Bobby Owen and his wife, Olive, find an almost perfect home in the country to rent. But then they meet the neighbors, including Miss Bellamy, whose piano stylings seem to affect everyone in the village, and Mr. Fielding, whose manic cheerfulness makes everyone nervous. The music brings everyone out at night, and murder follows close behind.

Bobby Owen stood for a time in silence, looking down thoughtfully at the dead man’s face. A small, insignificant face, lacking even that touch of repose and dignity which death, even violent death, so often gives, and one that Bobby had never seen before. Of that at least he was sure. Yet this same man was found dead with a detailed and accurate plan of Bobby Owen’s new London flat. Why? The plot soon thickens when a man with a grievance against Bobby turns up to identify the dead man … But Bobby will need many more beads on the thread before he understands the murderous connection to an old Army Officer, and what necessitated the death of a ‘burglar’. This edition features a new introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

“What happens,” Bobby asked, “when a woman with an irresistible attraction for men, and the man with an irresistible attraction for women, meet? When glamour meets glamour . . . ?” “Lummy,” said the superintendent. A seemingly innocent young woman has disappeared, presumably to elope with an unscrupulous lothario. Despite his wife Olive’s urging, Met Commander Bobby Owen is originally reluctant to get involved in a seemingly personal matter. But he soon finds his professional whiskers twitching when he discovers the cad in the case is a former suspect in a knife murder. Before long Bobby discovers a new murder scene – plenty of blood, but strangely no corpse … So Many Doors, a classic golden age whodunit, is the twenty-sixth novel in the Bobby Owen Mystery series, originally published in 1949. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans, and a selection of E.R. Punshon’s prolific Guardian reviews of other golden age mystery fiction. “What is distinction? … in the works of Mr. E.R. Punshon we salute it every time.”—Dorothy L. Sayers

At that moment the door opened and a deep, harsh, husky voice said: “Discussing my murder, are you?” Bobby Owen of Scotland Yard and his wife Olive are busy bargain-hunting in a famous London department store. But a shopping expedition nearly turns into a crime scene when Olive discovers a necklace stuffed in her handbag. The plot thickens when it transpires it was placed there by one Lord Newdagonby – whose stout denial of the act is swiftly followed by a fatal knife blow to a prominent scientist. The meaning of this locked-room murder, and its connection to a dilettante inventor, a disrespectful daughter, and the pearls in Olive’s bag, form one of Bobby’s most puzzling investigations. Everybody Always Tells, a classic golden age whodunit, is the twenty-seventh novel in the Bobby Owen Mystery series, originally published in 1950. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans, and a selection of E.R. Punshon’s prolific Guardian reviews of other golden age mystery fiction. “What is distinction? … in the works of Mr. E.R. Punshon we salute it every time.”—Dorothy L. Sayers

“There’s a spot of trouble this morning. Old gentleman found dead in his bath.” Bobby answered: “there may be one chance in a million it’s natural death.” When the notorious gangster Cy King was imprisoned thanks to Commander Bobby Owen’s investigation, he spent a good deal of time talking about avenging himself. Now Cy’s out of jail, linked to a notorious London nightclub owner, while a man impersonating Bobby has been spotted snooping around in a remote London suburb. The same suburb, as it happens, where a young woman, recently arrived from Canada, has seemingly vanished into thin air. All Bobby’s investigations lead to the unassuming borough of Southam, where the disappearance of Elizabeth Smith is compounded by the sudden death of a respectable old man. Cy keep dodging around in the background of the case, but can Bobby bring it home to the old villain – or find an alternative solution? The Secret Search, a classic golden age whodunit, is the twenty-eighth novel in the Bobby Owen Mystery series, originally published in 1951. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans, and a selection of E.R. Punshon’s prolific Guardian reviews of other golden age mystery fiction. “What is distinction? … in the works of Mr. E.R. Punshon we salute it every time.”—Dorothy L. Sayers

“Why should anyone want to pinch the dagger—except to do somebody in?” No one answered this question. one anonymous phone call reporting a murder at a historic country house – but no body is to be found. one ornate antique knife, discovered in a village call-box, blood-stains on the blade. Rather than identifying a corpse, Bobby Owen of the Yard has to find out who, if anyone, has actually been killed. Two persons, one a best-selling author, the other no-one’s cup of tea, are missing but a particular kind of hat keep turning up in the case – which also involves a haunted wood, a hatchet-wielding secretary, and a curious abundance of writers. The Golden Dagger is the twenty-ninth novel in the Bobby Owen Mystery series, originally published in 1951. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans, and a selection of E.R. Punshon’s prolific Guardian reviews of other golden age mystery fiction. “What is distinction? … in the works of Mr. E.R. Punshon we salute it every time.”—Dorothy L. Sayers

“It’s murder all right; no one could bash his own head in the way this chap’s was.” The stranger’s body was discovered by businesswoman Mrs Holcombe, the unofficial queen of Pending Dale. As if there wasn’t enough gossip rife in the village, now the Queen may be under suspicion of murder. Talk is cheap, but reputations are valuable – but were they worth buying silence at the cost of a man’s life? When Bobby Owen of the Yard arrives in Pending Dale to investigate, amid a panoply of local characters and red herrings he discovers a compelling and unpredictable motive. A reason why the unassuming and anonymous commercial traveller had to die … The Attending Truth is the thirtieth novel in the Bobby Owen Mystery series, originally published in 1952. This new edition features a bonus Bobby Owen short story, and an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans. “What is distinction? … in the works of Mr. E.R. Punshon we salute it every time.”—Dorothy L. Sayers

