For years the worldwide operations of a mysterious and ruthless extortioner who calls himself the Tortoise have baffled Scotland Yard and the police forces of Europe.
When Dave Fenner is hired to solve the Blandish kidnapping, he knows the odds on finding the girl are against him - the cops are still looking for her three months after the ransom was paid.
At ten, David Shaw, a silent and observant little boy already fluent in half a dozen languages, was being dragged through the capitals of Europe by a diplomat father and a beautiful scatterbrained mother.
'A macabre little tale about an unusual restaurant in Manhattan and its lonely patrons, it displayed both a debt to Edgar Allan Poe and an acute understanding of human nature that is the key to the success of his work' GUARDIANStanley Ellin's first short story, 'The Speciality of the House', about a New York restaurant with a special gourmet menu, was published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in 1948 and caused an immediate sensation, winning him a special Ellery Queen Award.
A superb mixture of locked room mystery and science fiction classic'A fine craftsman' Ellery QueenA deadly net of danger tightens around Hilary Foulkes as an unseen enemy makes constant, bizarre attempts on his life.
'A fine craftsman' Ellery QueenA cryptic telegram; a dead man; two ingenious and quite different sets of clues; and each one of the half-dozen suspects is something of an imposter .
'A fine craftsman' Ellery QueenWhen a Swiss professor is found dead on a California university campus only a few feet away from the home of a student he was visiting, Dr Ashwin, a professor of Sanskrit, and Martin Lamb, a graduate student, join forces to find the killer.
Drug barons Ralph Ember and Mansel Shale have co-existed peaceably for years, tolerated by Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles as a way of keeping violence off the streets.
Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles misses a crucial conference and is not able to give vital advice to a colleague, Assistant Chief Constable Esther Davidson.
For years Panicking Ralph Ember and Mansel Shale have run profitable drugs empires in peaceful cooperation with each other - and Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles turns a blind-eye to their trade as long as it keeps violence off the streets.
For years Colin Harpur's dubious boss, Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles, ran an 'arrangement' with Mansel Shale and Panicking Ralph Ember, owner of the Monty Club: Iles would protect their drug businesses if they ensured peace on the streets.
Drug dealer Ralph Ember stumbles on a ghastly surprise when he and sidekick Beau Derek arrive at the house of yachtsman Barney Coss, his bulk supplier.
Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur and his amoral superior Assistant Chief Constable Desmond lles face a political and personal dilemma when they suspect fellow Officer Nivette of taking bribes from underworld villains, panicking Ralphy Ember and Mansel Shale.
Naomi Anstruther's undercover operation among the drug gangs - planned carefully by Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur - has ended in a bloody shoot-out.
Fear grips the drugs underworld after two principals in the trade are murdered, and even Assistant Chief Constable Desmond Iles is under a cloud of suspicion.
'One of British crime writing's hidden jewels' Time OutMegan Harpur had taken the train back from London to tell her husband she was leaving him for another man.
Suspects in the fatal bludgeoning of lowlife Ian Aston include his criminal pals - and Detective Chief Superintendent Colin Harpur's superior officer Desmond Iles, whose wife, Sarah, was having an affair with Aston.
Classic police procedural by a 'born storyteller' (Sunday Times), who combined natural flair with his experience in the police to truly authentic effect.
Actor turned thief Rafe Tyrrel knows where more than two and a half million pounds is hidden, the proceeds of a Royal Mail train robbery and a post office job, both the work of his Islington gang.
A millionaire's sage-green Rolls Royce has been discovered, empty, beside a graveyard, and a little later the murdered body of the millionaire is discovered inside the graveyard - above ground.
