"I think that it is desirable to discuss the affair - here, in the room in which the Bishop's body was found."A pernicious parson outwits the thieves of a priceless chalice from the parish treasury. A beloved vicar contemplates a perfect crime when a blackmailer comes knocking. Poisoned pen letters lead to a fall from grace for a rector's wife, and a suspicious fall from the second storey for the rector.Gathered here in this new collection are some of the greatest mystery tales in which the tendrils of crime steal into the churchyard, featuring clergymen and nuns as victims, amateur sleuths and villainous perpetrators of the devil's work. Replete with a fascinating introduction and notes from one of the guiding lights of crime fiction, Martin Edwards, this anthology delivers cosy brainteasers and fiendishly-fashioned stories with a sting in the tail, from a congregation of writers including Joyce Porter, H. C. Bailey, Cyril Hare and Edmund Crispin.

When Mike Wakefield's business partner absconds with their printing firm's money, Detective Inspector Sloan is tasked with what appears to be a cut-and-dry case of embezzlement. However, unsettling events - tyres slashed, bricks through windows - make it clear that someone is really gunning for Mike.There is just one print job to put to bed in time for a lavish launch party at Ornum House. All goes according to plan until one of Mike's employees is found dead . And he wasn't the only casualty. DI Sloan and DC Crosby have a tangled set of motives and some devious chicanery to unpick to discover a killer.

International intrigue comes to a British village when an engineer is murdered in this mystery by a Diamond Dagger winner.What''s the value of one British engineer when stacked against the exclusive mining rights to a rare, strategically important, and extremely valuable mineral? The British-based Anglo-Lassertan Mineral Company finds itself in hot water when one of its engineers, Alan Ottershaw, hits and kills a pedestrian while driving in a foreign country—a nation that happens to be "on the sunny side of the Iron Curtain," with thick veins of the strategically important mineral querremitte. This particular country has draconian laws about killings, so Ottershaw is relieved when he''s whisked back to Calleshire before the foreign police can throw him in jail. But now that the Lassertan government is threatening to strip the mining company of its most valuable contract, poor Mr. Ottershaw begins to worry about his safety—and when he dies suddenly in a war reenactment, it looks like a very convenient solution to everyone''s problem. A little too convenient, if you ask Calleshire detective C. D. Sloan, who, along with his bumbling sidekick, Constable Crosby, must investigate the death. It seems that nearly everyone in town would prefer to forget that the Lassertan debacle ever happened—but why has a man been following around the Calleshire MP dressed as the Grim Reaper? Who has been sending death threats and live scorpions via post? Detective Sloan is on the case.

A crime of passion, a jealous admirer, a woman who would kill before she would be spurned—it might all fit if only the primary suspect would talk in CWA Diamond Dagger winner Catherine Aird''s Dead Liberty Lucy Durmast waits patiently in front of the judge at her own murder trial, refusing to utter a single word. Kenneth Carline, an employee of her father''s, was found poisoned to death after eating a meal that Lucy herself had prepared. Kenneth was set to marry another, and Lucy, it seems, was jealous. But what should have been an open-and-shut case of envy-driven murder becomes complicated when primary detective Trevor Porritt suffers permanent brain damage. C. D. Sloan inherits the file—and immediately begins poking holes in what looked like an airtight case. Why has the primary suspect gone mute? What was the victim doing with antinuclear pamphlets in his car? Was Detective Porritt''s run-in with the burglar an unhappy coincidence? And what part does the king of the African nation of Dlasa, a client of Lucy''s father, play in all this? When someone connected to the case dies and the son of the king of Dlasa goes missing, panic begins to spread. Can Inspector Sloan and his hapless assistant, Constable Crosby, untangle this knotted web?

A bizarre clause in an elderly woman''s will exposes a dirty secret—and a murder—in this "intricate, witty, and thoroughly delightful" mystery (Publishers Weekly).It was an odd request, but when Octavia Garamond passed away, she left explicit instructions in her will: The police must be present at her funeral, and the coroner should be exceptionally thorough when examining her body. Amelia Kennerly is perplexed to find herself the sole executor of her great-aunt''s will, as she barely knew her. Further questions arise when the local parson, Mr. Fournier, is anything but happy to conduct Octavia''s service. Then someone breaks into Octavia''s home and tears the house apart. It seems the old lady''s  words may have been eerily prescient: "Hell is empty, and all the devils are here."From a winner of crime fiction''s prestigious Diamond Dagger, this twisting mystery featuring Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan of the Berebury CID is "a literate, surprising treat" (Publishers Weekly).

In this mystery by CWA Diamond Dagger winner Catherine Aird, Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan investigates a case of medical malpractice that looks a bit too much like foul playMuriel Ethel Galloway passed away at home, twitching and grasping at objects only she could see. Her family mourns, sad but unsurprised that an old woman suffering from heart disease should die suddenly. But when Mrs. Galloway''s son receives an anonymous call alerting him that his mother''s life was put in jeopardy by her doctors, he demands action from the Calleshire Police. As world-weary detective C. D. Sloan learns, Mrs. Galloway''s passing was just one in a string of eerily similar deaths. Dozens of elderly patients suffering from heart disease have been "gently pushed" toward taking part in the Cardigan Protocol, a double-blind drug trial from the powerful pharmaceutical company Gilroy''s. Something, it seems, is very wrong. But what might have been a simple malpractice case morphs into something much more complex when the doctor in charge of the trials goes missing and the headquarters of Gilroy''s is burgled by animal rights activists. As Detective Sloan well knows, murder is never a simple matter.

Twenty-two bite-size mysteries from Diamond Dagger winner Catherine AirdA cat is the only witness to a brutal murder. An entire group gets sick during a birthday party, but only the birthday boy dies. A local thief is injured during a break-in of the Horticulture Society and seeks to press charges against the plant lovers. And Calleshire''s greatest detective has to give his bumbling sidekick a lesson in police procedure . . . on the day they both suffer from a bout of food poisoning. Catherine Aird is a master of the short-story format. Starring the great detective C. D. Sloan, Henry Tyler of the Foreign Office, and the Sheriff of Fearnshire in sixteenth-century Scotland, Chapter and Hearse brings together twenty-two short mysteries that span laugh-out-loud-funny anecdotes of feckless thieves and head-scratching whodunits.

