Paul Raeburn had been one of Inspector West's targets for many years for West knew that not only was he a millionaire but he was certain that he was a racketeer to boot. And he knew that he was evil and was more than likely behind many of the wrongdoings that were going on in London at the time.T...
The Hon. Richard Rollison - the Toff to the police and underworld of a dozen countries - had always considered himself attractive to beautiful women, but when Irma Cardew came back into his life, he could only wonder who was marked as her current victim. The lovely Irma was charming, witty . . . ...
The domestic tranquillity of Inspector West, his wife and two small sons is disrupted by reports of a mysterious figure in the dusk that flags down cars driven by solitary men, then murders the occupant.
This epic novel embraces the story of the Bow Street Runners, forerunners of the modern police force, who were founded by novelist Henry Fielding in 1748. They were the earliest detective force operating from the courts to enforce the decisions of magistrates. John Creasey's account also gives a ...
In an English Village and an American City life goes on as normal. It is summer and the sun shines down on people going about their business and enjoying themselves. Then a choking, yellowish smog begins to creep along the ground. A car crashes, with the driver incapacitated by the eye-stinging, ...
Mystery Large Print Edition The stars tell dark fortunes as the Toff meets astrology . . . and murder-by-horoscope! Mona Lister was young, beautiful, very much in love . . . and cursed with the ability to see into the future. Second sight was a terrible curse to Mona, for the tomorrows that she s...
The Toff - or the Honourable Richard Rollison - was "born" in the twopenny weekly Thriller in 1933. Five years later, in the first book featuring him, the Toff took on characteristics all his own and became a kind of "Saint with his feet on the ground" - a Mayfair man-about-town who could get on ...
While I'm generally a big fan of the gentleman detective genre this one left me a bit underwelmed. It has all the classic tropes of the genre, but is missing something.The Toff is just too smooth, too perfect and yet feels a bit bland. We are told how amazing he is, and how he is the terror of th...
This had been going on for an hour now. His door was locked, and a man stood outside his window; and he still did not know what was happening. Then he saw one of the dogs break free and go like a flash towards some bushes. A small, dark-haired man r...
The West Indian band was playing softly, and a dozen couples were jogging rhythmically on the tiny polished floor. Over the head of each member of the band hung a gleaming, glittering silver kettle, five in all. Other kettles hung on brackets on the walls. Here were good taste and luxury without ...
It began as famines have begun since the beginning of the world, with the failure of rice crops due to a typhoon. There were no reserves of food to avoid the crisis. The wind hurtled and cavorted, whirled and roared, and the rain hissed and smashed ...
He was staring at Maisie, who had thrown open an opulent grey mink coat, and was shaking one fist at him from a distance of about five feet. A small hat with a veil which dangled to her nose was too far forward on her head, and her thick legs were set apart. Harrington said contemptuously: ‘You’r...
The contrast between his peaceful, pale face and the silvery hair curling at the temples, and ugly, oozing gash, made Mannering’s eyes sting. He still saw that mind picture of Lorna. ‘Don’t touch anything!’ Bristow barked. Mannering groped in his wa...
It did not seem to occur to him that they would refuse. It was as if he had surrounded himself with a thick crust of self-conceit which did not permit any question of his ascendancy over others. In his wide experience Roger had met nothing quite like this swaggering confidence. ...
He held the gun tightly in his right hand, and covered Rollison, who was too far away to hope to push it aside, and too close for there to be any chance of missing. The door, closed, was two yards away from him. He looked into Kane’s glittering eyes, saw the tension at his lips, and told himself ...
And he thought, this is a matter for every single human being to decide for himself. It isn’t a question of saving lives; of political freedom; it is an issue which is absolutely fundamental to all men and all women. No one has any right to make such decisions for them, and they can only make dec...
A series of five burglaries would carry less danger than usual because only the Kelworthy syndicate knew of their connection. But from the moment that he had discovered the ruthlessness of Granette, even to impersonation, he had faced complications – but none so alarming as Anita de Castilla play...
She wasn’t sure how many were there. They were all young, their hair was beautifully waved and groomed, they wore the narrow trousers and the wide shouldered coats of their kind – and their faces were savagely intent, their weapons were raised as if all they wanted to do was to find something to ...
At a quarter-past two, Mannering telephoned the hospital again; for the first time, he put down the receiver feeling that the deepest of the anxieties was really over. “She is really doing very well,” the Day Sister had said. “By tomorrow, I think you’ll be able to see her...
She was dressed and bright-eyed; obviously she had slept well. There was a tea-tray on the bedside table. From the kitchen came the sound of the Welsh maid, singing in a soft, happy voice There were the usual sounds from the street and from the river, and Palfrey drank his tea and listened to the...
Present him with an emergency and he acted swiftly, effectively and with judgment. Give him time to think, and he dithered. The news about Joy had frightened him, and overlaying the fear was anger. The sight of the man in his car touched that anger into action. The man was a stranger, young, dres...
