The Lampreys had plenty of charm - but no cash. They all knew they were peculiar, the charades with which they entertained their guests became quite complicated. And when Uncle Gabriel Lamprey dies, Chief Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn is called in.

Surfeit of Lampreys: The Lampreys had plenty of charm - but no cash. They all knew they were peculiar, the charades with which they entertained their guests became quite complicated. And when Uncle Gabriel Lamprey dies, Chief Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn is called in.

This tale of murder at a snowed-in country house is a “constant puzzle to the end . . . alive with wit” (The New York Times). The unspeakably wealthy (and generally unspeakable) Jonathan Royal has decided to throw a party and, just for fun, has studded the guest list with people who loathe one another. When a blizzard imprisons them all in Royal’s country house, murder ensues, and there are nearly as many suspects as there are potential victims. Eventually, Inspector Alleyn makes his way through the snow to put things right, in this classic whodunit by the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master. “A smooth yarn.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Three witty murder mysteries featuring British Inspector Roderick Alleyn, from a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master. Surfeit of Lampreys: The upper-crust Lamprey family exemplifies charm, wit, and a chronic lack of funds. Their only source of hope is the wealthy but unpleasant Lord Wutherwood. When his Lordship is killed and the Lampreys receive a sizeable inheritance, Inspector Roderick Alleyn wouldn’t dream of judging the Lampreys’ joy. But he would like to figure out whether they murdered their benefactor . . . Also published as Death of a Peer in the United States. “Entertaining and devious . . . Plenty of red herrings.” —Kirkus Reviews Death and the Dancing Footman: The unspeakably wealthy (and generally unspeakable) Jonathan Royal throws a party and, just for fun, has studded the guest list with people who loathe one another. When a blizzard imprisons them all in Royal’s country house, murder ensues, and there are nearly as many suspects as there are potential victims. Eventually, Inspector Alleyn makes his way through the snow to put things right . . .. “[A] constant puzzle to the end . . . alive with wit.”—The New York Times Colour Scheme: During World War II, Colonel Claire runs a mud-baths resort in rural New Zealand. But the place is on the brink of being taken over by a local blowhard who may be a Nazi spy. Inspector Alleyn has been sent in to sort things out—and don a disguise in order to blend in the resort’s motley cast of characters—in this classic tale of detection . . . “Atmosphere, humor . . .and a group of characters, English, Maori, and New Zealander, who are fascinating and completely credible.” —The New York Times

This book is the first fully theorized queer reading of a Golden Age British crime writer. Agatha Christie was the most commercially successful novelist of the twentieth century, and her fiction remains popular. She created such memorable characters as Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple, and has become synonymous with a nostalgic, conservative tradition of crime fiction. J.C. Bernthal reads Christie through the lens of queer theory, uncovering a playful, alert, and subversive social commentary. After considering Christie’s emergence in a commercial market hostile to her sex, in Queering Agatha Christie Bernthal explores homophobic stereotypes, gender performativity, queer children, and masquerade in key texts published between 1920 and 1952. Christie engaged with debates around human identity in a unique historical period affected by two world wars. The final chapter considers twenty-first century Poirot and Marple adaptations, with visible LGBT characters, and poses the question: might the books be queerer?

And though she laments, "So many mysteries, so little time," she makes a good effort at mentioning "some of the best of the rest.""--BOOK JACKET.

The husband-and-wife sleuths leave London and take on crime in the Caribbean: “One of the deftest practitioners of the British procedural detective novel.” —The New York Times Book Review Detective Chief Superintendent Henry Tibbett and his wife, Emmy, have escaped the London winter to bask in the Caribbean sunshine. They have an ulterior motive for the trip, though—to try to help their elderly friend who says she’s being targeted by a cocaine ring. While keeping up the pretense of being clueless, wealthy tourists, the couple pokes around amid the palm trees—and goes to dangerous lengths to find the truth, which will involve Henry himself posing as a drug runner . . . “A new queen of crime . . . her name can be mentioned in the same breath as Agatha Christie and Ngaio Marsh.” —Daily Herald “Intricate plots, ingenious murders, and skillfully drawn, often hilarious, characters distinguish Patricia Moyes’ writing.” —Mystery Scene