Can Inspector C. D. Sloan find his man when a dismembered appendage appears at a local farm in this mystery by CWA Diamond Dagger winner Catherine Aird?When the Berebury Footpaths Society created their locally infamous motto, "Every walk a challenge," they couldn''t have known just how apt it would be. Avid hikers Wendy Lamport and Gordon Briggs suffer from a good walk spoiled when, while reclaiming a public footpath from the greedy barbed-wire fences of encroaching farmers, a crow drops a severed human finger at their feet. And where there''s a finger, thinks Detective C. D. Sloan, a body can''t be far behind. It would seem that there are a handful of bodies to whom the finger might belong. There is a suspiciously long list of people gone missing from Great Rooden''s farming country: the tippling son of a local pillar of society, a financier who may have angered the wrong man, and even an old tramp or two who may have thieved one too many apples. Can the old tag team of Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan and his sidekick, Constable Crosby, solve the case?

A hit-and-run murder unearths a case of mistaken identity in this "well-bred, well written and genuinely superior" mystery by the Diamond Dagger winner (Kirkus Reviews).Early one morning in the quiet English village of Larking, the body of a woman named Mrs. Jenkins is found in the road. Miles away, her daughter, Henrietta, receives the bad news while working in the university library. Poor Mrs. Jenkins appears to have been the victim of a horrible car accident. When an autopsy proves not only that this was no accident but also that Mrs. Jenkins had never had a child, young Henrietta''s life is thrown upside down. If she''s not Mrs. Jenkins''s daughter, then who is she? It''s up to Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan of the Calleshire police force to bring the murderer to justice—and a sense of order back to Henrietta''s life. Proclaimed by the New York Times in 1968 to be one of the year''s best books, Henrietta Who? is a first-order English whodunit that''ll keep you guessing until the end.

Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan puzzles over an industrialist crushed under the rubble of a church tower in this crime novel by a CWA Diamond Dagger winner.On the hottest day in living memory, Richard Mallory Tindall, the owner of a patent firm, does not return home to Cleete village. When a man is found crushed to death, Tindall''s case goes from missing person to homicide. In the course of solving murder cases, Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan has seen all manner of ugly death. But there''s something particularly gruesome about this one, the body crushed beneath the marble and iron of an old Saxon church tower. With rubble blocking off access to the crime scene, no one can get close enough to inspect the body. What little evidence is available—a burned match, a black thread, an earring—doesn''t bode well for a quick and easy solution. Even the legendarily cool-headed great detective might begin to crack when a second body turns up. And then an important file goes missing from Sloan''s office. How does it all connect?

Sixteen short puzzlers from the inimitable Catherine Aird, author of the acclaimed C. D. Sloan Mysteries A professional pickpocket and accomplished thief ignores his wife''s warnings and embarks on an adventure that will change his life—perhaps for the better. A technological marvel of a sports car kills a pedestrian, but no one was at the wheel. A local lunatic admits to murder, but is he crazy—or crazy smart? The life of a researcher with ties to a British spy agency is thrown into chaos when his research go missing, but the only people who could have stolen the valuable data seem to have airtight alibis. Injury Time delivers captivating tales of intrigue wrapped in Catherine Aird''s tightly woven logic, sealed with the bow of enigma. These quick-fire mysteries run the gamut, with fresh twists on old classics and delightfully unique stories involving old friends from the C. D. Sloan Mysteries.

In this C. D. Sloan Mystery by CWA Diamond Dagger winner Catherine Aird, a body is found in the river—but the victim didn''t drown When local fisherman Horace Boller decided to row his boat out on the tidal backwash of the river one morning, he couldn''t have meant to land a catch like this. What he ended up with was a body floating on the river''s surface. And judging by the state of the corpse, the death was not a recent one. The strange thing is, the coroner report indicates that drowning was not the cause of death. It''s up to the intrepid C. D. Sloan—and his markedly less intrepid assistant, Constable Crosby—to investigate. Along the way, Calleshire''s most successful pair of puzzle-solving policemen will contend with a handful of additional strange deaths, befuddling municipal building codes, an antiquarian with interesting views on local history, and a fisherman who has his own motivation for helping (or perhaps hindering) the investigation. Can C. D. Sloan get to the bottom of this waterlogged killing?

In this gripping mystery by CWA Diamond Dagger winner Catherine Aird, the village spinster dies behind a fortune teller''s booth, and Calleshire''s greatest detective looks into the future—and sees justiceThe annual Horticultural Society Flower Show would have gone off without a hitch were it not for one very pesky murder. When nurse Joyce Cooper goes missing from the parish''s fortune-telling booth at the flower fair, her friends at the local church are immediately concerned. It''s not like this old lady, who plays the organ during service every Sunday without fail, and who, it''s told, lives for the purpose of helping others, to disappear without notice. So when she''s found strangled to death under a tarp, the community is thrown into an uproar. Who better to calm the crowd than Calleshire''s greatest detective? Alongside his bumbling sidekick, Constable Crosby, C. D. Sloan runs through the bizarre list of suspects—the daughter of a deceased anthropologist, a greedy developer, a jealous tomato gardener, and a set of wealthy farmers—to find out who would have benefited most from the beloved nurse''s death. What he finds will astonish the entire village.

In this thrilling crime novel by CWA Diamond Dagger winner Catherine Aird, a student''s last words are all that Detective C. D. Sloan has to go on in his latest caseThere are rumblings throughout the campus of the University of Calleshire, talk of a sit-in, of revolt, of H? Chí Minh, of discontent. Malcolm Humbert has been expelled, and the students are livid. Meanwhile, the faculty is equally out of sorts—Hilda Linaker just wants to finish her treatise on Jane Austen, Bernard Watkinson is tired of dealing with the female students'' vehement—and possibly dangerous—opinions, and Simon Mautby can''t find a lab tech to help with his ecology experiments. When someone breaks into a dorm room, leaving behind little evidence but a single kernel of corn, it''s time to call in the police. But no one—not the professors, the students, or even the great detective C. D. Sloan—could have predicted murder. A young woman finds a second-year student slumped against a cloister''s column, covered in blood. Before he dies, he manages to breathe the words "twenty-six minutes." The brilliant and acerbic inspector C. D. Sloan, recently reunited with his assistant, Detective Constable Crosby, must connect a seemingly unrelated burglary to a senseless murder—with nothing more to go on than those eerie last words.

