The Surrays and their five children form a prolific writing machine, with scores of treatises, reviews and crime thrillers published under their family name. Following a rare convergence of the whole household at their Oxfordshire home, Ruth – middle sister who writes 'books which are just books' – decides to spend some weeks there recovering from the pressures of the writing life while the rest of the brood scatter to the winds again. Their next return is heralded by the tragic news that Ruth has taken her life after an evening at the Surrays' hosting a set of publishers and writers, one of whom is named as Ruth's literary executor in the will she left behind. Despite some suspicions from the family, the verdict at the inquest is suicide – but when Ruth's brother Richard receives a letter from the deceased which was delayed in the post, he enlists the help of CID Robert Macdonald to investigate what could only be an ingeniously planned murder.

‘Should detectives go to parties? Was it consistent with the dignity of the Yard? The inspector tossed for it—and went.’ Chief Inspector Macdonald has been invited to a treasure hunt party at the house of Graham Coombe, the celebrated publisher of Murder by Mesmerism . Despite a handful of misgivings, the inspector joins a guestlist of novelists and thriller writers disguised on the night under literary pseudonyms. The fun comes to an abrupt end, however, when ‘Samuel Pepys’ is found dead in the telephone room in bizarre circumstances. Amidst the confusion of too many fake names, clues, ciphers and convoluted alibis, Macdonald and his allies in the CID must unravel a truly tangled case in this metafictional masterpiece, which returns to print for the first time since its publication in 1937.

Bruce Attleton dazzled London's literary scene with his first two novels—but his early promise did not bear fruit. His wife Sybilla is a glittering actress, unforgiving of Bruce's failure, and the couple lead separate lives in their house at Regent's Park. When Bruce is called away on a sudden trip to Paris, he vanishes completely—until his suitcase and passport are found in a sinister artist's studio, the Belfry, in a crumbling house in Notting Hill. Inspector Macdonald must uncover Bruce's secrets, and find out the identity of his mysterious blackmailer. This intricate mystery from a classic writer is set in a superbly evoked London of the 1930s.

THE DEVIL AND THE C.I.D. is a very hard-to-find treasure from 1938 by Edith Caroline Rivett, who wrote under the pseudonym E.C.R. Lorac. It features her series character, the Scot Inspector Macdonald, and involves a body left in the boot of the Inspector's car.

E. C. R. LORAC has excelled in Slippery Staircase, a novel to which the Crime Club, in ''selecting'' it, would Iike to draw the special attention of all detective-story connoisseurs. The setting is an old and eerie London house, now converted to flats. In the basement Iives the houseman; on the ground floor Martia Vannery; on the second floor a wealthy retired actor; on the third floor Mrs. Thelma Romney, a widow; on the fourth floor two young men interested in flying; and in the attic flat at the top of the house old Miss Fanny Seeley, Iiving alone and Ionely, on her modest annuity. It is on the staircase that winds up the old house, Iinking these people's Iives together, that Murder takes place. The atmosphere throughout the book is electrically tense; the description of the terrified Juliet Romney creeping down the stairs after the murder is Iiable to make anybody's blood run cold; and as to the detection, it represents Inspector Macdonald's greatest triumph.

Blackmail and its consequences play a big part in ECR Lorac's 1939 masterpiece of understatement and style.

When a man drops dead in his garden during the early days of WWII it seems to be a simple case of heart failure, even though he was in fine physical shape. But once Inspector Macdonald of Scotland Yard is brought in, British mystery readers know they're in for a wild ride. Now American readers can join in the fun.

Wulfstane Manor, a rambling old country house with many unused rooms, winding staircases and a maze of cellars, had been bequeathed to Veronica Mallowood and her brother Martin. The last time the large family of Mallowoods had all foregathered under the ancestral roof was on the occasion of their father’s funeral, and there had been one of those unholy rows which not infrequently follow the reading of a will. That was some years ago, and as Veronica found it increasingly difficult to go on paying for the upkeep of Wulfstane, she summoned another family conference - a conference in which Death took a hand. Rope’s End, Rogue’s End is, of course, an Inspector MacDonald case, in which that popular detective plays a brilliant part.

