Bøger udgivet af Moonstone Press

Crime reporter Julian Mendoza is neither young nor good-looking, nor blue-blooded.  He smokes a filthy pipe, has a marvellous landlady from Scotland, walks with a limp, is kind to down-and-outs but unkind to policemen, is rude to society ladies; and is quite prepared to do anything to ensure his reputation as the greatest crime reporter in Fleet Street. Burglar Bill Cuffy breaks into blues singer Adele Valée's apartment to steal her jewellery and cash, assuming she is at a night club performing. He stumbles across her dead body in the bathroom and is shocked to discover she has been brutally murdered. He flees the scene and ends up at Julian Mendoza's home where he faces the formidable Mrs. MacDougal. Cuffy is one of several murder suspects that materialise as Mendoza sets out to uncover the truth about Adele Valée's life and discover her murderer.

'On no consideration will I pay a penny.'Stories of Crime & Detection Volume Five contains a novel, a novelette and a short story:The Dark Angel Elderly Elspeth Brownrigg devotes her life to supporting.an orphanage, but receives a letter threatening her with death unless she pays £5,000 within 48 hours. Elspeth calls in her nephew Norman who works for Scotland Yard and they liaise with the blackmailer, hoping to catch him in the act. This is unsuccessful, and soon the extortion expands to other persons who receive a similar letter from the same source, always signed by a pair of black wings. The blackmailer then acts on his threats and Norman must race to find a killer.The Unholy Trio Private Detective Peter Norton and his assistant Ginger set out to recover a stolen diamond pendant, 'The Darlington Star', and save a beautiful girl. A Tired Heart Humour and pathos abound in this short story about insurance fraud.JAMES JACK RONALD (1905-1972) was a prolific writer of pulp fiction, mystery stories and dramatic novels. Raised in Glasgow, Ronald moved to Chicago aged seventeen to 'earn his fortune', later returning to the UK to pursue a writing career. His early works were serializations and short stories syndicated in newspapers and magazines around the world. Ronald wrote under a number of pseudonyms, including Michael Crombie, Kirk Wales, Peter Gale, Mark Ellison and Kenneth Streeter among others. Several books were adapted into films, including Murder in the Family (1938), The Witness Vanishes (1939), and The Suspect (1944).

Reporter Julian Mendoza, 'the bloodhound of Fleet Street,' sees Cicely Foster flee the building in which Jacob Singerman lives, looking distressed and frightened. When he discovers the movie mogul has been murdered and her blood-spattered glove and opened purse found at the scene of the crime, he tracks her down, telling her that Singerman was found dead shortly after her departure. It looks bleak...but for the small matter of the corpse having been found with a bullet between his eyes.

'Call Bernard! I'll see him-and you-in hell first!'It is 1947 and a sumptuous banquet at Fairfield Manor is underway to celebrate Bernard Smith-William's recovery from a serious illness. Among the guests are Bernard's childhood friend Rupert Lavering and his wife Louise. A war veteran and recipient of the Victoria Cross, Rupert has had trouble adjusting to peacetime, and was given a loan by Bernard to get started as a stockbroker six months previously. The wealthy Bernard is obsessed with Louise and uses the evening to separate the couple, threatening to ruin Lavering's new business unless she agrees to divorce Rupert and marry him. Louise refuses and Bernard takes action, but the next morning he is found poisoned in his study. Circumstances initially point to Rupert, but it turns out several of the guests at Fairfield Manor have grievances against Bernard Smith-Williams, and that anyone in the house could have accessed the atropine that killed him.Mary Fitt was the pseudonym of Kathleen Freeman (1897-1959), a classical scholar who taught Greek at the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire in Cardiff. Beginning in 1937, Freeman wrote twenty-nine mysteries and a number of short stories as Mary Fitt, and was elected to the Detection Club in 1950. Aside from her detective novels, Freeman published many books on classical Greece, scholarly articles and children's stories. She lived in St Mellons in Wales with her partner Dr Liliane Marie Catherine Clopet, a family physician and author.