In this classic parlor mystery from CWA Diamond Dagger winner Catherine Aird, Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan investigates a dinner party that ended in murderTwelve friends sit down for supper at Strontfield Park—but only eleven survive the evening. After dinner, the host, William Fent, offers to drive one of his guests home, only to die behind the wheel in a violent accident. The autopsy shows that Fent ingested enough barbiturates to kill a horse. So begins a fresh tale of murder and deceit for Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan, whose list of suspects begins and ends with the surviving dinner guests. Among them are a theologian at the local university; Dr. and Mrs. Washby, whose wedding was the cause for celebration; Ursula Renville, tall, graceful, and utterly aloof; the fat and extravagant Mr. and Mrs. Marchmont; the spinster Miss Paterson; the rector''s daughter, Cynthia Paterson; Quentin Fent, heir to the Fent fortune; and Mr. Fent''s wife, the now-widowed Helen. Each of the guests had the opportunity to kill William Fent. But which one wanted him dead?

A deadly mystery by CWA Diamond Dagger winner Catherine Aird: Where there''s a will, there''s a way—for murderThat Miss Beatrice Wansdyke had died is not particularly surprising. A chemistry mistress at the Girls'' Grammar School in Berebury, she was a longtime sufferer of diabetes who managed to live her modest life to a ripe old age. But one thing is odd—Beatrice Wansdyke died a very wealthy woman. What was an old schoolteacher doing with a small fortune? Meanwhile, Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan, Calleshire''s finest investigator, learns he is about to become a father. But with ominous players hell-bent on pursuing Miss Wansdyke''s money, will Sloan live to see his child''s first birthday?

Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan is called on to solve the coldest of cases in this thriller from CWA Diamond Dagger winner Catherine AirdBerebury, England, did not have an easy go of it during the Second World War. This quaint Victorian town was destroyed when the Nazis dropped bomb after bomb on its perfect gardens and neat hedges. After three decades of disarray, the town council has finally begun reconstructing what''s left. All throughout Berebury, the sounds of hammers and saws drone on. But on this particular day, the noise stops. In the crater of a bomb site, a skeleton has been found. While its presence there isn''t unusual—hundreds died in bombing raids throughout England—the manner in which the pregnant girl met her end is sinister enough that Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan and his assistant, Detective Constable Crosby, are called to the scene. The cause of death, it seems, was not the blast, but a bullet to the spine. Inspector Sloan is the best there is when it comes to cracking the most complex cases. But can he piece together a murder that''s been buried for more than a quarter century?

In 1970s England, a broke nobleman and a body in a suit of armor present a puzzling mystery in this witty novel by a Diamond Dagger Award winner.It is the early 1970s, and times are tough in the upper reaches of British society. To survive the changing times, the Earl of Ornum has done the previously unthinkable and opened his estate to wandering tourists. One day, a hyperactive little boy and his family are roaming Ornum House delightedly. The curious tyke sees a full suit of armor and lifts the visor . . . only to see a face staring out at him. As Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan soon finds, the man in the suit of armor is dead—and there''s a slew of suspects waiting to be interviewed. Was it the ditzy duchess? The disappointing nephew? One of the servants? The earl himself? It''s up to Sloan and his wisecracking sidekick, Detective Constable Crosby, to find out before the murderer strikes again.

Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan prays he will find a nun’s murderer in this British crime novel by a Diamond Dagger winner: “A most ingenious writer” (The New York Times). The day begins like any other for Sister Mary St. Gertrude. When her alarm sounds at 5 a.m., Sister Mary begins rousting her convent sisters from their beds, starting with the Reverend Mother. Down the Order she goes with a knock and a warm blessing. But when the young nun reaches Sister Anne’s door, there is no answer. She assumes that Sister Anne got up early, and continues on her way.   But later, when a fellow nun leaves a bloody thumbprint on the sheet music for a hymn, and Sister Anne is nowhere to be found, it becomes apparent that something is very wrong. Then Sister Anne’s body is found at the bottom of a steep set of stairs, her veil askew and her head crushed.  Religious Body introduces the sophisticated Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan along with his eager and trustworthy sidekick, Detective Constable Crosby, and the acerbic Superintendent Leeyes in a mystery of holy proportions that will have readers guessing until the last page.

A trio of sharp-witted British whodunits featuring Detective Inspector Sloan—from a CWA Diamond Dagger winner and "a most ingenious" author (The New Yorker). In her debut novel in the long-running mystery series, The Religious Body, Catherine Aird introduced the sleuthing team of shrewd Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan and his less-than-shrewd sidekick, Detective Constable William Crosby, in the fictional County of Calleshire, England. Over the course of twenty-four crime novels, the award-winning author has maintained the perfect balance between cozy village mystery and police procedural. The Religious Body: When Sister Anne''s body is found at the bottom of a steep set of cellar stairs, her veil askew and her head crushed, it''s clear she''s been viciously attacked. Heaven help Detective Inspector Sloan as he''s called to the Convent of St. Anselm to determine why someone would want to murder a nun. Henrietta Who?: In a quiet English village, a woman''s body is found in the road, the victim of a hit-and-run. Miles away, her daughter, Henrietta, is given the bad news. But an autopsy brings even more shocking news: Not only was Mrs. Jenkins''s death no accident, the woman never had a child. If Henrietta is not her daughter, who is she? It''s up to Detective Inspector Sloan to find out. The Stately Home Murder: To survive financial hard times, the Earl of Ornum has opened his estate to tourists. One curious young boy sees a full suit of armor and lifts the visor . . . only to see a face staring back at him. Now Ornum House is a crime scene, with Sloan and Crosby determined to discover how a murdered man ended up in knight''s garb.

