When obscure crime writer Ethelred Tressider vanishes, his dogged literary agent, Elsie Thirkettle, is soon on his trail. Finding him (in a ramshackle hotel in the French Loire) proves surprisingly easy. Bringing him home proves more difficult than expected -- but (as Elsie observes) who would have predicted that, in a hotel full of stamp collectors, the guests would suddenly start murdering each other? One guest is found fatally stabbed, apparently the victim of an intruder. But when a rich Russian oligarch also dies, in a hotel now swarming with policemen, suspicion falls on the remaining guests. Elsie is torn between her natural desire to interfere in the police investigation and her urgent need to escape to the town's chocolaterie. Ethelred, meanwhile, seems to know more about the killings than he is letting on. Finally the time comes when Elsie must assemble the various suspects in the Dining Room, and reveal the truth ...Ten Little Herrings is a brilliantly anarchic take on the classic Country House Mystery, and an uproarious sequel to the first Elsie and Ethelred mystery, The Herring Seller's Apprentice.Praise for The Herring Seller's Apprentice, the first Elsie and Ethelred Mystery 'Masterful' Financial Times 'A classic detective novel' Scotsman 'Unusually accomplished' Helen Dunmore

Ten Little Herrings

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Tyler, L.C.

Mystery

Felony & Mayhem Press

Elsie and Ethelred return . . . When literary agent Elsie Thirkettle is invited to accompany tall but obscure crime-writer Ethelred Tressider to dinner at Muntham Court, she is looking forward to sneering at his posh friends. What she is not expecting is that, half way through the evening, her host will be found strangled in his locked study. Since there is no way that a murderer could have escaped, the police conclude that Sir Robert Muntham has killed himself. A distraught Lady Muntham, however, asks Ethelred to conduct his own investigation. Ethelred (ably hindered by Elsie) sets out to resolve a classic 'locked room' mystery; but is any one of the assorted guests and witnesses actually telling the truth? And can Ethelred's account be trusted? In the process, we meet one of Ethelred's own creations, the fourteenth-century detective Master Thomas, who is helped in his investigations of a mediaeval crime at Muntham Court by a small and rather pushy Abbess with a taste for honey cakes . . . Is it possible that Master Thomas can shed some light on the twenty-first century case, and on Ethelred's own motives for investigating Sir Robert's death? The Herring in the Library is another ingenious outing for crime fiction's most mismatched double-act. 'Tyler juggles characters, story, wit and clever one-liners with perfect balance' THE TIMES

Herring in the Library

L.C. Tyler

Frazer's Mills, in upstate New York, is a small, isolated village, where everyone knows everyone else and things haven't changed much (and the mills have been closed for quite some time). When murder suddenly intrudes upon this sedate rural backwater, Henry Gamadge arrives to solve the mystery and restore order.

Night Walk (Henry Gamadge, 12)

Literature & Fiction

DALY, Elizabeth

United States

Inglewood Turrets, in the north of London, is the sort of faux-Victorian-genteel hotel that pays homage to a past that never really existed. But the tourists love it. Or some of them do. Vassily Kopeck (code-name: “Farthing”), a Russian diplomat, has disappeared after a trip to the Turrets, and Mr. Campion has been asked to sort out the situation. It’s a challenge, but he has an able assistant: Young Rupert Campion, making his debut appearance!

Mr. Campion's Farthing (Albert Campion, 20)

Youngman-Carter, Philip

Literary

Mr. Campion’s final adventure points (like so many good mysteries) to the past, as first an archeologist is murdered and then a geologist disappears. The latter has a motley crew of friends, all ham-handedly eager to help. Mr. Campion with his inquiries, and there’s also a supremely dastardly villain on hand. It’s a pity to say farewell to the estimable Albert, but he leaves on a high note indeed

Mr. Campion's Falcon (Albert Campion, 21)

The village of South Mardian likes the old ways. This may be 1957, but South M. still features a blacksmith, a village idiot, and an elaborate fertility ritual performed at the winter solstice. There's squabbling, of course, and things come to a head when one of the ritual's main players is found be-headed, everything north of his neck having been neatly lopped off by a ritual sword.

Death of a Fool (Inspector Roderick Alleyn, 19) (Volume 19)

MARSH, NGAIO

The good ship Cape Farewell is steaming out to sea, with a passenger-list and crew fairly littered with the shifty, the twitchy, the peculiar, and the up-to-no-good. Arguably the up-to-no-goodest is a strangler with a romantic streak: He likes to leave his ladies with a flower and a charming little song. Alleyn boards the Cape at Portsmouth, determined that no one else is going to get strangled on his watch.

Singing in the Shrouds (Inspector Roderick Alleyn, 20) (Volume 20)

Mary Bellamy is the sweetheart of the London stage, fluffy as only an elderly lady of 50(!) can be. Her fans and friends—and who didn’t adore, positively adore darling Mary?—are heartbroken when somehow Mary manages to spritz herself not with her favorite perfume but with the deadly insecticide meant to be sprayed on the azaleas. Inspector Alleyn begins by smelling something fishy (everything he learns about lovely, fragile Mary suggests that in fact she was a rather vicious battleax), but he very quickly starts smelling something different…something like a rat.

False Scent (Inspector Roderick Alleyn, 21) (Volume 21)

One has to admit that the timing was peculiar. No one could doubt that Mr. Percival Pyke Period was genuinely distraught to hear that his neighbor, Harry Cartell, had turned up dead in a ditch. But how is it that Mr. Percival Pyke came to write the letter of condolence before the body was found? And how is it that Mr. Cartell came to inspire such violence? Yes he was boring, yes he was stuffy, but who would kill a man for the crime of being a bad conversationalist? If tediousness has become grounds for murder, Inspector Alleyn shudders to think of the body-count to come.

Hand in Glove (Inspector Roderick Alleyn, 22)

The elderly Emily Pride is perfectly pleased to have inherited an island, even if her starchy pragmatism is ever-so-faintly appalled by the "Pixie Falls" spring and its reported miraculous healing properties. But really, the locals’ attempts to capitalize on the "miracles" are entirely too tacky—Ye Olde Gift Shoppe, the neon signs…not on Miss Emily’s watch, thank you. Of course, the locals are not exactly thrilled to give up their trade (Pixie Falls may be merely be known for healing warts, it’s true, but you take your shillings where you can find them). Could their frustration have bubbled up into murderous rage? Inspector Alleyn will have to sort it out. And this time, it’s personal.

Dead Water (Inspector Roderick Alleyn, 23) (Volume 23)

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