A corpse in a country house brings Scotland Yard to an eerily quiet English village, in this tale by a master of British mystery.
Cyril Savage has inherited the home of his wealthy and estranged aunt. But before Savage has the chance to discover her fortune, he is struck dead in the cellar of this once grand country house in the strange, nearly deserted village of Plumpton Bois.
The police are baffled and-unable to unearth a motive, let alone a killer-call for the assistance of Scotland Yard. Inspector Littlejohn and Inspector Cromwell arrive in Plumpton Bois and find the village, the family, and the house itself full of secrets.
The door to a locked room has been bashed open. Savage's aunt is not nearly as rich as she seemed to be. And now, another body has turned up on Littlejohn's watch . . . George Bellairs is the pseudonym under which Harold Blundell (1902–1982) wrote police procedural thrillers in rural British settings. He was born in Lancashire, England, and worked as a bank manager in Manchester. After retiring, Bellairs moved to the Isle of Man, where several of his novels are set, to be with friends and family.
In 1941 Bellairs wrote his first mystery, Littlejohn on Leave, during spare moments at his air raid warden's post. The title introduced Thomas Littlejohn, the detective who appears in fifty-seven of his novels. Bellairs was also a regular contributor to the Manchester Guardian and worked as a freelance writer for newspapers both local and national.
