The central detective is Inspector Blampignon of the Sûreté who had previously appeared in Death on the Riviera. It is divided into two distinct parts with the first section narrated in first person by Nigel Derry, one of the suspects, and the second part follows the investigations of the French police. Gwen Marrable, at fourty-something, is rich, attractive and independent. She is also imperious and man-mad. Her house party fizzles out after two guests assault each other and her adopted daughter learns that she will be disinherited if she marries a man Gwen doesn't approve of. Gwen goes off to her house in the South of France, but arrives there, dead and bundled into her own trunk. As her various relatives and hangers-on converge on Villa Paradou, the local detective tries to find out exactly what happened after Gwen left England. The formidable French detective embarks on a thrilling race to discover the truth in this rare and spirited mystery novel.

During a party, the host, an internationally famous entrepreneur, is kidnapped and his wife murdered.

There's murder on the French Riviera, including the disappearance of a husband, and a mystery involving a lonely farmhouse in the mountains.

A new musical Old Seville produced by Kurt Goldmayer is having a try-out at a South Coast  theatre before transferring to London's West End. One night, however, the leading lady Adrienne Daw disappears from her  dressing room and is later found murdered.

Here are the ingredients of the plot. SCENE : Sam Richardson's country house. CHARACTERS - Sam himself, a kindly business man, more amiable than artistic. Basil Barnes, his producer, tall, slender, sleek-haired and slightly sinister. Willy Farnham, a grand old character actor, always hard up, Angela Walsh, a brilliant young Ingenue from the Provinces. Deirdre Lehaye, tall, dark, icy, and so dead sure of herself that most men were scared to approach her. Clara Maddison, the company's most tried and trying actress. Rudolph Millar, her nephew, a rising young playwright. That's the set-up. Deirdre Lehaye is murdered. Who did it? And why was she in white pyjamas?

A shooting in a locked artist's studio. Four suspects; at least two of whom are engaged in an affair. An exuberant and energetic case for Major Boddy.

Small hostilities were growing; vague jealousies were gaining strength; and far off, wasn't there a nebulous hint of approaching tragedy in the air? Welworth Garden City in the 1940s is a forward-thinking town where free spirits find a home - vegetarians, socialists, and an array of exotic religious groups. Chief among these are the Children of Osiris, led by the eccentric High Prophet, Eustace K. Mildmann. The cult is a seething hotbed of petty resentment, jealousy and dark secrets - which eventually lead to murder. The stage is set for one of Inspector Meredith's most bizarre and exacting cases. This witty crime novel by a writer on top form is a neglected classic of British crime fiction.