“The poor devil’s mouth was filled with feathers. An unconscious man with his mouth full of feathers wouldn’t have had much chance of surviving, and this one didn’t.” The press gleefully dubbed it the ‘Banquet Murder’. The murdered man, Hugh Newton, had apparently been making a sumptuous feast for two in his flat, before his own goose was cooked. Bobby Owen of the Yard is drawn to the cold case. Starting with the curious fact that the apartment building has experienced two break-ins since the murder, Bobby starts investigating the colourful, or faintly macabre, inhabitants. Elsewhere in London, Doreen Caine, cookery instructor, is excited that the case has been reopened. And further afield, a travel agency specializing in gastronomic tours comes under suspicion. It’s a bouillabaise of a mystery, one of Punshon’s finest, in which Bobby will discover whether retribution – if not revenge – is a dish best served cold. Strange Ending is the thirty-first novel in the Bobby Owen Mystery series, originally published in 1953. This new edition features a bonus Bobby Owen short story, and an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans. “What is distinction? … in the works of Mr. E.R. Punshon we salute it every time.”—Dorothy L. Sayers

The stage was set, Bobby thought, the actors in position; but how the drama would develop, that he could not even guess. The churchyard at Hillings-under-Moor is the final resting place of Janet Merton – buried, so everyone believes, along with celebrated poet Stephen Asprey’s unpublished verses and love letters. The potential value of the poems has posed a constant danger of grave-robbing, but the Duke of Blegborough has a new cause for alarm. He has heard that there is an official move to open the grave, and its contents may shed a most unwelcome light on his dead wife. Bobby Owen of the Yard also discovers the former rector of the church, Rev. Thorne, had gone for an evening stroll two years earlier – and disappeared into thin air. Whether his disappearance was in connection with the contents of Janet Merton’s grave is something Bobby will come to find out, with the help of Edward Pyle, of the Morning Daily, Janet Merton’s formidable niece Christabel, John Hagen (church sexton and self-taught classical scholar) and a man named Item Sims. Brought to Light is the thirty-second novel in the Bobby Owen Mystery series, originally published in 1954. This new edition features a bonus Bobby Owen short story, and an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans. “What is distinction? … in the works of Mr. E.R. Punshon we salute it every time.”—Dorothy L. Sayers

“You called him a ‘wrong ’un’. Why? Birds of a feather know each other? Is that the idea? Or do you really know something about him? Oh, and don’t lie.” Commander Bobby Owen of the Yard is on his way to visit Willoughby Wynne, concerning a gang of thieves operating in the immediate rural neighbourhood. But when murder comes, amid the loganberry bushes, it is a suspected blackmailer, not gangster, who is found strangled. Mr Wynne demands to be considered a suspect himself, but the list isn’t short. It seems more than one person in the district has been living a double life, one they are anxious to protect. And among the petty feuds, petty criminals and respectable gentry, a criminal mastermind is moving anonymously, pulling strings. Bobby will need a very large pair of shears to cut them this time. Dark is the Clue is the thirty-third novel in the Bobby Owen Mystery series, originally published in 1955. This new edition features a bonus Bobby Owen short story, and an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans. “What is distinction? … in the works of Mr. E.R. Punshon we salute it every time.”—Dorothy L. Sayers

Bobby studied the Rembrandt intently, with his own strange intensity of gaze that seemed as if by sheer strength of will it could force all secrets to reveal themselves. Commander Bobby Owen receives a visit from private detective Marmaduke Groan. Groan is concerned about a missing client, the influential art critic Alfred Atts. Due to give a much-anticipated Royal Arts lecture, Atts promised to use the occasion to reveal sensational facts. But he vanished before getting the chance. And Mr Atts had suspected his wife of wanting to poison him … Triple Quest, a thrilling and thoughtful tale of art fraud and murder, is the thirty-fourth novel in the Bobby Owen Mystery series, originally published in 1955. This new edition features a bonus Bobby Owen short story, and an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans. “What is distinction? … in the works of Mr. E.R. Punshon we salute it every time.”—Dorothy L. Sayers

“You’re the murder man, aren’t you?” Mrs. James demanded. “Well, that’s not exactly how I describe myself,” Bobby answered. Bobby Owen and his wife Olive are on holiday, enjoying a motor tour of England, when they visit Bobby’s old ancestral home and his cousin Myra. An eerie air hangs over the household, where Teddy Peel, a psychic medium of dubious repute, has become a fixture. Myra’s husband himself is a specialist in African folklore, the owner of a genuine witch doctor’s bag. What’s inside the bag, and how that connects to the promise of riches, whispered threats and very real murder, forms another absorbing puzzler for Bobby. Six Were Present (1956) is the thirty-fifth and final novel in the Bobby Owen Mystery series, here presented with a new introduction and additional notes. This new edition also features the script of the rare radio play Death on the Up-Lift (1941), starring Bobby Owen, here published for the first time. “What is distinction? … in the works of Mr. E.R. Punshon we salute it every time.”—Dorothy L. Sayers