Part of Series
The first time he saw her she stole his heart. The second time . . . she was dead. Classic crime from one of the greats of the Detection Club When Detective Arthur Crook first saw Stella Foster he knew she was marked for trouble. Stella was irresistible to men, a woman who loved laughter and pleasure - a woman, in fact, after Mr. Crook's heart. The next time he saw her, Stella was dead. To find her killer, London's genial detective pursues his unorthodox way through a maze of tangled and conflicting clues to solve a clever and brutal crime of passion. What was hidden under the bland exterior of Henry Greatorex, the charming, indolent, unpredictable chief of the Beckfield branch of Greatorex Brothers, the reputable London solicitors? Was he merely a philanderer—an ardent lover—a secret benefactor—a considerate employer—or a callous murderer? Arthur Crook, the unconventional lawyer specializing in things criminal, finds in Henry Greatorex one of the more unusual clients of his career. Henry Greatorex was never valued by his half-brothers, so it was little surprise that, in the family law firm, he was packed off to run an out-of-London office. It was to some surprise that the office ran pretty well under his management, but the time has come for him to sort out his love-life. He is determined to marry the lovely Barbara, but that does mean bringing his weekly liaisons with Stella Foster to an end. Stella is a popular woman though, and Henry is far from her only… paramour. For whatever reason, though, she is reluctant to let him go. And then one evening visit ends with Henry leaving her flat, with Stella lying dead on the couch. Enter Arthur Crook, “unscrupulous lawyer and unraveller of mysteries”. The lady of fairly easy virtue had been found dead in her living room and had certainly received a number of visitors during the evening and one of them had certainly been Henry Greatorex—but had he done the killing? Arthur Crook on the trail of a murderer hidden in a mass of conflicting eye-witness accounts. "Unquestionably a most intelligent author. Gifts of ingenuity style and character drawing" ~Sunday Times
Author
Anthony Gilbert was the pen name of Lucy Malleson an English crime writer. She also wrote non-genre fiction as Anne Meredith , under which name she also published one crime novel. She also wrote an autobiography under the Meredith name, Three-a-Penny (1940). Her parents wanted her to be a schoolteacher but she was determined to become a writer. Her first mystery novel followed a visit to the theatre when she saw The Cat and the Canary then, Tragedy at Freyne, featuring Scott Egerton who later appeared in 10 novels, was published in 1927. She adopted the pseudonym Anthony Gilbert to publish detective novels which achieved great success and made her a name in British detective literature, although many of her readers had always believed that they were reading a male author. She went on to publish 69 crime novels, 51 of which featured her best known character, Arthur Crook. She also wrote more than 25 radio plays, which were broadcast in Great Britain and overseas. Crook is a vulgar London lawyer totally (and deliberately) unlike the aristocratic detectives who dominated the mystery field when Gilbert introduced him, such as Lord Peter Wimsey. Instead of dispassionately analyzing a case, he usually enters it after seemingly damning evidence has built up against his client, then conducts a no-holds-barred investigation of doubtful ethicality to clear him or her. The first Crook novel, Murder by Experts, was published in 1936 and was immediately popular. The last Crook novel, A Nice Little Killing, was published in 1974. Her thriller The Woman in Red (1941) was broadcast in the United States by CBS and made into a film in 1945 under the title My Name is Julia Ross. She never married, and evidence of her feminism is elegantly expressed in much of her work.
