From the Collins Crime Club archive, the first original novel to feature Ben the Cockney tramp, the unorthodox detective character created by J. Jefferson Farjeon, author of Mystery in White.
Strange things are happening in the untenanted houses of Jowle Street. There are unaccountable creakings and weird knockings on the door of No.29, where a homeless ex-sailor has taken up residence. But even stranger things are happening in the House Opposite, from where a beautiful woman in an evening gown brings Ben a mysterious message; and worse—the offer of a job!
Ben the ‘passing tramp’ was immortalised on film by Alfred Hitchcock in ‘Number 17’, based on a popular ’twenties stage play and novelisation by journalist-turned-author Joe Jefferson Farjeon. The House Opposite (1931) was the first full-length original novel to feature Ben, a reluctant down-at-heels Cockney sleuth, who went on to feature in six more successful detective thrillers from 1931 to 1952.
This Detective Story Club classic includes an introduction by H. R. F. Keating, author of the award-winning Inspector Ghote mysteries, which first appeared in the Crime Club’s 1985 ‘Disappearing Detectives’ series.
- ISBN13 9780008155841
- Publish Date 31 December 2015
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 20 June 2024
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher HarperCollins Publishers
- Imprint Collins Crime Club
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 272
- Language English
- URL http://harpercollins.co.uk