Download or read book Thirteen White Tulips written by Frances Crane and published by St. Swithin Press. This book was released on with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “High ingenuity…splendid eating in San Francisco restaurants, and narrator Jean Abbott, always vividly observant of feminine fashions, this time finds that a fashion note is a vital clue.”—The New York Times Jack Ivers, an urban sophisticate with a particular fondness for wealthy women, lies peacefully in his bed, dead. This scenario is greatly convenient for the woman who finds him, as she was on the scene to kill him herself. More curious, the thirteen red tulips she noticed entering Ivers’ home had been replaced by thirteen white tulips before she made her exit. A number of people had good reason to want Jack Ivers dead, and naturally it falls to Jean and Pat Abbott to solve the confounding case. “Amusing and sophisticated.”—The [London] Star “Fashion hints all over place. Smooth.”—The Saturday Review “…has an authentic-seeming San Francisco background for the activities of its two happily married young sleuths and their dachshund, and is strong on personal relations, colour, dress and dialogue, and very nearly as strong on clues.”—The Sphere “Brightly-told excitement, with good dressing and good food as you go along.”—Lady

Download or read book 13 White Tulips written by Frances Crane and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2022-07-05 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A young couple and their dachshund star in a stylish San Francisco–set Golden Age mystery of “high ingenuity” (The New York Times). Jack Ivers, a man-about-town with a taste for rich women, has been found dead in his bed. What’s particularly odd is that the chief suspect, a surgeon’s fashionable wife, claims that she spotted thirteen red tulips upon entering the victim’s home—that were somehow replaced with thirteen white tulips by the time she departed. It’s up to sleuthing spouses Jean and Pat Abbott to dig through the dead man’s questionable past and determine in whose heart a murderous passion blossomed . . . “Amusing and sophisticated.” —Daily Star “Smooth.” —Saturday Review “Brightly-told excitement, with good dressing and good food as you go along.” —Lady

Download or read book The Daffodil Blonde written by Frances Crane and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2022-07-05 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During a stay in Kentucky horse country, a husband-and-wife detective team race to find a killer . . . PI Pat Abbott and his wife, Jean, are vacationing in Kentucky horse country and visiting Pat’s old friend Rob Murray, who lives there with his sister and daughter. But when Rob’s trainer is found dead, Pat is willing to bet it’s murder despite the local doctor’s verdict of suicide. The quest to find the truth will involve a fainting blonde at the Abbotts’ hotel and some of the more colorful citizens of Lexington in this suspenseful Golden Age classic featuring “one of the more interesting married teams of detectives” (Thrilling Detective). Praise for the Pat and Jean Abbott Mysteries “Lively and exciting.” —The New York Times “[A] well-plotted and mystifying case.” —Saturday Review “Nasty characters and clues pointing off in all directions—quite good.” —The Miami News

Download or read book The Man in Gray written by Frances Crane and published by St. Swithin Press. This book was released on with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Man in Gray was published in the United Kingdom as The Gray Stranger “ ‘Now, what’s an enologist?’ I asked the dog. In reply he began to bark furiously and rushed at the front door. He yowled as if in panic.” An enologist is one who studies wine. Daniel Vincent Willoz was one who studied wine until someone put a murderous end to his enological practices. As is often the case, Willoz spent too much time on enology and too little on toxicology. The good news is that Jean and Pat Abbott are present to solve this fiendishly complex murder puzzle set in San Francisco.

Download or read book The Coral Princess Murders written by Frances Crane and published by St. Swithin Press. This book was released on with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In exotic Tangier, the well-known husband and wife team of Pat and Jean Abbott discover that international drug trafficking, plus greed and intrigue, invariably spell catastrophe for those involved therein. And very bad luck for a number of free-loading beachcombers and expatriates who’d just about convinced themselves that they never had it so good.

Download or read book Black Cypress written by Frances Crane and published by St. Swithin Press. This book was released on 2013-11-14 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Bodies and bafflement galore in multi-murderous tale with considerable Hollywood glitter, ample suspense, and breathless conclusion. Nice gory going.”—The Saturday Review Pat and Jean are invited by distant relatives to stay at the Black Cypress estate in Laguna Beach. It seems that one of the Abbotts’ less-than-pleasant distant relations, Enid Ponsonby, is being watched with a murderous eye, and Pat and Jean are called in for their sleuthing talents. As a welcoming act, an expert knife thrower offers Jean a pointy death, which she barely has the chance to decline. The next morning a ne’er-do-well visiting from New Orleans is found on the property at the base of a cliff, having taken a shortcut to the bottom. The Abbotts face a cast of characters whose dysfunctional relationships with one another ensure the case is no walk on the beach.

