This story is one of Lorac’s rarest novels, out of print since its first publication and commanding four-figure prices in the rare books market. One of the bestselling authors of the series, with returning series character Robert Macdonald. Set in the world of books, writers and publishers, which may appeal to bibliophiles and booksellers.

“Now tell us about your crime novel. Take my advice and don’t try to be intellectual over it. What the public likes is blood.”

The Surrays and their five children form a prolific writing machine, with scores of treatises, reviews and crime thrillers published under their family name. Following a rare convergence of the whole household at their Oxfordshire home, Ruth – middle sister who writes ‘books which are just books’ – decides to spend some weeks there recovering from the pressures of the writing life while the rest of the brood scatter to the winds again. Their next return is heralded by the tragic news that Ruth has taken her life after an evening at the Surrays’ hosting a set of publishers and writers, one of whom is named as Ruth’s literary executor in the will she left behind.

Despite some suspicions from the family, the verdict at the inquest is suicide – but when Ruth’s brother Richard receives a letter from the deceased which was delayed in the post, he enlists the help of CID Robert Macdonald to investigate what could only be an ingeniously planned murder.

Publication date: 10/02/22

Author: E.C.R Lorac

Brand: British Library Publishing

Number of pages: 304 pages

Binding: Paperback

Dimensions: 190 x 130 mm