Michael Innes Books

When Inspector Appleby's car breaks down on a deserted road one dark night, he happens upon an imposing mansion, whose windows are all illuminated. His sense of curiosity gets the better of him when he discovers that the front door is wide open, and he gets a funny feeling of being watched as he wanders round this splendid house, looking for signs of life. When he finds an elaborate feast laid out, he wonders who is expected...

Clusters, a great country house, is troubled by bats, as Lord and Lady Osprey complain to their guests, who include first rate detective, Sir John Appleby. In the matter of bats, Appleby is indifferent, but he is soon faced with a real challenge - the murder of Lord Osprey, stabbed with an ornate dagger in the library.

During a walk to Elvedon House, palatial home of the Tythertons, Sir John Appleby and Chief Constable Colonel Pride are stunned to find a police van and two cars parked outside. Wealthy Maurice Tytherton has been found shot dead, and Appleby is faced with a number of suspects - Alice Tytherton, flirtatious, younger wife of the deceased; Egon Raffaello, disreputable art dealer; and the prodigal son, Mark Tytherton, who has just returned from Argentina. Could the death be linked to the robbery of some paintings several years ago?

Sir John Appleby is assigned to investigate the disappearance of Howard Juniper, a scientist who has been working with a deadly strain of bacteria

When young student David Henchman decides to escape his boisterous classmates by spending a day in the country, he doesn't count on coming across a man with a bullet hole in his head. Now it is up to the intuitive Sir John Appleby to solve the ingenious crime. Originally published by Dodd, Mead.

This collection features five notable works of classic crime fiction, showcasing the talents of prominent authors in the genre. The stories delve into intricate plots, exploring themes of morality, justice, and the human psyche. Josephine Tey's "The Franchise Affair" presents a gripping narrative centered on a wrongful accusation of kidnapping, examining societal prejudices and the quest for truth. Michael Innes's "Hamlet, Revenge!" blends elements of Shakespearean drama with a modern mystery, as a detective navigates a web of intrigue surrounding a theatrical production. Margery Allingham's "The Crime at Black Dudley" introduces the character of Albert Campion, an amateur sleuth who uncovers a murder during a weekend gathering at a country estate, highlighting themes of deception and class dynamics. Edmund Crispin's "The Moving Toyshop" features the eccentric detective Gervase Fen, who investigates a puzzling crime that combines humor with intellectual challenge. Lastly, G. K. Chesterton's "The Innocence of Father Brown" introduces the titular priest-detective, whose keen insight into human nature allows him to solve various crimes, emphasizing themes of faith and morality. Each story offers a unique perspective on crime and detection, reflecting the diverse approaches within classic literature.

When mad recluse Ranald Guthrie the laird of Erchany, falls from the ramparts of his castle on a wild winter night, Appleby discovers the doom that shrouded his life, and the grim legends of the bleak and nameless hamlets, in a tale that emanates sheer terror and suspense.

Our lovely heroine and her various accomplices are the object of a superb chase across Scotland by a scheming band of undercover Nazis. Sir John Appleby of Scotland Yard--a master craftsman in the art of crime and counterespionage--comes to the rescue, and the British Empire stands secure once more.

Stunning Belrive Priory, consisting of a mansion, park and medieval ruins, is surrounded by the noise and neon signs of its gaudy neighbours - a cotton-mill, a brewey and a main road. Nevertheless, Arthur Ferryman is pleased to return for a family Christmas, but is shocked to discover that his cousins have taken up a new pastime - pistol-shooting. Inspector Appleby arrives on the scene when one of Ferryman's cousins is found shot dead in the study, in a mystery built on family antagonisms.

First American Edition. A Very Good copy in a VG+ dust jacket. The book has a glue spot on the rear endpaper and faint tape ghosts where the dust jacket was taped down. Slight spine lean. Rubs to the dust jacket's spine tips and corners.