Download or read book Death on the Boat Train written by John Rhode and published by St. Swithin Press. This book was released on 2013-11-18 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “One always embarks on a John Rhode book with a great sense of security. One knows that there will be a sound plot, well-knit process of reasoning, and a solidly satisfying solution with no loose ends or careless errors of fact.”—Dorothy Sayers From the Jacket: Fair blew the wind from France, and the Channel steamer Isle of Jethou rolled a bit in the stiff south-westerly breeze. But the rough crossing didn’t upset the mysterious passenger who had locked himself into his cabin as soon as he boarded the boat at Guernsey. The same desire for seclusion had manifested itself on the boat-train to Waterloo, for the guard had been presented with a pound-note to reserve a compartment for Mr. Mystery. But did he travel alone? For at Waterloo the gentleman from Guernsey was a pretty genuine corpse. Death on the Boat-Train is a first-rate detective story, once again featuring the coldly clever scientific mind of Dr. Priestley, John Rhode’s brilliant creation.

Download or read book The Bloody Tower written by John Rhode and published by St. Swithin Press. This book was released on with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Bloody Tower by John Rhode, also published as The Tower of Evil “Any murder planned my Mr. Rhode is bound to be ingenious.”—The Observer The old man dragged his dilapidated chair to the window. With difficulty, he slowly extended a gnarled, shaking hand and pointed toward a distant, formless bulk outlined against the sunset. “The tower still stands,” he said in a high-pitched, quivering voice, which seemed to conceal a note of triumph. Strange words from a man who has just been told that his eldest son lies dead, killed by the inescapable explosion of his own shotgun. To be sure, the body had been found near the tower, but what could be the significance of this ungainly structure that the old man should mention it so mysteriously? Could the key exist within the old letter bearing biblical citations alongside a cipher of odd, hand-drawn shapes? Subsequent developments draw Jimmy Waghorn and Inspector Hanslet far from the actual crime scene in their search for the murderer. When they finally bring their theory to that intrepid scientist-detective, Dr. Priestley, he offers a strangely enigmatic suggestion which throws new light on the case and sets them on the track of an amazing discovery. “There are times when I think he is the finest detective story writer of them all.”—The Manchester Evening Star “He must hold the record for the invention of ingenious ways of taking life.”—The Sunday Times “It is the soundness of his method that keeps him in the front rank of detective story artists.”—The London News

Download or read book Jethro Hammer written by Craig Rice and published by St. Swithin Press. This book was released on 2013-11-15 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jethro Hammer by Craig Rice (as Michael Venning) “No one will get you out of your vacation hammock too easily, once you've started. … There are deftly drawn characters, colorful backgrounds and pungent, believable dialogue to round out this Grade-A thriller.”—The New York Times “Breathlessly exciting”—The Chicago Sun-Times From the jacket: Once in a while, because of its eminent readability, a book emerges from the many to take its place at the top of any reader’s list. Jethro Hammer is such a book, embracing all the qualifications of top ranking fiction as well as embodying the spine tingling drama and needling action of the best psychological novel. Will Donahue, blacksmith, was a simple-hearted friendly man who loved children, stray cats, and everything lonely and helpless. It was only natural, when the pale, undernourished baby was found wailing in a church, that Will take him to his home, give him a name (Jethro Hammer), and raise him as one of his own children. After Will’s death, his now fully grown family, selfish to the core, declined to cut Jethro in on the fortune the blacksmith had amassed. The disappearance of Jethro Hammer (which lasted twenty years), his return, his revenge and his death unfold with a dramatic simplicity that well makes felt the embittered strength of the cast off man.

Download or read book The Dead Can Tell written by Helen Reilly and published by St. Swithin Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Dead Can Tell, an Inspector McKee mystery "The letters forming the name 'Sara Hazard' and the word a murdered' were written large caps." The death of Sara Hazard, a Manhattan socialite, was first deemed an accidental drowning. This patch-work letter claimed otherwise and is sufficiently convincing to bring Inspector McKee on to the case. "All kinds of amorous accords and discords get in play when love lies a' bleeding in the shape of a much hated, but very beautiful wife and extortionist. Her death, believed to be accidental, is investigated by McKee--and leads him a fine whirl. Those involved--New York's rotogravure highlights, society and politicians alike, play mum...A fast paced story, handled with velvet."--Kirkus "Plenty of thrills and tense moments. Verdict: Enjoyable"--The Saturday Review