Rollison bestirred himself, lit a cigarette, and said: “Yes. Make that coffee, will you?” He sat back in an easy chair, smoking, his eyes narrowed towards the ceiling. He did not stir until Jolly came in, placed the tray on a small table, and turned to go. “Bring a cup for...
He had not known when the case started, had been unable to get to the heart of it, and was compelled to keep following trails which might help him, yet might prove to be blind alleys. As he drove behind the Morris, towards Aldgate, and presumably towards the centre of Lond...
Rollison exclaimed, and grabbed her. In another second, he would be too late. Even as it was, he might be. He caught her arm and she tugged to get free, and when she couldn’t, twisted round and struck out at his face. Her fingers just missed his eyes, and involuntarily he ...
He had spent twenty-five years in the Force - excepting, of course, for four years in Flanders - and those years were beginning to show in the grey of his grizzled hair and the lines in the corners of his eyes. Apart from those two signs he might have been twenty-eight, not forty-eight. His back ...
He surfaced and trod water. His clothes were sodden, and he couldn’t swim for long. He could just see Daphne Myall striking out towards him; there was no one else. The water was warm, and yet he shivered; for in this translucent light he would not be able to see a swimming Arab even if one was ne...
said Mannering. “Who the hell are you?” “A man who knows a little and wants to know a lot about you, Benoni. What have you got in your pocket?” The cab moved off with a jerk, throwing Benoni against the glass partition separa...
By then he was sitting on the side of the bed, in front of a large dressing-table mirror, which showed his hair standing on end after the scramble to answer the call. “Richard Rollison here,” he said. There was no answer. “Ha...
At last he muttered: “You’re Mannering.” Mannering stood aside. The other squeezed into the hall; he nearly touched the walls on either side, for his elbows seemed to stick out. He was as different as anyone could imagine from David Levinson. He reached the foot of the stairs, looked up, and mutt...
If people in the street, in the dining-hall, in the shops were not looking at him; if he were not in the room with Rita; then the screen glowed and he knew that wherever he stood, he could be seen. The slip of paper seemed like burning ice in his pocket, but he dared not take it out. ...
They perched there without moving now, as if waiting for the sun to move and shine upon them. The emblem of purity – which had this shattering effect on Eve. It would have been better had she burst out crying, had she screamed, or shown the outward signs of hysteria; but apart from that one outbu...
She squeezed Judy’s arm, then went to the door and opened it to two of the CID men who had just arrived. She stood aside, saying: ‘I am Miss Anne Miller.’ ‘Thank you, Miss Miller.’ The spokesman of the two was short, thickset, very fair haired - almost an albino, with stubby eyelashes and colourl...
Morne listened without a word, but once he put his hand to his pocket, as if feeling for something. He drew it away, empty. When the story was over, he looked at Palfrey steadily and said with great deliberation: ‘You saw me put the key into my pocket, did you not?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘It is not there now. B...
He was good-looking, dark-haired, rather swarthy skinned. His teeth looked very white when he smiled, and his dark eyes held a gleam which reminded Mannering of the look in Lucille’s. Lean and tall, the man held himself well, was confident and capable. “Good morning, Mr. M...
She wore a dark dress, with lace at the neck and cuffs; absurd things to notice, but he noticed them. Her glossy dark hair dropped to her shoulders, curling inwards at the ends. The gun, a small automatic, was steady in her hand. “Go to the corner by the lamp,” she said, “and don’t try to be clev...
Gradually he became used to them. There was the inevitable core of hearty players and hearty talkers. Mannering met more and more men and women whose names were on the games boards, heard snippets of conversation, saw some elderly people obviously preoccupied, quite as many bored. A few sat about...
WEINER Patel, who had called Mannering a fool and Phiroshah a liar, was dead. The man Phiroshah feared, the man who admitted that he was after the blue diamonds, was no longer a threat. Mannering pondered over this as he had a light breakfast and drank a lot of coffee. Lorna moved about the room...
Roger thought some two hours later, she’s beautiful. He kept his face set as if not at all impressed and looked at Stephenson; he had a faint feeling of revulsion which he seldom felt for a man. It was perhaps the very fair hair and near-albino lashes. The freckles. The unfinished look of his nos...
There was no sound. He went forward cautiously, with his hand outstretched, and crouching a little. His hand touched the stairs, and the carpet covering them. He went back and closed the door gently, then began to walk up the stairs. There was a stone wall and a hand-rail; he kept a hold on the h...
The girl was arguing indignantly, and although the man kept his voice low, that remarkable intonation made a lot of people look round. They were arguing as young lovers might, Mannering reflected dryly. He walked past them, out of the side entrance, where there was a line of taxis. He approached ...
He had been here a dozen, perhaps twenty times, and the city of great domes and mammoth buildings, the city where Christian and Muslim seemed to meet together and yet where all were infidels. Moscow had always looked impressive, the area near the Kremlin and Red Square especially so. But he had n...