A fine August morning in Fowey on the Cornish Riviera, a noble yacht appears round the western point of the estuary, and enters the broad river. The Rajah of Puht is arriving. In the early afternoon, as the palatial yacht lies at anchor, Lady Constance Bolliver and sundry other distinguished guests will arrive by train, to be rowed across to her. On board is half-a-million pounds in diamonds. This tranquil scene has been preceded by a cat-and-mouse pursuit by Detective Inspective Edward Strood – one of Scotland Yards finest – of a master criminal, a person unknown, intent on grand larceny of the exquisite stones. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Joseph Jefferson Farjeon was born into a literary family in Hampstead, north west London in 1883. He was a prolific crime writer, writing over sixty novels over the course of thirty years, many published by William Collins & Sons and featuring in their hugely popular Collins Crime Club. Dorothy L. Sayers said of his work, ‘every word is entertaining.’ His best-known novel (and play) Number 17, was made into a film by Alfred Hitchcock. He died in 1955. PRAISE FOR J. JEFFERSON FARJEON Uninvited Guests ‘An ingenious country house mystery… absorbing’ New York Times The Master Criminal ‘A Sherlock Holmes novel of the first degree’ New York Post The ‘Z’ Murders ‘A classic serial killer mystery’ Martin Edwards Mystery in White ‘The perfect book for a winter's evening, a cosy chair and an open fire’ The Daily Mail Thirteen Guests ‘A country house mystery story firmly in the tradition of the “Golden Age of murder”… lively entertainment as well as a teasingly constructed mystery’ Martin Edwards No 17 ‘Works its way up by delicate graduations of horror to a climatic explosion of gun-play, diamonds and false identities, leaving the criminals safe in the hands of Scotland Yard’ New York Times