Showing results by author "George Bellairs" in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Following a mysterious explosion, the offices of Excelsior Joinery Company are no more; the three directors are killed and the peace of a quiet town in Surrey lies in ruins. When the supposed cause of an ignited gas leak is dismissed and the presence of dynamite revealed, Superintendent Littlejohn of Scotland Yard is summoned to the scene. But beneath the sleepy veneer of Evingden lies a hotbed of deep-seated grievances. Confounding Littlejohn's investigation is an impressive cast of suspicious persons, each concealing their own ax to grind.

For the most part, the dead man received public sympathy. A decent, hardworking chap, with not an enemy anywhere. People were surprised that anybody should want to kill Jim. But Jim has been drowned in the Dumb River, near Ely, miles from his Yorkshire home. His body has been discovered before the killer intended – disturbed by a torrential flood. It's up to Superintendent Littlejohn of Scotland Yard to trace the mystery of the murder to its source, leaving waves of scandal and sensation in his wake.

Nathaniel Wall, the local quack doctor, is found hanging in his consulting room in the Norfolk village of Stalden, but this was not a suicide. Against the backdrop of a close-knit country village, an intriguing story of ambition, blackmail, fraud, false alibis and botanical trickery unravels.

In the winter of 1940, the Home Guard unearth a skeleton on the moor above the busy town of Hatterworth. 23 years earlier, the body of a young textile worker was found in the same spot and the prime suspect was never found, but the second body is now identified as his. Soon it becomes clear that the true murderer is still at large....

Miss Ethel Tither has made herself deeply unpopular in the quintessentially English village of Hilary Magna, since she goes out of her way to snoop on people, and interfere with their lives. She is found floating in a cesspool, having been bludgeoned prior to drowning in the drainage water. This is, in every way, a murky business; realising that they are out of their depth, the local police quickly call in the Yard.