Part of Series
“It is believed locally that her death was accidental, but I’m afraid—” Our story begins with psychic investigator Cosmo Thor meeting Madame Luna, a fortune teller down on her luck. Madame Luna shortly tries to make desperate contact with Thor, but without success. Concerned, Thor consults his friend, Hugh Collier of Scotland Yard, and learns that Madame Luna may be a woman found dead from a fall from a cliff in Devon. But what in the world was Madame Luna doing in Devon, if the dead woman indeed was she? Thor’s investigation leads him to Belgrave Manor, a country house of ill-favoured reputation. The house belongs to wealthy London philanthropist Mrs. Maulfrey, the same woman who happens to have taken custody of Madame Luna’s young daughter. After a tense visit, Hugh Collier is on hand to pick up the threads in what turns out to be a remarkably sinister case, and one in which Hugh himself will be imperilled before the dénouement. An impressive tale of outré mystery and lurid crime, with a cast of compelling characters, The Belgrave Manor Crime was originally published in 1935. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.
Author
Pseudonym of Katherine Mary Deville Dalton Renoir (1881-1963) Katherine Dalton was born in Hammersmith, London in 1881, the only child of a Canadian father and English mother. The author wrote two well-received early novels, Olive in Italy (1909), and The Sword of Love (1920). However, her career in crime fiction did not begin until 1924, after which Moray Dalton published twenty-nine mysteries, the last in 1951. The majority of these feature her recurring sleuths, Scotland Yard inspector Hugh Collier and private inquiry agent Hermann Glide. Moray Dalton married Louis Jean Renoir in 1921, and the couple had a son a year later. The author lived on the south coast of England for the majority of her life following the marriage. She died in Worthing, West Sussex, in 1963.