During the bleak days of WWII, Inspector Appleby finds himself stranded on a tropical island in the South Pacific after a shipwreck, where he encounters an odd assortment of colonial expatriates, Eurasians, and natives. Though the surroundings are pleasant, ominous events portend imminent disaster on this quiet refuge.

Businessman Carl Carson decides to make a dash for South America to escape the economic slump, leaving his home and his barmy wife. But he has a if his company were seen to be drawing in its horns, it wouldn't last a week. His solution is his wife's favorite delusion—an imaginary son, named Robin. Carson plans to stage a fictitious kidnapping. After all, what could be more natural than a father liquidating his assets to pay the ransom demand? Unfortunately, Carson has a rather astute neighbor, Sir John Appleby, ex-Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

When an American multi-millionaire is keen to buy an Elizabethan manor, she comes up against fierce opposition from a young boy, Jay, and his band of bowmen, who are prepared to defend the manor and its nonagenarian owner against all comers. It seems likely that that behind a monumental, seventeenth-century carving, by the hand of Gerard Christmas, lies a hoard of treasure.

Painter Charles Honeybath is hired by his old schoolfellow, Lord Mullion, to paint a portrait of his wife but becomes involved in a strange series of intriguing puzzles

Sir John and Lady Appleby attend a memorial exhibition of artist Gavin Limbert, who was recently found shot, under very suspicious circumstances. As Assistant Commissioner of Police, Sir John is already interested, but he becomes more intrigued when Limbert's last masterpiece is stolen.

When tycoon Charles Povey is killed in a bizarre boating accident, his corrupt, look-alike brother, Arthur, adopts his identity and his financial empire. But the charade becomes complicated when one of Charles's many mistresses sees through the guise and blackmails Arthur. Enter retired detective, Sir John Appleby.

Sir John Appleby's son, Bobby, assumes his father's detective role in this baffling crime. When Bobby finds a dead man, in a bunker on a golf course, he notices something rather strange - the first finger of the man's right hand is missing. A young girl approaches the scene and offers to watch the body while Bobby goes for help, but when he returns with the police in tow, the body and the girl are missing.

Librarian's Note: this is an alternate cover edition - ISBN 10: 0140032436 When master sleuth, Appleby, leaps over a stile during a country stroll, he is apprehended by an irate Martyn Ashmore, owner of the land on which Appleby has unwittingly trespassed. But when the misunderstanding is cleared up, eccentric, aged Ashmore reveals that he is in fear for his life - once every year, someone attempts to murder him. Is it the French Resistance, or a younger Ashmore on the make? When Martyn dies, Appleby sets out to find who exactly is responsible

Sir John Appleby dines one evening at Allington Park, the Georgian home of his acquaintance Owain Allington, who is new to the area. His curiosity is aroused when Allington mentions his nephew and heir to the estate, Martin Allington, whose name Appleby recognises. The evening comes to an end but just as Appleby is leaving, they find a dead man - electrocuted in the son et lumiŠre box which had been installed in the grounds.

On a hot summer night, Sir John Appleby is dragged from his newly-wedded bliss to investigate a disturbing crime that predates itself. It seems the Dromio family history is steeped in both legend and tragedy. With a long-unbroken tradition of twin male heirs, Sir Romeo Dromio lost his mind when his wife gave birth to triplets. In a fit of madness, he set the nursery on fire and rescued only one of his infant sons. Now, the family business is failing, and the surviving triplet Oliver has gone abroad in search of a solution to their ailing fortunes. Lady Dromio and her adopted daughter, Lucy, anxiously await his return, and tensions run high as his arrival home draws near. Lady Dromio fusses over the service, the Reverend is hallucinating, Lucy’s odd remarks become sinister threats, and Mrs Gollifer is hiding something. The household squabbles are drawn to an abrupt halt when Oliver is found dead in the study, his body smoldering in the fireplace. And when another body shows up, Appleby must sift through family secrets, spurned lovers, and false confessions to identify the killer before the whole thing goes up in flames.