This crime puzzle features Chief Inspector Robert Macdonald, who is a "London Scot" and an avowed bachelor with a love for walking in the English countryside. But what will he make of the dead body found dead in a cave?

'...this crime is conditioned by the place. To understand the one you've got to study the other.' The Garths had farmed their fertile acres for generations, and fine land it was with the towering hills of the Lake Country on the far horizon. Here hot-tempered Robert Garth, still hale and hearty at eighty-two, ruled Garthmere Hall with a rod of iron. Until, that is, old Garth was found dead—'dead as mutton'—in the trampled mud of the ancient outhouse. Glowering clouds gather over the dramatic dales and fells as seasoned investigator Chief Inspector Macdonald arrives in the north country. Awaiting him are the reticent Garths and their guarded neighbors of the Lune Valley; and a battle of wits to unearth their murderous secrets. First published in 1944, Fell Murder is a tightly-paced mystery with authentic depictions of its breathtaking locales and Second World War setting. This edition also includes the rare E.C.R. Lorac short story The Live Wire.

Who fired the fatal shot that snuffed out the life of miserly old Folliner during a London blackout? Was it the beautiful artist Rosanne who lived next door, the old man's Canadian soldier nephew or bumptious Special Constable Verraby, whose eyes registered deadly fear?

On a damp November evening in wartime London, a young chemist sits on a bench in Regent's Park and watches as an approaching stranger suddenly disappears beneath a footbridge. Seconds later another figure appears on the same overpass, stops to smoke and discard a cigarette, and strikes a match that briefly illuminates a face beyond his own. Through the succeeding darkness come the sounds of a thud and a falling body—then silence.Thus begins this chilling mystery from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction by Edith Caroline Rivett, author of more than seventy books written under the pseudonyms of E. C. R. Lorac and Carol Carnac. Murder by Matchlight features Scotland Yard's imperturbable Chief Inspector Robert Macdonald, who is tasked with finding the killer of the man on the bridge. His only evidence: a set of bicycle tracks that come to an abrupt end. His suspects: a colorful cast that includes the shy, soft-spoken witness, a respected London physician, a screenwriter, an unemployed laborer, and a vaudevillian specializing in illusions—a lively group whose questionable activities will keep readers guessing until the final twist and turn of this deftly plotted whodunit.

The Second World War is drawing to a close. Nicholas Vaughan, released from the army after an accident, takes refuge in Devon renting a thatched cottage in the beautiful countryside at Mallory Fitzjohn. Vaughan sets to work farming the land, rearing geese and renovating the cottage. Hard work and rural peace seem to make this a happy bachelor life. On a nearby farm lives the bored, flirtatious June St Cyres, an exile from London while her husband is a Japanese POW. June s presence attracts fashionable visitors of dubious character, and threatens to spoil Vaughan's prized seclusion. When Little Thatch is destroyed in a blaze, all Vaughan s work goes up in smoke and Inspector Macdonald is drafted in to uncover a motive for murder.

It's not long after the end of WWII, rationing is still in force in the UK, and Chief Inspector Macdonald of Scotland Yard is hot on the heels of a coupon racketeer, Gordon Ginner. Just then he gets a letter from Lancastrian farmer Giles Hoggett about some odd goings on recently in Lunesdale. Normally he'd pass on the letter to some subordinate, but the possibility that Giles' suspicions might link to the Ginner investigation are just too tantalizing to leave alone, so off to Lancashire goes Chief Inspector Macdonald... soon to discover the murdered body of Gordon Ginner!

ONE might have run into Elias Trowne anywhere East of Suez. He was a confirmed globe-trotter and had survived the most exciting and incredible adventures. Yet an ironic fate decreed that he should meet his death in a place at once tranquil and law-abiding, a little London restaurant esteemed by epicures, Le Jardin des Olives. One evening eight distinguished travellers and explorers were gathered together to be initiated into that famous and exclusive travellers' club, the Marco Polo. Before dinner 'it is discovered that the invitation is a hoax, and circumstances lead the disappointed guests to believe that Elias Trowne is the perpetrator. Later his dead body is found on the premises, and Inspector Macdonald, investigating the events of that tragic evening, is faced with a most complicated and baffling mystery.