'I shall kill you, one by one, and I'll get away with it.They can't hang me.'Stories of Crime & Detection Volume Four contains a novel and three short stories:They Can't Hang Me Lucius Marplay has spent the past twenty years in an asylum, having made countless threats against the four men who took over The Echo, the London newspaper that he once owned. A visit from an old friend gives Marplay an opportunity to escape, and soon he begins a scheme of revenge. His daughter Joan, having just discovered that her father is in fact alive, rather than dead as she had always been told, endeavours to track him down to talk sense into him. But as the four newspaper men begin to die one by one, can anyone catch this clever murderer, a man capable of vanishing into thin air? They Can't Hang Me was adapted for the screen as The Witness Vanishes (1939).The Man Who Came Back. An escaped convict has a minor road accident and discovers something unexpected. Accident The unpleasant Marlay's death was an accident, but Daphne and Peter are afraid to call the police for fear they will be implicated. Instead, they concoct a plan....Out of the Fog A short story set during Prohibition in the U.S.JAMES JACK RONALD (1905-1972) was a prolific writer of pulp fiction, mystery stories and dramatic novels. Raised in Glasgow, Ronald moved to Chicago aged seventeen to 'earn his fortune', later returning to the UK to pursue a writing career. His early works were serializations and short stories syndicated in newspapers and magazines around the world. Ronald wrote under a number of pseudonyms, including Michael Crombie, Kirk Wales, Peter Gale, Mark Ellison and Kenneth Streeter among others. Several books were adapted into films, including Murder in the Family (1938), The Witness Vanishes (1939), and The Suspect (1944).

'Augustus knows he is inconveniencing a great many people, and he is enjoying this. He will not change his mind.'Augustus Gale was a man in love-with a woman of genius who had been dead for over a century. So great was his dedication to the memory of playwright Joan Farmer that Augustus bought her ancestral home, steeped himself in the local history, and attempted to enforce a Regency-style lifestyle on his entire household. This macabre devotion poisoned his life as well as the lives of his son and daughter, his beautiful second wife, and even his devoted mother. Yet it was a strictly confined historical obsession. When a party of archaeologists sought permission to excavate a rare Roman mosaic pavement on Augustus's land, disrupting his homage to Joan, they were met with a blunt, contemptuous and destructive refusal. It might be said that Augustus Gale was a man who "asked for it", but whose was the hand that fed him the poison?Mary Fitt was the pseudonym of Kathleen Freeman (1897-1959), a classical scholar who taught Greek at the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire in Cardiff. Beginning in 1937, Freeman wrote twenty-nine mysteries and a number of short stories as Mary Fitt, and was elected to the Detection Club in 1950. Aside from her detective novels, Freeman published many books on classical Greece, scholarly articles and children's stories. She lived in St Mellons in Wales with her partner Dr Liliane Marie Catherine Clopet, a family physician and author.

Volume III contains This Way Out (1938), Diamonds of Death (1934) and Ruined by Water (1931). This Way Out was made into a film, The Suspect (1944), starring Charles Laughton

Vol II of Stories of Crime and Detection contains one novel, a novelette and a short story:Murder in the Family Stephen Osborne has just lost his job, not a good one and not one he particularly enjoyed. But at 50-some years of age in the Depression era and with no savings, he doesn't know how he's going to provide for his large family except by asking his sister, a wealthy woman, to help him financially. Unfortunately, Octavia Osborne is a most unpleasant person. During her annual visit to Stephen's home, she not only refuses to help but tells the family that she is writing all of them out of her will. Bad timing on her part, for while she is sitting in a room with her niece, who is engrossed in a book, someone comes in and chokes her, causing death by heart failure. This novel was made into a 1938 British crime film starring Barry Jones and Jessica Tandy.The Monocled Man (also known as The Gentleman Crook) Chicago gangster Pete Carponi and his associates, 'Shorty', 'Squiffy' and the alluring 'Cincinnati Sadie', are transported to London in pursuit of 'The Dude' and a stolen diamondThe Second Bottle A tense and suspenseful short story that takes place in a diner in the US during a cold hard winter.

Containing four stories featuring police surgeon Daniel Britling: The Green Ghost Murder, Too Many Motives, Find the Lady, and Six Were To Die. Also includes James Ronald's first published short story, Blind Man's Bluff.

