In a gas-lit inn in the countryside a man lies dead. The police, of course, investigate - and so do Miles Bredon and his wife, in the interests of the Indescribable Insurance Company, with which the deceased man, Mr Mottram, had been heavily insured. The culprit is the three gas taps in Mr Mottram's room, and Miles hopes to prove that his death is suicide. Miles' old wartime colleague, Police Inspector Leyland, is convinced it's murder. And the conclusion is as ingenious as it is surprising.

Urbane mystery, set in the pastoral reaches of the upper Thames, concerns the disappearance of young heir to a fortune. Insurance company investigator Miles Bredon takes on the case. Delightfully tongue-in-cheek tone, baffling clues, challenging mystery counterpointed by poetic evocation of the river and countryside. Fine novel by author of 10 celebrated "commandments" for writing detective fiction.

When private investigator Miles Bredon and his wife, Angela, arrive for a weekend at the Hallifords' country house, they find themselves part of a singularly ill-assorted house party. Waking one morning to the news that one among their number has been found dead by the silo, Miles has no shortage of suspects. The entire party had spent the previous night haring around the country side in an 'eloping' game instigated by their hostess, and no one can fully account for their whereabouts. The arrival of Inspector Leyland from Scotland Yard, investigating a spate of apparent suicides of important people, adds another dimension to the mystery, and Miles finds himself wondering 'whether the improbable ought to be told'.

After Colin Reiver is acquitted of responsibility for killing a child in a car accident he sets out on a sea cruise in the hope that it might ease local feeling and the voice of his own conscience. But when a few days after his departure Colin is found dead by the roadside, Miles Bredon, investigator for the Indescribable Insurance Company, must travel to Scotland to establish precisely when the death occurred. The body has disappeared and reappeared in the space of forty-eight hours and a large insurance premium is at stake.

From the start, it seems an unholy alliance. as every reader of the cheap press knows, the Honourable Vernon Lethaby (son of a peer) is a flamboyant, headline-seeking exhibitionist, young handsome—if a trifle effeminate—with extravagant tastes and an allowance that barely covers his racing debts. Rougher around the edges to be sure, Joe "Digger" Henderson is a man of quieter turn. Among his considerable abilities, the middle-aged Canadian adventurer, former rumrunner and suspected train robber boasts a remarkable facility for digging. No more unlikely partnership ever struck out for the Highlands of Scotland to hunt for Prince Charlie's fabulous treasure. According to legend, the booty is snuggly interred in the Isle of Erran, and according to Lethaby, a ciphered map he recollects from childhood days at Dreams Castle might just pinpoint the precise location. All that remains is to make a suitable arrangement with Sir Charles Airdrie, the new owner of the castle and island, for the digging to begin.