It was really no concern of Mrs. Mayden whether Gillian Arkholme has spent a weekend at the Powys Arms with a married man or not, or that Alison Bentham was in love with her best friend's husband, or even that Dean's wife bought her meat on the black market. But sick, silly Mrs. Mayden had nothing better to do than ferret out all of Paulborough's sins and blazon them abroad. Then suddenly Mrs. Mayden was dead. 'Heart failure' said the doctor. 'Murder' said the town and began to look suspiciously at Gillian who had not only the motive but by far the best opportunity . Paulborough was an old and lovely town nestled in the shadows of its ancient Norman Abbey. On the surface, a godly town, but underneath simmered a brew of innuendo and hatred that boiled over into a spate of murders.

Accident by Design was honestly a really well done classic British mystery. I was surprised, expecting something subpar and generic. It was well-written, with interesting characters and some great descriptions of the British countryside and the work done on a tenant farm. The story is about a family estate in the early '50s. The patriarch lies in bed near death, but still quite aware. His eldest son is a feckless alchoholic with a middle-class (bad), Australian (worse) wife who hates pretty much everyone his father employed and has threatened to make a clean sweep when he takes over. When they both die in a car accident, too many people benefit and this alerts the local constabulary (who are very well depicted in the best British tradition of the no-nonsense, practical, reasonable police force). When their surviving son dies a few days later, by seemingly eating some poisonous berries, the game is truly afoot.

‘“Never make trouble in the village” is an unspoken law, but it’s a binding law. You may know about your neighbours’ sins and shortcomings, but you must never name them aloud. It’d make trouble, and small societies want to avoid trouble.’ When Dr Raymond Ferens moves to a practice at Milham in the Moor in North Devon, he and his wife are enchanted with the beautiful hilltop village lying so close to moor and sky. At first they see only its charm, but soon they begin to uncover its secrets – envy, hatred and malice. A few months after the Ferens’ arrival, the body of Sister Monica, warden of the local children’s home, is found floating in the mill-race. Chief Inspector Macdonald faces one of his most difficult cases in a village determined not to betray its dark secrets to a stranger.

A mystery, with mysterious happenings and a suspicious death that all seem to center on Aikengill, a stone farmhouse in Lancashire, England, dating from the 1700s. series character: Chief Inspector MacDonald

One was brutally attacked in the choking black fog in Paddington Station. Attempted murder became bona fide manslaughter, and examination of the intimate lives of the passengers involved Chief Inspector MacDonald in a macabre game of hide-and-seek in which one man tried to find his identity and another was ready to kill to preserve the shroud of darkness that obscured his.

Superintendent Macdonald, CID, studied his fellow-passengers on the Vienna plane simply because he couldn’t help it, because he hadn’t conditioned himself to being on holiday. The distinguished industrialist he recognised: the stout man he put down (quite mistakenly) as a traveller in whisky. The fair girl was going to a job (he was right there) and the aggressive young man in the camel coat might be something bookish. Macdonald turned away from his fellow-passengers deliberately; they weren’t his business, he was on holiday - or so he thought.

In this final detective novel to feature Superintendent Robert MacDonald, we find the police officer setting up his retirement plans on a hill farm to the south of Lunesdale. Not quite ready to retire, he buys the farm and installs a young couple to oversee his property while he's away detecting. Meanwhile, one foggy morning Rory Macshane who has just finished his first year of a 10-year prison sentence at Dartmoor sees his plans for escape come to fruition. He has hidden away bits and pieces of this and that over the past year, and when the fog begins to thicken while he out on a work gang he takes advantage of it and disappears into the mist with enough gear to help him truly escape. About a month after the prison break, MacDonald accompanies the farmer who has been renting the adjoining land on a tour of the abandoned farm house. There they find that someone is lying dead in the house. Is it murder or an accident?