'I shouldn't have come back! They'll never give up! There's too much to lose!'George Pollicott and Henry Rowles live a solitary and meagre existence in a hut along the towering Sea Wall of the Welsh Lowlands. On a foggy night twenty years before, night-watchman Pollicott had found Rowles near death and nursed him back to health. Henry Rowles, an obviously educated man, shuns outside contact and relies on the devoted Pollicott for all his needs. Recently worried for his life, Rowles writes a will leaving everything to his friend, but is found murdered that very night. The police immediately set upon the night-watchman as the culprit, but the clues are confounding. Why was their hut ransacked? Who are the unrecognized signatories at the bottom of the will? What motivation would Pollicott have for murdering someone he clearly revered? And why did Henry Rowles refer to his real name as John Henry Vincent Peter Dallingsworth Clairvaux, a man dead for forty years? Mary Fitt was the pseudonym of Kathleen Freeman (1897-1959), a classical scholar who taught Greek at the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire in Cardiff. Beginning in 1937, Freeman wrote twenty-nine mysteries and a number of short stories, mostly as Mary Fitt, and was elected to the Detection Club in 1950. Aside from her detective novels, Freeman published many books on classical Greece, scholarly articles and children's stories. She lived in St Mellons in Wales with her partner Dr Liliane Marie Catherine Clopet, a family physician and author.

'It is not for you to exact vengeance on my behalf. Remember that.'When successful novelist Christabel Strange dies suddenly aged 32, the bequests are hard to fathom. She leaves one wing of the ancestral home to good friend Marcia Wentworth for her ongoing use; the rest of the house remains in the hands of her mother, grandmother and siblings. Christabel made it known that Marcia would write her biography, but leaves her sixteen volumes of meticulous diaries to wily eccentric Grandmother Strange, who loathes Marcia and refuses to allow her to see them. Dr George Caradew, Christabel's childhood friend, finds himself between opposing and increasingly hostile camps, and begins to wonder why Christabel behaved in such a peculiar way, and whether her death was really due to a fever. The possibility of foul play becomes a certainty when another murder occurs and a volume of the diaries is stolen. Gradually, Caradew pieces together the clues to Christabel's hidden life.Mary Fitt was the pseudonym of Kathleen Freeman (1897-1959), a classical scholar who taught Greek at the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire in Cardiff. Beginning in 1937, Freeman wrote twenty-nine mysteries and a number of short stories as Mary Fitt, and was elected to the Detection Club in 1950. Aside from her detective novels, Freeman published many books on classical Greece, scholarly articles and children's stories. She lived in St Mellons in Wales with her partner Dr Liliane Marie Catherine Clopet, a family physician and author.

My great-aunt Liza is an old she-devil... but she's had a devilish raw deal.'Lady Elizabeth Carn has ruled Tristowell Castle with an iron fist for fifty years. On the eve of her adored adopted daughter Augusta's twenty-first birthday, far-flung family return to the castle, dredging up past resentments and conflicts. The next morning, Elizabeth is discovered strangled at her writing desk and nephew Palin Carn is found to have disappeared in the night. Augusta, in love with Palin, cannot believe him capable of murder. The police disagree, but find more than one possible suspect with opportunity and motive. There is Veronica, Lady Elizabeth's first adoptee, ostracised at eighteen for eloping with a local man, and returning to Tristowell for the first time with her teenage sons. Eccentric painter Jane Bossom, impulsively adopted at twelve after the death of her parents but sent off three months later, has also returned to Tristowell to paint Augusta's portrait. And there is fierce, quiet Tenella, Elizabeth's resident harpist, who clearly knows more than she is telling.Mary Fitt was the pseudonym of Kathleen Freeman (1897-1959), a classical scholar who taught Greek at the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire in Cardiff. Beginning in 1937, Freeman wrote twenty-nine mysteries and a number of short stories, mostly as Mary Fitt, and was elected to the Detection Club in 1950. Aside from her detective novels, Freeman published many books on classical Greece, scholarly articles and children's stories. She lived in St Mellons in Wales with her partner Dr Liliane Marie Catherine Clopet, a family physician and author.

The Clove and Hoof is the hot spot in Larcombe for a pint of bitter, a good story and some laughs. It's also the focal point of a bizarre series of murders, for the only connection the victims have seems to be that they all frequented the local pub.

