Showing results by author "Anthony Berkeley" in All Categories

Republished for the first time in nearly 95 years, a classic winter country house mystery by the founder of the Detection Club, with a twist that even Agatha Christie couldn’t solve! Stephen Munro, a demobbed army officer, reconciles himself to taking a job as a footman to make ends meet...

Ambrose Chitterwick is in the lounge of the Piccadilly Palace Hotel, away from his overbearing aunt, to enjoy some afternoon refreshments when he witnesses a murder. It looks like suicide but he saw something being put into the lady’s coffee cup. He is Scotland Yard’s chief witness but he also conducts an investigation of his own. Despite his diffidence and self-deprecation, his sleuthing is not to be sniffed at. There are plenty of twists and turns in this journey to enjoy, especially with master narrator David Timson in the driving seat.

In the comfortable English Dorsetshire village of Anneypenny in the 1930s, fruit farmer Douglas Sewell–narrator of the story–sees his friend John die in agony. The death certificate states gastric ulcers but the post mortem’s revealing of poison punctures Anneypenny’s idyllic backdrop. Soon every friend and neighbour seems to harbour something suspicious. Douglas challenges his readers, or listeners, to answer the key questions before throwing out several scenarios and turning them upside-down in a tantalising path to the truth.

One of the earliest psychological crime novels. Mrs Bentley has been arrested for murder. The evidence is overwhelming: arsenic she extracted from fly papers was in her husband’s medicine, his food and his lemonade, and her crimes are being plastered across the newspapers. Even her lawyers...

This anthology of rare stories of crime and suspense brings together 16 tales from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction for the first time in book form. The Golden Age of detective fiction had begun inauspiciously with the publication of E.C. Bentley’s schismatic Trent’s Last Case in 1913...

Anthony Berkeley was a journalist, novelist, and founding member of the Detection Club - whose members included Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers - and was one of crime fiction's greatest innovators, developing the idea of the psychological crime novel in the 1920s and '30s. One of his recurring and most-beloved characters was Roger Sheringham, a novelist and amateur detective. In these two classic tales, Roger Sheringham must investigate two terrible murders

This audiobook is narrated by an AI Voice. A witty Golden Age mystery from the author of *The Poisoned Chocolates Case*. When a harmless amateur detective decides to solve a "perfect" little murder for fun, he stumbles into a real criminal plot far darker than his game. Blending dry British...

A classic Golden Age crime novel, and one of the first to feature a serial killer. Investigating the disappearance of a vicar’s daughter in London, the popular novelist and amateur detective Roger Sheringham is shocked to discover that the girl is already dead, found hanging from a screw by...

In a creative twist, a fatally ill man’s great humanitarian act is to seek out and kill someone deserving of death; but the horror of an innocent man being accused of the murder was not an outcome Mr Todhunter, or the friends who advised him, considered. His job is then to prove his own guilt. Dedicated to P.G. Wodehouse, the story is suspenseful, inventive and humorous, with a riveting attention to detail and a profound suggestion of the absurdity of trying to influence destiny.

At a costume party with the dubious theme of 'famous murderers and their victims', the know-it-all amateur criminologist Roger Sheringham is settled in for an evening of beer, small talk and analysing his companions. One guest in particular has caught his attention for her theatrics, and his theory that she might have several enemies among the partygoers proves true when she is found hanging from the 'decorative' gallows on the roof terrace. Noticing a key detail which could implicate a friend in the crime, Sheringham decides to meddle with the scene.

Graham and Joan Bendix have apparently succeeded in making that eighth wonder of the modern world, a happy marriage. And into the middle of it there drops, like a clap of thunder, a box of chocolates. Joan Bendix is killed by a poisoned box of liqueur chocolates that cannot have been intended for her to eat. The police investigation rapidly reaches a dead end. Chief Inspector Moresby calls on Roger Sheringham and his Crimes Circle - six amateur but intrepid detectives - to consider the case.

When two newlyweds move into their new home, only to discover that a corpse has been buried in their basement a few months prior, a case is begun to trace the identity of the victim. With all avenues of investigation approaching exhaustion, a tenuous lead offers a chance for Chief Inspector Moresby and leads him to the amateur criminologist Roger Sheringham, who has recently been providing cover work in a school south of London. Desperate for evidence of any kind, Moresby begins to sift through the manuscript of a satirical novel Sheringham had been writing about his colleagues.

This new edition, which is reproduced from a first printing of the book, is introduced by the author Martin Edwards, archivist of the Detection Club, and includes a never-before-published Preface by Agatha Christie, ‘Detective Writers in England’, in which she discusses her fellow writers in...

A Roger Sheringham mystery In a typical English country house, a murder is committed. The wealthy Victor Stanworth, who'd been playing host to a party of friends, is found dead in the library. At first it appears to be suicide, for the room was undoubtedly locked. But could there be more to the case? As one of the guests at Layton Court, gentleman sleuth Roger Sheringham begins to investigate. Many come under suspicion, but how could anyone have killed the man and gotten out of the room, leaving it all locked behind? Note: This work contains an anti-Semitic remark, the offensiveness of which ...

A munitions factory. A managing director who can't stop talking. And a guest who appears to understand absolutely nothing about steel. Appearances, as ever with Roger Sheringham, are not to be trusted. Wartime England keeps its secrets close — except, perhaps, from the one visitor everyone assumes isn't paying attention. Anthony Berkeley at his wittiest: deduction with a wink.

Roger and his cousin Anthony are ready to head out on vacation, when a phone call from Scotland Yard sends the duo scuttling down to Hampshire to investigate the possible murder of a Mrs. Vane, who had disappeared on her way to visit a friend. Local police and newspapers reported the death as accidental, but officers at Scotland Yard have their doubts. At this point, they call in amateur sleuth Roger Sheringham to investigate. - Summary by Lynne T

Delve into a chilling world of intrigue and suspense where the threads of mystery weave through the shadows of society, as suggested by the evocative title. This podcast invites listeners to explore the dark underbelly of crime, focusing on the psychological and societal implications of unsolved murders and the haunting specter of a potential serial killer. Each episode features a new complete audiobook, showcasing a rotating collection of thrilling narratives that examine the complexities of human nature, morality, and the quest for justice. These are not isolated tales; instead, they form a ...

A disappearance. A country house full of secrets. And a mystery that refuses to stay buried. When Cicely Wintringham vanishes without a trace, the quiet world of an English country house is thrown into turmoil. What first appears to be a simple disappearance soon reveals a tangled web of secrets...

The narrative begins on a bench at the Monte Carlo casino, where an incredible similarity leads to the accidental swap of two small black handbags. One belongs to Veronica Steyning, a young English governess, and the other to a mysterious woman of Spanish appearance. Inside the mistakenly taken reticule, Veronica discovers a coded message, setting off a chain of unpredictable events.

This audiobook is narrated by an AI Voice. A classic Golden Age mystery in which a group of amateur detectives - the "Crime Circle" - each attempt to solve the baffling case of a poisoned box of chocolates. When a woman dies after eating a poisoned chocolate delivered to the wrong address, the...