Download or read book Death Sits on the Board written by John Rhode and published by St. Swithin Press. This book was released on 2013-11-18 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The murders are most ingeniously planned and executed, and even Dr. Priestley is put to a severe test before the story is ended.” —The New York Times Constable Frean had an unpleasant sensation that he was not, as he seemed to be, patrolling a respectable London suburb, but was back at the Front in the year 1918, enduring a particularly vicious bombardment. Crash! With a roar like a bursting shell the roof of a nearby house blew off. Heading a rescue party, the constable found part of the house in ruins, and the owner, Sir Andrew Wiggenhall, missing. Eventually, his remains, or part of them, were discovered in the garden. Thus passed the Chairman of the Board of Porslin Ltd. Some months later another member of the same board of directors died in mysterious circumstances. Still another followed shortly. The reason for these apparently unrelated mysteries puzzled the police and intrigued Dr. Priestley. After a series of clever deductions, and as a result of clues which led far back into the past, he unearthed the secret of the Death that sat on the Board of Directors.

Download or read book Unexpected Night written by Elizabeth Daly and published by St. Swithin Press. This book was released on 2012-08 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Elizabeth Daly rose like a star on the mystery fans’ horizon with Unexpected Night.”—The New York Times “Spooky from start, with extra shivery climax at [a] theatrical performance where death plays leading role.”—The Saturday Review Amberly Cowden was staying at a Maine golf resort just as he attained the age of majority, and with it a one million dollar inheritance. “He is imagined to have celebrated his coming of age by going out and falling off a cliff. Poor old Amby.” “Poor old Amby,” indeed, but it is fine news and better timing for his relatives. Had he died before reaching the age of 21, every cent of the money would have gone to “some French connections” utterly alien to Amberly’s American relations. As luck would have it, the extra-keen sleuth Henry Gamadge is at the resort for a bit of R & R. Never one to ignore a suspicious turn of events, Gamadge vows to get to the bottom of young Amberly’s death, no matter what the cost. From the jacket: Distinguished by a delightful humor and by the freshness of its writing, this novel tells of terror and strange murder in a Maine seacoast resort. An army family, the relatives and hangers-on of a rich young invalid, a summer theater group of Irish players, an expert on documents, and the salt Maine air are the components of Miss Daly’s novel. The reasons why it was necessary for Amberley Cowden’s body to be found on the beach at the bottom of the cliff near the hotel and for his sister alma to be repeatedly frightened are part of the solution of this original and unusual plot. Young Gamadge doesn’t think it strange that Amberly Cowden has died, but he begins to worry when one of the Irish players tells him that he had the evil eye. It turns out that the actor was very nearly right. With great skill and a fine feeling for people and detail Miss Daly makes her first novel individual and vividly alive.

Download or read book The Judas Window written by John Dickson Carr and published by St. Swithin Press. This book was released on 2012-08 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Judas Window by John Dickson Carr (as Carter Dickson), a Sir Henry Merrivale mystery. One of the five best locked room mysteries, as selected by 14 established mystery authors and critics (All But Impossible!, 1981. ed. E. Hoch). The Case: Avory Hume is found dead with an arrow through his heart--in a study with bolted steel shutters and a heavy door locked from the inside. In the same room James Caplon Answell lies unconscious, his clothes disordered as though from a struggle. The Attorney for the Defense: That gruff and grumbling old sleuth, Sir Henry Merrivale, who proves himself superb in court--even though his gown does tear with a rending noise as he rises majestically to open the case. The Action: Before H.M. can begin his defense, Answell, his client, rises and cries out that he is guilty. Sir Henry doesn't believe it. But proof, circumstantial evidence, and the man's own confession point to his guilt. So the great, explosive detective gets down to serious sleuthing and at last startles the crowd in the Old Bailey with a reconstruction of the crime along logical, convincing lines. The Judas Window. Also published as The Crossbow Murder. Included is the floor plan found in the print version, redrawn for better legibility specifically for this edition.