A set of intriguing British whodunits featuring Detective Inspector Sloan—from a CWA Diamond Dagger winner and "most ingenious" author (The New Yorker). Over the course of twenty-four crime novels set in the fictional County of Calleshire, England, and featuring the sleuthing team of shrewd Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan and his less-than-shrewd sidekick, Detective Constable William Crosby, award-winning author Catherine Aird maintained the perfect balance between cozy village mystery and police procedural. These three entertaining crime novels offer "the very best in British mystery" (The New Yorker). A Late Phoenix: In the quaint Victorian town of Berebury, England, a skeleton has been found in the crater of a World War II bomb site. But this corpse is no buried casualty of the Blitz. The cause of death, Detective Inspector Sloan discovers, is a bullet to the spine. His Burial Too: Detective Inspector Sloan puzzles over an industrialist crushed under the rubble of an old Saxon church tower. With no eyewitnesses and little evidence, the policeman doesn''t seem to have a prayer of solving the case. And then a second body turns up. Slight Mourning: Twelve friends sit down for supper at Strontfield Park—but only eleven survive the evening. After dinner, the host offers to drive one of his guests home, only to die in a violent accident. His autopsy shows that he ingested enough barbiturates to kill a horse, and now the guest list is Sloan''s roster of suspects.

A set of compelling British whodunits featuring Detective Inspector Sloan—from a CWA Diamond Dagger winner and "most ingenious" author (The New Yorker). Over the course of twenty-four crime novels set in the fictional County of Calleshire, England, and featuring the sleuthing team of shrewd Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan and his less-than-shrewd sidekick, Detective Constable William Crosby, award-winning author Catherine Aird maintained the perfect balance between cozy village mystery and police procedural. These three entertaining crime novels offer "the very best in British mystery" (The New Yorker). Parting Breath: On the campus of the University of Calleshire, a young woman finds a student slumped against a cloister''s column, covered in blood. Before he dies, he manages to breathe the words "twenty-six minutes"—which is all Sloan and Crosby have to go on to solve a case that''s anything but elementary. Some Die Eloquent: As Sloan learns he is about to become a father, a suspicious death demands his attention. It turns out that a murdered mistress at the Girls'' Grammar School in Berebury was secretly a very wealthy woman. What was an elderly chemistry teacher doing with a small fortune—and who was willing to kill to get it? Passing Strange: When the village spinster, a nurse who also played the organ every Sunday at church, is found strangled behind a fortune-teller''s booth, Calleshire''s greatest detective will need more than a crystal ball to see who killed her.

A set of perfectly puzzling British whodunits featuring Detective Inspector Sloan—from a CWA Diamond Dagger winner and "most ingenious" author (The New Yorker). Over the course of twenty-four crime novels set in the fictional County of Calleshire, England, and featuring the sleuthing team of shrewd Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan and his less-than-shrewd sidekick, Detective Constable William Crosby, award-winning author Catherine Aird maintained the perfect balance between cozy village mystery and police procedural. These three entertaining crime novels offer "the very best in British mystery" (The New Yorker). Last Respects: A local fisherman finds a body in the river—but the coroner''s report reveals the victim didn''t die from drowning. Now Calleshire''s most successful pair of puzzle-solving policemen must plumb the depths of this mystery and haul in a murderer. Harm''s Way: When a crow drops a severed human finger, Sloan begins the search for the body that goes with it—and the list of people who have gone missing from Great Rooden''s farming country is lengthy. With Constable Crosby lending a hand, it''s up to Sloan to point the finger at the culprit. A Dead Liberty: A crime of passion, a poisoned meal, and a jealous woman who would kill before she would be spurned—it might all fit if only the accused would talk. But Lucy Durmast refuses to utter a single word. With Lucy''s lips sealed, Sloan has no choice but to listen to his intuition.

A must-have collection of British whodunits featuring Detective Inspector Sloan—from a CWA Diamond Dagger winner and "most ingenious" author (The New Yorker). Over the course of twenty-four crime novels set in the fictional County of Calleshire, England, and featuring the sleuthing team of shrewd Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan and his less-than-shrewd sidekick, Detective Constable William Crosby, award-winning author Catherine Aird maintained the perfect balance between cozy village mystery and police procedural. These entertaining puzzlers offer "the very best in British mystery" (The New Yorker). The Body Politic: A British-based mineral company finds itself in hot water when one of its engineers kills a pedestrian while driving in a foreign country. The engineer is whisked back to Calleshire, but the foreign government is threatening to strip the mining company of its most valuable contract. When the engineer dies suddenly in a war reenactment, it seems a little too convenient a solution. Enter Detective Inspector Sloan. A Going Concern: In this "intricate, witty and thoroughly delightful" mystery, a bizarre clause in an elderly woman''s will that the police must be present at her funeral and the coroner should be exceptionally thorough exposes a dirty secret—and a murder for Sloan to solve (Publishers Weekly). After Effects: Dozens of elderly patients suffering from heart disease have been "gently pushed" toward taking part in a double-blind drug trial from a powerful pharmaceutical company. Now there''s been a string of eerily similar deaths. Malpractice or foul play? When the doctor in charge is found dead as well, it''s up to Sloan to see who really needs to be brought to trial. Injury Time: These sixteen "clever" short stories feature mysteries solved by Detective Inspector Sloan as well as Henry Tyler of the Foreign Office, and "serve as an excellent introduction to new readers and . . . a sure delight to fans" (Publishers Weekly).

Soft paws come with sharp claws...It's deep winter. Time to light the fire, pull up a blanket and curl up with your cat. But is your feline friend playing innocent? What were they up to while you were out of sight?Slink through shadows in these classic cat-themed mystery tales from beloved crime authors Catherine Aird, Edmund Crispin, Patricia Highsmith and Ellis Peters. A Case of the Claws bring a thrilling winter chill to the festive season and asks: are these furry friends the guardians of our secrets or omens of misfortune?

Five strangers are summoned to hear the last will and testament of a man they've never met: the late Algernon Mayton, a distant relative and inventor of Mayton's Marvellous Mixture. However, one of them never arrives. Unable to receive their share of the fortune until the missing man has been located, they begin a search. Two months later, Detective Sloan is called in to help after one of the group dies of poisoning. Is this a simple case of accidental ingestion of a noxious substance, or is this the start of the legatees being picked off one by one? Sloan and Crosby quickly discover where matters of money, family rivalry and a missing person are involved, there is almost certainly foul play afoot.