While Appleby is strolling along a Cornish beach, he narrowly escapes being struck by a body falling down a cliff. The body is that of Dr Sutch, an archivist, and he has fallen from the North Tower of Treskinnick Castle, home of Lord Ampersand. Two possible motivations present themselves to Appleby - the Ampersand gold, treasure from an Armada galleon; and the Ampersand papers, valuable family documents that have associations with Wordsworth and Shelley.

Sir John Appleby, retired chief commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police, is visiting Allington Park, a partially restored estate dating back to the reign of Charles I. While exploring a specially built gazebo with the owner, Sir John notices a bundle in the corner of the room. Stooping to examine it, he says grimly, “It’s a man and I think he’s dead.” So begins a chain of events surrounding repeated deaths by misadventure—or perhaps otherwise—that includes a carefree village charity fete, an old castle, and a unique assembly of human oddities among the characters. These and a legendary lost treasure add up to what, in Sir John’s words, “that chap in Baker Street called a two-pipe mystery.”

When half of the guests at a charity masquerade fˆte at Drool Court turn up dressed as sheiks, it must be more than pure coincidence. One of them is the real thing, however, and Sir John Appleby, master detective, discovers that he is in grave danger. When one of the pseudo-sheiks if murdered, Appleby finds himself in the midst of an international political crisis.

The forbears of Sir John Jory, of New Hall, would seem to have committed several foul acts, including tomb-robbery and murder. Old Hall, the family's former residence, is now a University. Biographer Colin Clout, engaged to write an account of one of Jory's ancestors, gets caught up in a frenzied treasure hunt as rival interests and rival claimants probe the past and naked greed comes to the fore.

Kriminalroman. John Appleby må træde varsomt, da han skal undersøge mordet på den upopulære præsident for St. Anthony's College Josiah Umpleby

Sebastian Holme was a painter who, as the exhibition catalogue recorded, had met a tragic death during a foreign revolution. Art dealer, Braunkopf, has made a small fortune from the exhibition. Unfortunately, Holme turns up at the private view in this fascinating mystery of the art world in which Mervyn Cheel, distinguished critic and pointillist painter, lands in very hot water.

As Meredith, an academic, stands in a Bloomsbury tobacconist waiting for his two ounces of tobacco, he murmurs a verse of 'London, a Poem' and is astounded when a trap door opens into the London Catacombs, bringing him face to face with the Horton Venus, by Titian. From then on he is trapped in a maze of the illicit art trade, in the company of the redoubtable Jane Halliwell.

Portrait painter, Charles Honeybath, is intrigued when he is visited by a mysterious Mr Peach and is commissioned to paint an anonymous, aristocratic sitter, known only as ‘Mr X’, whom relatives claim is insane. Under cover of night, Honeybath is taken to the house and asked to stay while he completes his work; but when he returns to his studio, he discovers that the bank next door has been robbed and that he is under suspicion!

When John Appleby's wife, Judith, sets eyes on Scroop House, she insists that they introduce themselves to the owners - a suggestion that makes her sometimes reserved husband turn very pale. When Judith hears the village gossip about the grand house, she is even more intrigued; but when a former employee is found dead in the lock of the disused canal, and the immense wealth of Scroop's contents is revealed, Appleby has a gripping investigation on his hands.

A fatal moment came when Mr Eliot ought to have stopped – and didn’t. After that there was no stopping. Richard Eliot has written bestselling crime novels for years. Begun as means to fund his son’s education at Eton, his protagonist 'the Spider' started out as a cunning criminal and later evolved into an ingenious investigator. Despite the series success, Mr Eliot is tiring of his own invention and is looking forward to retiring. But there’s someone out there who doesn’t want him to stop… When Eliot’s manuscripts start rewriting themselves overnight, it seems the Spider has stepped right off the page and into real life. He commits a crime only to provide an anonymous tip to solve the case. Things get even more bizarre when the Spider starts enacting plots that only ever existed in the author’s mind. Harangued within an inch of his sanity, Eliot calls in Inspector John Appleby to get to the bottom of this twisted game. With the line between fact and fiction so tangled, will Appleby be able to unravel the mystery before the Spider strikes again?