Download or read book The Farmhouse written by Helen Reilly and published by St. Swithin Press. This book was released on with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Nell Shevlin’s womanly intuition works overtime after she arrives at her old homestead to rest and ponder a proposal of marriage. …Miss Reilly again reveals her artistry by producing a tale in which terror and menace are well sustained and provide a congruous background for McKee to wind up one of his best cases to date.”—The New York Times From the jacket: The shadow of a ruthless killer creeps over a quiet countryside as fear and suspense mount steadily and explode in a crashing climax. Questions abound: Why lanterns are lit each evening on the graves of the four dead Vestry sisters? Why a woman wearing black net stockings and shoes with four-inch heels walks country lanes at night? How a used bus ticket reveals an ingenious blackmail plot? What is the reason for Wick’s strange relationship with the breathtakingly beautiful Rita? Why flowers are heaped on a grave where no one is buried? You will learn the answers as you read this ingenious story of death and terror. Where will the clues and events lead you? A human hand sticking out of a puddle after a rainstorm ... An oil painting of a lady in red ... A pistol found in a pond . . . Blood seeping out from under an attic doorway . . . Lanterns, lighted each day at dusk, on four marble headstones in a quiet country graveyard ... A bullet hidden in the finger of a pigskin glove . . . Rifle shots that shatter the quiet (and a window) of a peaceful farmhouse... . A briefcase hidden among blackberry bushes . . . Oil dripping slowly from a tank that should have been empty . . . Exchange of carpets in an upstairs bedroom ... A powerful narcotic discarded for a quicker and more brutal method of committing murder . . . Filmy yellow silk knotted tightly about a shapely throat . . . murder and violence in a peaceful farming community.

Download or read book Murder in Bright Red written by Frances Crane and published by St. Swithin Press. This book was released on 2013-11-14 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pat and Jean Abbott, visiting relatives in a rich oil town, are called on to clear a pretty air-line hostess, Sally Carroll, who is suspected of having murdered her old beau. By the time the Abbotts arrive on the scene, there has been a curious change of policy: nobody wants them on the case, not the cousin and heir of the dead man, not his widow, and especially not the sheriff. Perversely, they decide to stay. Pat is shot at by a man who is supposed to be helping them, and Jean is buried in an abandoned well by a woman who claims to be on their side. Then a car they think is a friend’s crashes them into a ditch. Nevertheless they stick with the job until they come up with a solution that is both surprising and satisfying—but they cannot prevent the killer from claiming a second victim. “Pro Handling”—The Saturday Review “Congenial and confiding.”—Kirkus

Download or read book And So to Murder written by John Dickson Carr and published by St. Swithin Press. This book was released on 2012-08 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: And So to Murder by John Dickson Carr (as Carter Dickson), a Sir Henry Merrivale mystery. “A first-class murder mystery [and] also a ribald satire of the motion picture industry.”—The Vancouver Sun DEATH RIDES THE TUBE... The speaking-tube whistled. Monica flew at it. “Who are you? What do you want?” She bent her cheek to the mouth of the tube to listen for an answer. Something was happening inside the tube. She jumped back. Something which looked like water, but was not water, spurted in a jet from the mouth of the tube. It splashed across the linoleum. There was a hissing, sizzling noise as half a pint of vitriol began to eat into the surface of the floor. The footsteps in the room above began to run. Monica Stanton has written a saucy best-seller that has landed her her dream job, scriptwriting for a movie studio. Things turn sour quickly as she's saddled with a mentor she despises After someone makes a gruesome attempt on her life, however, her feelings begin to change about him as they are forced together during the investigation. Theories of Nazi “heiling enthusiasts” and espionage soon take form, leading to the entrance of Sir Henry Merrivale, who now works for Britain's Military Intelligence division. Only Sir Henry can wade through the “fat-heads” and schemers to get to the bottom of this amusing and clever mystery.

Download or read book Dr Priestley Lays a Trap written by John Rhode and published by St. Swithin Press. This book was released on with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Published in the United Kingdom as The Motor Rally Mystery “For sheer ingenuity in plot and execution, John Rhode has few if any equals in detective fiction.”—The Saturday Review The death of Lessingham and his companion, Purvis, was, indeed, a tragic affair; but an automobile accident, especially one occurring in a race, rarely arouses suspicion. Sergeant Showerby, however, was a conscientious soul. His duty was to investigate thoroughly and investigate he did, with results that were suspicious enough to arouse Inspector Hanslet of Scotland Yard and, through him, the great criminologist, Dr. Priestley. At first, there is so little evidence that one cannot understand Dr. Priestley’s interest in the case. Then, one by one, clues appear—not the ordinary clues which fall fortuitously in a detective’s lap, but clues that are found because the Doctor, by his famous process of logical deduction, knows where to look for them. Gradually a pattern forms so diabolical in its simplicity and effectiveness that Dr. Priestley is forced to set a dramatic trap which very nearly ends the lives of both detective and criminal.