"I think that it is desirable to discuss the affair - here, in the room in which the Bishop's body was found."A pernicious parson outwits the thieves of a priceless chalice from the parish treasury. A beloved vicar contemplates a perfect crime when a blackmailer comes knocking. Poisoned pen letters lead to a fall from grace for a rector's wife, and a suspicious fall from the second storey for the rector.Gathered here in this new collection are some of the greatest mystery tales in which the tendrils of crime steal into the churchyard, featuring clergymen and nuns as victims, amateur sleuths and villainous perpetrators of the devil's work. Replete with a fascinating introduction and notes from one of the guiding lights of crime fiction, Martin Edwards, this anthology delivers cosy brainteasers and fiendishly-fashioned stories with a sting in the tail, from a congregation of writers including Joyce Porter, H. C. Bailey, Cyril Hare and Edmund Crispin.

When Mike Wakefield's business partner absconds with their printing firm's money, Detective Inspector Sloan is tasked with what appears to be a cut-and-dry case of embezzlement. However, unsettling events - tyres slashed, bricks through windows - make it clear that someone is really gunning for Mike.There is just one print job to put to bed in time for a lavish launch party at Ornum House. All goes according to plan until one of Mike's employees is found dead . And he wasn't the only casualty. DI Sloan and DC Crosby have a tangled set of motives and some devious chicanery to unpick to discover a killer.

International intrigue comes to a British village when an engineer is murdered in this mystery by a Diamond Dagger winner.What''s the value of one British engineer when stacked against the exclusive mining rights to a rare, strategically important, and extremely valuable mineral? The British-based Anglo-Lassertan Mineral Company finds itself in hot water when one of its engineers, Alan Ottershaw, hits and kills a pedestrian while driving in a foreign country—a nation that happens to be "on the sunny side of the Iron Curtain," with thick veins of the strategically important mineral querremitte. This particular country has draconian laws about killings, so Ottershaw is relieved when he''s whisked back to Calleshire before the foreign police can throw him in jail. But now that the Lassertan government is threatening to strip the mining company of its most valuable contract, poor Mr. Ottershaw begins to worry about his safety—and when he dies suddenly in a war reenactment, it looks like a very convenient solution to everyone''s problem. A little too convenient, if you ask Calleshire detective C. D. Sloan, who, along with his bumbling sidekick, Constable Crosby, must investigate the death. It seems that nearly everyone in town would prefer to forget that the Lassertan debacle ever happened—but why has a man been following around the Calleshire MP dressed as the Grim Reaper? Who has been sending death threats and live scorpions via post? Detective Sloan is on the case.

A crime of passion, a jealous admirer, a woman who would kill before she would be spurned—it might all fit if only the primary suspect would talk in CWA Diamond Dagger winner Catherine Aird''s Dead Liberty Lucy Durmast waits patiently in front of the judge at her own murder trial, refusing to utter a single word. Kenneth Carline, an employee of her father''s, was found poisoned to death after eating a meal that Lucy herself had prepared. Kenneth was set to marry another, and Lucy, it seems, was jealous. But what should have been an open-and-shut case of envy-driven murder becomes complicated when primary detective Trevor Porritt suffers permanent brain damage. C. D. Sloan inherits the file—and immediately begins poking holes in what looked like an airtight case. Why has the primary suspect gone mute? What was the victim doing with antinuclear pamphlets in his car? Was Detective Porritt''s run-in with the burglar an unhappy coincidence? And what part does the king of the African nation of Dlasa, a client of Lucy''s father, play in all this? When someone connected to the case dies and the son of the king of Dlasa goes missing, panic begins to spread. Can Inspector Sloan and his hapless assistant, Constable Crosby, untangle this knotted web?

A bizarre clause in an elderly woman''s will exposes a dirty secret—and a murder—in this "intricate, witty, and thoroughly delightful" mystery (Publishers Weekly).It was an odd request, but when Octavia Garamond passed away, she left explicit instructions in her will: The police must be present at her funeral, and the coroner should be exceptionally thorough when examining her body. Amelia Kennerly is perplexed to find herself the sole executor of her great-aunt''s will, as she barely knew her. Further questions arise when the local parson, Mr. Fournier, is anything but happy to conduct Octavia''s service. Then someone breaks into Octavia''s home and tears the house apart. It seems the old lady''s  words may have been eerily prescient: "Hell is empty, and all the devils are here."From a winner of crime fiction''s prestigious Diamond Dagger, this twisting mystery featuring Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan of the Berebury CID is "a literate, surprising treat" (Publishers Weekly).

In this mystery by CWA Diamond Dagger winner Catherine Aird, Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan investigates a case of medical malpractice that looks a bit too much like foul playMuriel Ethel Galloway passed away at home, twitching and grasping at objects only she could see. Her family mourns, sad but unsurprised that an old woman suffering from heart disease should die suddenly. But when Mrs. Galloway''s son receives an anonymous call alerting him that his mother''s life was put in jeopardy by her doctors, he demands action from the Calleshire Police. As world-weary detective C. D. Sloan learns, Mrs. Galloway''s passing was just one in a string of eerily similar deaths. Dozens of elderly patients suffering from heart disease have been "gently pushed" toward taking part in the Cardigan Protocol, a double-blind drug trial from the powerful pharmaceutical company Gilroy''s. Something, it seems, is very wrong. But what might have been a simple malpractice case morphs into something much more complex when the doctor in charge of the trials goes missing and the headquarters of Gilroy''s is burgled by animal rights activists. As Detective Sloan well knows, murder is never a simple matter.

Twenty-two bite-size mysteries from Diamond Dagger winner Catherine AirdA cat is the only witness to a brutal murder. An entire group gets sick during a birthday party, but only the birthday boy dies. A local thief is injured during a break-in of the Horticulture Society and seeks to press charges against the plant lovers. And Calleshire''s greatest detective has to give his bumbling sidekick a lesson in police procedure . . . on the day they both suffer from a bout of food poisoning. Catherine Aird is a master of the short-story format. Starring the great detective C. D. Sloan, Henry Tyler of the Foreign Office, and the Sheriff of Fearnshire in sixteenth-century Scotland, Chapter and Hearse brings together twenty-two short mysteries that span laugh-out-loud-funny anecdotes of feckless thieves and head-scratching whodunits.

