This crime classic is a spiritual successor to E. C. R. Lorac’s Murder by Matchlight, one of the British Library Crime Classics’ most popular titles from recent years (with Crossed Skis published in Spring 2020). It is a fantastically tight and twisty mystery set during the Second World War in London. The British Library is one of the only publishers currently re-releasing Lorac’s work as they are increasingly difficult titles to find and very expensive secondhand.

On a dismally foggy night in Hampstead, London, a curious party has gathered in an artist’s studio to weather the wartime blackout. A civil servant and a government scientist are matching wits in a game of chess, while an artist paints the portrait of his characterful sitter, bedecked in Cardinal’s robes at the other end of the room. In the kitchen, the artist’s sister is hosting the charlady of the miser next door.

When the brutal murder of said miser is discovered by his Canadian infantryman nephew, it’s not long before Inspector Macdonald of Scotland Yard is at the scene, faced with perplexing alibis and with the fate of the young soldier in his hands.

Published: August 2020

Author: E. C. R. Lorac

Brand: British Library Publishing

Number of pages: 240

Binding: Paperback

Dimensions: 190 x 130 mm