In the beginning was the Word-When Theodore Terhune's wealthy client Arthur Harrison is found stabbed and his library ransacked, the police suspect the murderer was looking for a book. Harrison collected rare early printed books called incunabula, but as the provenance of such titles is well documented in the book world it would make little sense to steal one. Terhune is hired by the estate to sell off Harrison's library, but another armed break-in and a very strange book auction suggest the killer is still searching for something. Soon Terhune himself becomes a target, but what exactly does the murderer want? And why are crosses appearing in the turf of local fields?The sixth book in the entertaining series involving bookseller and amateur sleuth Theodore Terhune.BRUCE GRAEME (1900-82) was a pseudonym of Graham Montague Jeffries, an author of more than 100 crime novels and a founding member of the Crime Writers' Association. He created six series sleuths, including bookseller and accidental detective Theodore Terhune, whose adventures-Seven Clues in Search of a Crime (1941); House with Crooked Walls (1942); A Case for Solomon (1943); Work for the Hangman (1944); Ten Trails to Tyburn (1944); A Case of Books (1946) and And a Bottle of Rum (1949)-are republished by Moonstone Press.

It was not at all a suitable house for a murder.Helen Bailey is the live-in housekeeper to the wealthy Murray family. Tall, dark-haired and beautiful, the enigmatic Helen has long ensured that life at 'The Towers' ran smoothly for autocratic patriarch James Murray, his widowed son John, and grandchildren Alan and Glenda. When Helen is found dead in her blood-soaked bedroom, struck down in a horrific attack, the police must consider not only the family's relationships but everyone close to them. Helen's jewellery is missing, suggesting a robbery gone wrong, but the clues are confusing and contradictory. Dogged policework eventually points to one person, but have the authorities identified a cold-blooded murderer or an innocent person framed by others?This classic detective novel from 1933 is based on an unsolved real-life crime.Dorothy Erskine Muir (1889-1977) was one of seventeen children (twelve who reached adulthood) of John Sheepshanks, Bishop of Norwich. She attended Oxford, worked as an academic tutor, and began writing professionally to supplement the family income after the unexpected death of her husband in 1932. Muir published historical biographies and local histories, as well as three accomplished detective novels, In Muffled Night (1933), Five to Five (1934) and In Memory of Charles (1941). Each is an intricate fictional account based on an unsolved true crime.

Simon Gabb had everything - or so it seemed: a beautiful house, a big estate, a flourishing business and two sons, both endowed with evident capacity. When one is murdered, the solution of the case is as much a study in relationships as in crime.

Theodore Terhune finds the body of a policeman in the road one evening, run over by a lorry. The inquest delivers a verdict of accidental death, but the police and Terhune are suspicious. Investigations suggest smuggling is alive and well on Romney Marsh and the dead constable was on their track. The seventh novel in the Theodore Terhune series.

Charles Courtney is shot in the woods and the police find that everyone had reason to bear a grudge against him. His secretary is charged but the trial ends in acquittal and the case looks to remain unsolved, but then a second death occurs.

When"Peter the Hermit" dies of seemingly natural causes, the police uncover clues that suggest a hidden past. Before long, bookseller Theodore Terhune receives a series of five anaonymous short stories that clearly aim to help him solve the mystery behind Peter's death. A 1944 crime classic

Elderly Simon Ewing is found murdered in his flat, it is assumed to be a robbery gone wrong. But he was left unattended only a few minutes so how did an outsider know when to strike? And why take only one ring from a treasure trove? A fictional whodunnit based on a real murder case.

Theodore Terhune interrupts an attempted robbery; someone was trying to steal the key to the Kylstone burial vault, which will shortly be open to the public. When the key goes missing, a series of mysterious encounters leads the curious Terhune from one clue to another, and eventually to the secret past of two families.

On a trip to Yorkshire, bookseller Theodore Terhune investigates a suspicious accidental death that might be murder.

Theodore Terhune is drawn into an old murder case after he stumbles on the fresh corpse of Frank Smallwood, a man thought to have been slain twenty years previously. There had been a trial and conviction, the defendant had served time and was then killed in the war. So what exactly happened to Frank Smallwood?

Theodore Terhune is hired to write the history of an ancient Kentish manor house for its new owner, Vincente Salvaterra, who wants to know why the house is shunned by the locals. His research reveals unsolved mysteries, and when tragedy then strikes the eccentric Salvaterra family, Terhune must determine if the cause is the house or a human agent.

Crime writer Iain Carter uses inside knowledge from an indiscreet relative to write a satirical police novel under a pseudonym. When the book proves to be a huge success, Iain must take increasingly convoluted steps to protect his secret. Trouble ensues when a local bookmaker is killed and his mysterious alter-ego becomes the prime suspect.