Can Inspector C. D. Sloan find his man when a dismembered appendage appears at a local farm in this mystery by CWA Diamond Dagger winner Catherine Aird?When the Berebury Footpaths Society created their locally infamous motto, "Every walk a challenge," they couldn''t have known just how apt it would be. Avid hikers Wendy Lamport and Gordon Briggs suffer from a good walk spoiled when, while reclaiming a public footpath from the greedy barbed-wire fences of encroaching farmers, a crow drops a severed human finger at their feet. And where there''s a finger, thinks Detective C. D. Sloan, a body can''t be far behind. It would seem that there are a handful of bodies to whom the finger might belong. There is a suspiciously long list of people gone missing from Great Rooden''s farming country: the tippling son of a local pillar of society, a financier who may have angered the wrong man, and even an old tramp or two who may have thieved one too many apples. Can the old tag team of Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan and his sidekick, Constable Crosby, solve the case?

A hit-and-run murder unearths a case of mistaken identity in this "well-bred, well written and genuinely superior" mystery by the Diamond Dagger winner (Kirkus Reviews).Early one morning in the quiet English village of Larking, the body of a woman named Mrs. Jenkins is found in the road. Miles away, her daughter, Henrietta, receives the bad news while working in the university library. Poor Mrs. Jenkins appears to have been the victim of a horrible car accident. When an autopsy proves not only that this was no accident but also that Mrs. Jenkins had never had a child, young Henrietta''s life is thrown upside down. If she''s not Mrs. Jenkins''s daughter, then who is she? It''s up to Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan of the Calleshire police force to bring the murderer to justice—and a sense of order back to Henrietta''s life. Proclaimed by the New York Times in 1968 to be one of the year''s best books, Henrietta Who? is a first-order English whodunit that''ll keep you guessing until the end.

Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan puzzles over an industrialist crushed under the rubble of a church tower in this crime novel by a CWA Diamond Dagger winner.On the hottest day in living memory, Richard Mallory Tindall, the owner of a patent firm, does not return home to Cleete village. When a man is found crushed to death, Tindall''s case goes from missing person to homicide. In the course of solving murder cases, Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan has seen all manner of ugly death. But there''s something particularly gruesome about this one, the body crushed beneath the marble and iron of an old Saxon church tower. With rubble blocking off access to the crime scene, no one can get close enough to inspect the body. What little evidence is available—a burned match, a black thread, an earring—doesn''t bode well for a quick and easy solution. Even the legendarily cool-headed great detective might begin to crack when a second body turns up. And then an important file goes missing from Sloan''s office. How does it all connect?

Sixteen short puzzlers from the inimitable Catherine Aird, author of the acclaimed C. D. Sloan Mysteries A professional pickpocket and accomplished thief ignores his wife''s warnings and embarks on an adventure that will change his life—perhaps for the better. A technological marvel of a sports car kills a pedestrian, but no one was at the wheel. A local lunatic admits to murder, but is he crazy—or crazy smart? The life of a researcher with ties to a British spy agency is thrown into chaos when his research go missing, but the only people who could have stolen the valuable data seem to have airtight alibis. Injury Time delivers captivating tales of intrigue wrapped in Catherine Aird''s tightly woven logic, sealed with the bow of enigma. These quick-fire mysteries run the gamut, with fresh twists on old classics and delightfully unique stories involving old friends from the C. D. Sloan Mysteries.

In this C. D. Sloan Mystery by CWA Diamond Dagger winner Catherine Aird, a body is found in the river—but the victim didn''t drown When local fisherman Horace Boller decided to row his boat out on the tidal backwash of the river one morning, he couldn''t have meant to land a catch like this. What he ended up with was a body floating on the river''s surface. And judging by the state of the corpse, the death was not a recent one. The strange thing is, the coroner report indicates that drowning was not the cause of death. It''s up to the intrepid C. D. Sloan—and his markedly less intrepid assistant, Constable Crosby—to investigate. Along the way, Calleshire''s most successful pair of puzzle-solving policemen will contend with a handful of additional strange deaths, befuddling municipal building codes, an antiquarian with interesting views on local history, and a fisherman who has his own motivation for helping (or perhaps hindering) the investigation. Can C. D. Sloan get to the bottom of this waterlogged killing?

In this gripping mystery by CWA Diamond Dagger winner Catherine Aird, the village spinster dies behind a fortune teller''s booth, and Calleshire''s greatest detective looks into the future—and sees justiceThe annual Horticultural Society Flower Show would have gone off without a hitch were it not for one very pesky murder. When nurse Joyce Cooper goes missing from the parish''s fortune-telling booth at the flower fair, her friends at the local church are immediately concerned. It''s not like this old lady, who plays the organ during service every Sunday without fail, and who, it''s told, lives for the purpose of helping others, to disappear without notice. So when she''s found strangled to death under a tarp, the community is thrown into an uproar. Who better to calm the crowd than Calleshire''s greatest detective? Alongside his bumbling sidekick, Constable Crosby, C. D. Sloan runs through the bizarre list of suspects—the daughter of a deceased anthropologist, a greedy developer, a jealous tomato gardener, and a set of wealthy farmers—to find out who would have benefited most from the beloved nurse''s death. What he finds will astonish the entire village.

In this thrilling crime novel by CWA Diamond Dagger winner Catherine Aird, a student''s last words are all that Detective C. D. Sloan has to go on in his latest caseThere are rumblings throughout the campus of the University of Calleshire, talk of a sit-in, of revolt, of H? Chí Minh, of discontent. Malcolm Humbert has been expelled, and the students are livid. Meanwhile, the faculty is equally out of sorts—Hilda Linaker just wants to finish her treatise on Jane Austen, Bernard Watkinson is tired of dealing with the female students'' vehement—and possibly dangerous—opinions, and Simon Mautby can''t find a lab tech to help with his ecology experiments. When someone breaks into a dorm room, leaving behind little evidence but a single kernel of corn, it''s time to call in the police. But no one—not the professors, the students, or even the great detective C. D. Sloan—could have predicted murder. A young woman finds a second-year student slumped against a cloister''s column, covered in blood. Before he dies, he manages to breathe the words "twenty-six minutes." The brilliant and acerbic inspector C. D. Sloan, recently reunited with his assistant, Detective Constable Crosby, must connect a seemingly unrelated burglary to a senseless murder—with nothing more to go on than those eerie last words.

