E. C. BENTLEY ⢠TRENTâS LAST CASE
E. C. BENTLEY ⢠TRENT INTERVENES
E. C. BENTLEY & H. WARNER ALLEN ⢠TRENTâS OWN CASE
ANTHONY BERKELEY ⢠THE WYCHFORD POISONING CASE
ANTHONY BERKELEY ⢠THE SILK STOCKING MURDERS
LYNN BROCK ⢠NIGHTMARE
BERNARD CAPES ⢠THE MYSTERY OF THE SKELETON KEY
AGATHA CHRISTIE ⢠THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD
AGATHA CHRISTIE ⢠THE BIG FOUR
WILKIE COLLINS ⢠THE MOONSTONE
HUGH CONWAY ⢠CALLED BACK
HUGH CONWAY ⢠DARK DAYS
EDMUND CRISPIN ⢠THE CASE OF THE GILDED FLY
FREEMAN WILLS CROFTS ⢠THE CASK
FREEMAN WILLS CROFTS ⢠THE PONSON CASE
FREEMAN WILLS CROFTS ⢠THE PIT-PROP SYNDICATE
FREEMAN WILLS CROFTS ⢠THE GROOTE PARK MURDER
MAURICE DRAKE ⢠THE MYSTERY OF THE MUD FLATS
FRANCIS DURBRIDGE ⢠BEWARE OF JOHNNY WASHINGTON
J. JEFFERSON FARJEON ⢠THE HOUSE OPPOSITE
RUDOLPH FISHER ⢠THE CONJURE-MAN DIES
FRANK FROÃST ⢠THE GRELL MYSTERY
FRANK FROÃST & GEORGE DILNOT ⢠THE CRIME CLUB
ÃMILE GABORIAU ⢠THE BLACKMAILERS
ANNA K. GREEN ⢠THE LEAVENWORTH CASE
DONALD HENDERSON ⢠MR BOWLING BUYS A NEWSPAPER
VERNON LODER ⢠THE MYSTERY AT STOWE
PHILIP MACDONALD ⢠THE RASP
PHILIP MACDONALD ⢠THE NOOSE
PHILIP MACDONALD ⢠MURDER GONE MAD
PHILIP MACDONALD ⢠THE MAZE
NGAIO MARSH ⢠THE NURSING HOME MURDER
G. ROY McRAE ⢠THE PASSING OF MR QUINN
R. A. V. MORRIS ⢠THE LYTTLETON CASE
ARTHUR B. REEVE ⢠THE ADVENTURESS
FRANK RICHARDSON ⢠THE MAYFAIR MYSTERY
R. L. STEVENSON ⢠DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE
J. V. TURNER ⢠BELOW THE CLOCK
EDGAR WALLACE ⢠THE TERROR
ISRAEL ZANGWILL ⢠THE PERFECT CRIME
FURTHER TITLES IN PREPARATION
COLLINS CRIME CLUB
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First published in Great Britain by W. Collins Sons & Co. Ltd 1930
Published by The Detective Story Club Ltd 1931
Copyright © Estate of Philip MacDonald 1930, 1963
Cover layout design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2017
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the authorâs imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Source ISBN: 9780008248994
Ebook Edition © November 2017 ISBN: 9780008249007
Version: 2017-10-30
I WONDER how many professional storytellers can look back on their own early work with true objectivity. If there are any, I envy them. Because I know I canât. I always fall into the egocentric trap of disliking mine far too much; of feeling (as was once said of a friend of mine who was forever working on the great American novel and never finishing the first chapter) that âit isnât good enough for me to have written.â
The only time Iâm ever halfway satisfied with any work Iâve done is for a short while after Iâve finished it; a depressingly short and evanescent while. A week later any satisfaction with my labours is beginning to fade. In a month I am more than dubious. After a year, Iâm convinced the whole thing smells to high heaven, and I canât imagine why anyone would ever trouble to read it.
But I realize that these are conditioned reflexes, and auto-conditioned at that, so I made up my mind to ignore them as I approached the task of going over the three books in this collection. But I still started on the job with trepidation; because (to be euphemistic) the tales were written some time ago