Suicide Excepted

by Cyril Hare

Published 1 February 1982
An Inspector Mallett mystery, originally published in 1939, by one of the best-loved Golden Age crime writers, Cyril Hare.

Inspector Mallett's stay at the country house hotel of Pendlebury Old Hall has been a disappointment. Room, food and service have been a letdown and he eagerly anticipates the end of his holiday. His last trial is to sit and listen when an elderly and boorish man, whose family once owned the house, joins his table. The next day the man is dead and Mallett unwittingly finds himself investigating the suspicious 'suicide'.

'Adroit in its manipulation ... and distinguished by a plot-twister which I'll wager Christie wishes she'd thought of.' New York Times

'Mr Hare's controlled ingenuity and lively, sardonic characterization put Suicide Excepted in a very high class.' Observer


Tenant For Death

by Cyril Hare

Published 1 January 1981
Tenant for Death (1937) was the debut crime novel by 'Cyril Hare', nom de plume of Alfred Gordon Clark and one of the best-loved names in English 'Golden Age' crime writing.

Two young estate agent's clerks are sent to check an inventory on a house in Daylesford Gardens, South Kensington. Upon arrival, they find an unlisted item - a corpse. Furthermore, the mysterious tenant, Colin James, has disappeared. In a tale which uncovers many of the seedier aspects of the world of high finance, Hare also introduces his readers to the formidable Inspector Mallett of Scotland Yard.

Upon the novel's first publication the Times Literary Supplement praised Tenant for Death as 'a most ingenious story' while the Spectator celebrated its 'wit, fair play, and characterization' and also declared that 'a new star has risen'.

Death is No Sportsman

by Cyril Hare

Published 3 March 1986
Police Inspector Mallett must call upon his knowledge of angling techniques and lore to catch the killer who suddenly strikes a group of fly fishermen vacationing in rural England.