In this classic parlor mystery from CWA Diamond Dagger winner Catherine Aird, Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan investigates a dinner party that ended in murderTwelve friends sit down for supper at Strontfield Park—but only eleven survive the evening. After dinner, the host, William Fent, offers to drive one of his guests home, only to die behind the wheel in a violent accident. The autopsy shows that Fent ingested enough barbiturates to kill a horse. So begins a fresh tale of murder and deceit for Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan, whose list of suspects begins and ends with the surviving dinner guests. Among them are a theologian at the local university; Dr. and Mrs. Washby, whose wedding was the cause for celebration; Ursula Renville, tall, graceful, and utterly aloof; the fat and extravagant Mr. and Mrs. Marchmont; the spinster Miss Paterson; the rector''s daughter, Cynthia Paterson; Quentin Fent, heir to the Fent fortune; and Mr. Fent''s wife, the now-widowed Helen. Each of the guests had the opportunity to kill William Fent. But which one wanted him dead?

A deadly mystery by CWA Diamond Dagger winner Catherine Aird: Where there''s a will, there''s a way—for murderThat Miss Beatrice Wansdyke had died is not particularly surprising. A chemistry mistress at the Girls'' Grammar School in Berebury, she was a longtime sufferer of diabetes who managed to live her modest life to a ripe old age. But one thing is odd—Beatrice Wansdyke died a very wealthy woman. What was an old schoolteacher doing with a small fortune? Meanwhile, Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan, Calleshire''s finest investigator, learns he is about to become a father. But with ominous players hell-bent on pursuing Miss Wansdyke''s money, will Sloan live to see his child''s first birthday?

Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan is called on to solve the coldest of cases in this thriller from CWA Diamond Dagger winner Catherine AirdBerebury, England, did not have an easy go of it during the Second World War. This quaint Victorian town was destroyed when the Nazis dropped bomb after bomb on its perfect gardens and neat hedges. After three decades of disarray, the town council has finally begun reconstructing what''s left. All throughout Berebury, the sounds of hammers and saws drone on. But on this particular day, the noise stops. In the crater of a bomb site, a skeleton has been found. While its presence there isn''t unusual—hundreds died in bombing raids throughout England—the manner in which the pregnant girl met her end is sinister enough that Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan and his assistant, Detective Constable Crosby, are called to the scene. The cause of death, it seems, was not the blast, but a bullet to the spine. Inspector Sloan is the best there is when it comes to cracking the most complex cases. But can he piece together a murder that''s been buried for more than a quarter century?

In 1970s England, a broke nobleman and a body in a suit of armor present a puzzling mystery in this witty novel by a Diamond Dagger Award winner.It is the early 1970s, and times are tough in the upper reaches of British society. To survive the changing times, the Earl of Ornum has done the previously unthinkable and opened his estate to wandering tourists. One day, a hyperactive little boy and his family are roaming Ornum House delightedly. The curious tyke sees a full suit of armor and lifts the visor . . . only to see a face staring out at him. As Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan soon finds, the man in the suit of armor is dead—and there''s a slew of suspects waiting to be interviewed. Was it the ditzy duchess? The disappointing nephew? One of the servants? The earl himself? It''s up to Sloan and his wisecracking sidekick, Detective Constable Crosby, to find out before the murderer strikes again.

Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan prays he will find a nun’s murderer in this British crime novel by a Diamond Dagger winner: “A most ingenious writer” (The New York Times). The day begins like any other for Sister Mary St. Gertrude. When her alarm sounds at 5 a.m., Sister Mary begins rousting her convent sisters from their beds, starting with the Reverend Mother. Down the Order she goes with a knock and a warm blessing. But when the young nun reaches Sister Anne’s door, there is no answer. She assumes that Sister Anne got up early, and continues on her way.   But later, when a fellow nun leaves a bloody thumbprint on the sheet music for a hymn, and Sister Anne is nowhere to be found, it becomes apparent that something is very wrong. Then Sister Anne’s body is found at the bottom of a steep set of stairs, her veil askew and her head crushed.  Religious Body introduces the sophisticated Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan along with his eager and trustworthy sidekick, Detective Constable Crosby, and the acerbic Superintendent Leeyes in a mystery of holy proportions that will have readers guessing until the last page.

A trio of sharp-witted British whodunits featuring Detective Inspector Sloan—from a CWA Diamond Dagger winner and "a most ingenious" author (The New Yorker). In her debut novel in the long-running mystery series, The Religious Body, Catherine Aird introduced the sleuthing team of shrewd Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan and his less-than-shrewd sidekick, Detective Constable William Crosby, in the fictional County of Calleshire, England. Over the course of twenty-four crime novels, the award-winning author has maintained the perfect balance between cozy village mystery and police procedural. The Religious Body: When Sister Anne''s body is found at the bottom of a steep set of cellar stairs, her veil askew and her head crushed, it''s clear she''s been viciously attacked. Heaven help Detective Inspector Sloan as he''s called to the Convent of St. Anselm to determine why someone would want to murder a nun. Henrietta Who?: In a quiet English village, a woman''s body is found in the road, the victim of a hit-and-run. Miles away, her daughter, Henrietta, is given the bad news. But an autopsy brings even more shocking news: Not only was Mrs. Jenkins''s death no accident, the woman never had a child. If Henrietta is not her daughter, who is she? It''s up to Detective Inspector Sloan to find out. The Stately Home Murder: To survive financial hard times, the Earl of Ornum has opened his estate to tourists. One curious young boy sees a full suit of armor and lifts the visor . . . only to see a face staring back at him. Now Ornum House is a crime scene, with Sloan and Crosby determined to discover how a murdered man ended up in knight''s garb.