There are fifteen stories in this compelling collection, including: Poltergeist - when Appleby's wife tells him that her aunt is experiencing trouble with a Poltergeist, he is amused but dismissive, until he discovers that several priceless artefacts have been smashed as a result; A Question of Confidence - when Bobby Appleby's friend, Brian Button, is caught up in a scandalous murder in Oxford, Bobby's famous detective father is their first port of call; The Ascham - an abandoned car on a narrow lane intrigues Appleby and his wife, but even more intriguing is the medieval castle they stumble upon.

George Gadberry, 'resting actor', packs his bags and heads for obscurity when the Tax Inspector beckons. Then he receives a mysterious invitation and a proposition that could lead to enormous riches. Wealthy imbiber, Nicholas Comberford, wants George to impersonate him in order to secure a place in the will of fabulously affluent Great-Aunt Prudence, who lives in a Cistercian monastery and won't allow a single drop of liquor in the place. Gadberry's luck seems to have changed - but at what cost?

A Sir John Appleby mystery, involving art forgery.

America's wars after the 9/11 attacks were marked by a political obsession with terrorist 'sanctuaries' and 'safe havens'. From mountain redoubts in Afghanistan to the deserts of Iraq, Washington's policy-makers maintained an unwavering focus on finding and destroying the refuges, bases and citadels of modern guerrilla movements, and holding their sponsors to account.This was a preoccupation embedded in nearly every official speech and document of the time, a corpus of material that offered a new logic for thinking about the world. As an exercise in political communication, it was a spectacular success. From 2001 to 2009, President George W. Bush and his closest advisors set terms of reference that cascaded down from the White House, through government and into the hearts and minds of Americans. 'Sanctuary' was the red thread running through all of it, permeating the decisions and discourses of the day.Where did this obsession come from? How did it become such an important feature of American political life? In this new political history, Michael A. Innes explores precedents, from Saigon to Baghdad, and traces how decision-makers and their advisors used ideas of sanctuary to redefine American foreign policy, national security, and enemies real and imagined.

Desde el momento en que el rector del St. Anthony’s College aparece muerto en su biblioteca, el escándalo está asegurado, pues las únicas personas con motivos para asesinarlo —una legión de excéntricos y grandilocuentes profesores— resultan ser aquellas que tuvieron la oportunidad de hacerlo. Los esfuerzos de sus colegas por ofrecer unas sólidas coartadas que sirvan a la vez para inculpar a sus enemigos académicos, así como sus particulares divagaciones intelectuales, harán que la tarea del inspector Appleby y el agente Dodd no resulte sencilla en absoluto, ya que nada en ese caso es lo que parece a simple vista, ni siquiera la muerte... Innes tomó como modelo el entorno docente de los antiguos colleges de Oxford que tan bien conocía para componer una esmerada trama detectivesca de corte clásico, a la par que una divertidísima burla de las costumbres de sus eruditos compañeros.

En Scamnum, el extraordinario palacio propiedad de los banqueros Crispin, se escenifica Hamlet, el drama shakespeariano. Los invitados, amigos de la familia y pertenecientes a la más alta sociedad, son los actores. En medio de la representación se oye un disparo y Polonio, oculto tras los cortinajes, cae muerto. Tres días antes, algunos de los asistentes habían recibido unos amenazadores mensajes escritos que hablaban de venganza. Pero optaron por pensar que era una broma.

Kriminalroman aus dem Englischen von Joachim Kalka. Spannungsgeladene Handlung auf 257 Seiten.

Im malerischen Herrenhaus Belrive Priory in Yorkshire bereitet sich der Schriftsteller Arthur Ferryman auf Weihnachten vor. Doch bei seiner Ankunft findet er seine exzentrische Familie beim Pistolenschießen vor. Als ein Gast erschossen aufgefunden wird, beginnt Inspektor Appleby, das Chaos zu entwirren und die Wahrheit zu suchen.