A set of intriguing British whodunits featuring Detective Inspector Sloan—from a CWA Diamond Dagger winner and "most ingenious" author (The New Yorker). Over the course of twenty-four crime novels set in the fictional County of Calleshire, England, and featuring the sleuthing team of shrewd Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan and his less-than-shrewd sidekick, Detective Constable William Crosby, award-winning author Catherine Aird maintained the perfect balance between cozy village mystery and police procedural. These three entertaining crime novels offer "the very best in British mystery" (The New Yorker). A Late Phoenix: In the quaint Victorian town of Berebury, England, a skeleton has been found in the crater of a World War II bomb site. But this corpse is no buried casualty of the Blitz. The cause of death, Detective Inspector Sloan discovers, is a bullet to the spine. His Burial Too: Detective Inspector Sloan puzzles over an industrialist crushed under the rubble of an old Saxon church tower. With no eyewitnesses and little evidence, the policeman doesn''t seem to have a prayer of solving the case. And then a second body turns up. Slight Mourning: Twelve friends sit down for supper at Strontfield Park—but only eleven survive the evening. After dinner, the host offers to drive one of his guests home, only to die in a violent accident. His autopsy shows that he ingested enough barbiturates to kill a horse, and now the guest list is Sloan''s roster of suspects.

A set of compelling British whodunits featuring Detective Inspector Sloan—from a CWA Diamond Dagger winner and "most ingenious" author (The New Yorker). Over the course of twenty-four crime novels set in the fictional County of Calleshire, England, and featuring the sleuthing team of shrewd Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan and his less-than-shrewd sidekick, Detective Constable William Crosby, award-winning author Catherine Aird maintained the perfect balance between cozy village mystery and police procedural. These three entertaining crime novels offer "the very best in British mystery" (The New Yorker). Parting Breath: On the campus of the University of Calleshire, a young woman finds a student slumped against a cloister''s column, covered in blood. Before he dies, he manages to breathe the words "twenty-six minutes"—which is all Sloan and Crosby have to go on to solve a case that''s anything but elementary. Some Die Eloquent: As Sloan learns he is about to become a father, a suspicious death demands his attention. It turns out that a murdered mistress at the Girls'' Grammar School in Berebury was secretly a very wealthy woman. What was an elderly chemistry teacher doing with a small fortune—and who was willing to kill to get it? Passing Strange: When the village spinster, a nurse who also played the organ every Sunday at church, is found strangled behind a fortune-teller''s booth, Calleshire''s greatest detective will need more than a crystal ball to see who killed her.

A set of perfectly puzzling British whodunits featuring Detective Inspector Sloan—from a CWA Diamond Dagger winner and "most ingenious" author (The New Yorker). Over the course of twenty-four crime novels set in the fictional County of Calleshire, England, and featuring the sleuthing team of shrewd Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan and his less-than-shrewd sidekick, Detective Constable William Crosby, award-winning author Catherine Aird maintained the perfect balance between cozy village mystery and police procedural. These three entertaining crime novels offer "the very best in British mystery" (The New Yorker). Last Respects: A local fisherman finds a body in the river—but the coroner''s report reveals the victim didn''t die from drowning. Now Calleshire''s most successful pair of puzzle-solving policemen must plumb the depths of this mystery and haul in a murderer. Harm''s Way: When a crow drops a severed human finger, Sloan begins the search for the body that goes with it—and the list of people who have gone missing from Great Rooden''s farming country is lengthy. With Constable Crosby lending a hand, it''s up to Sloan to point the finger at the culprit. A Dead Liberty: A crime of passion, a poisoned meal, and a jealous woman who would kill before she would be spurned—it might all fit if only the accused would talk. But Lucy Durmast refuses to utter a single word. With Lucy''s lips sealed, Sloan has no choice but to listen to his intuition.

A must-have collection of British whodunits featuring Detective Inspector Sloan—from a CWA Diamond Dagger winner and "most ingenious" author (The New Yorker). Over the course of twenty-four crime novels set in the fictional County of Calleshire, England, and featuring the sleuthing team of shrewd Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan and his less-than-shrewd sidekick, Detective Constable William Crosby, award-winning author Catherine Aird maintained the perfect balance between cozy village mystery and police procedural. These entertaining puzzlers offer "the very best in British mystery" (The New Yorker). The Body Politic: A British-based mineral company finds itself in hot water when one of its engineers kills a pedestrian while driving in a foreign country. The engineer is whisked back to Calleshire, but the foreign government is threatening to strip the mining company of its most valuable contract. When the engineer dies suddenly in a war reenactment, it seems a little too convenient a solution. Enter Detective Inspector Sloan. A Going Concern: In this "intricate, witty and thoroughly delightful" mystery, a bizarre clause in an elderly woman''s will that the police must be present at her funeral and the coroner should be exceptionally thorough exposes a dirty secret—and a murder for Sloan to solve (Publishers Weekly). After Effects: Dozens of elderly patients suffering from heart disease have been "gently pushed" toward taking part in a double-blind drug trial from a powerful pharmaceutical company. Now there''s been a string of eerily similar deaths. Malpractice or foul play? When the doctor in charge is found dead as well, it''s up to Sloan to see who really needs to be brought to trial. Injury Time: These sixteen "clever" short stories feature mysteries solved by Detective Inspector Sloan as well as Henry Tyler of the Foreign Office, and "serve as an excellent introduction to new readers and . . . a sure delight to fans" (Publishers Weekly).

Soft paws come with sharp claws...It's deep winter. Time to light the fire, pull up a blanket and curl up with your cat. But is your feline friend playing innocent? What were they up to while you were out of sight?Slink through shadows in these classic cat-themed mystery tales from beloved crime authors Catherine Aird, Edmund Crispin, Patricia Highsmith and Ellis Peters. A Case of the Claws bring a thrilling winter chill to the festive season and asks: are these furry friends the guardians of our secrets or omens of misfortune?

Five strangers are summoned to hear the last will and testament of a man they've never met: the late Algernon Mayton, a distant relative and inventor of Mayton's Marvellous Mixture. However, one of them never arrives. Unable to receive their share of the fortune until the missing man has been located, they begin a search. Two months later, Detective Sloan is called in to help after one of the group dies of poisoning. Is this a simple case of accidental ingestion of a noxious substance, or is this the start of the legatees being picked off one by one? Sloan and Crosby quickly discover where matters of money, family rivalry and a missing person are involved, there is almost certainly foul play afoot.