Autumn just exudes the colour gold — golden leaves, golden fields, golden sunsets… There could not be a more perfect time to rediscover some classic crime fiction from the golden era coming out this October from the fantastic Galileo Publishing! Full of gripping plot twists, irresistible suspense, whimsical characters and vivid settings, these are the perfect light reads to keep you guessing until the deliciously satisfying denouement at the very end. So draw the curtains, cosy up in a large armchair by the fire, and travel back in time to the Golden Age of crime fiction…
The King and the Corpse by Max Murray
Galileo Publishing | 9781915530158 | PB | £10.99 | 5th October 2023
While the weather is getting colder, take yourself away to a quiet resort on the French Riviera in Max Murray’s absorbing murder mystery. Anthony Tolworth, companion and agent of the exiled king of Althenia, lands from the King’s yacht in his search for entertainment and remuneration for the Royal household, but he meets a corpse on the beach in front of the Casino. He tries to solve the crime himself before the police can — who suspect the woman, Eve Raymond, with whom he is in love. He enlists the help of his headmistress aunt and two interfering and typical small boys. But the machinations of local politics, not to mention Althenian affairs, make the task almost impossible. The book, first published in 1949, is written with enormous humour and zest and the identity of the murderer is very well concealed. It’s a real pleasure to read.
Curiosity Killed The Cat by Joan Cockin
Galileo Publishing | 9781915530141 | PB | £10.99 | 26th October 2023
Little Biggling: a village that had been taken over by The Ministry of Scientific Research during the Second World War … and after the War, the Ministry had stayed on, much to the annoyance of several of the residents. However, being annoyed was one thing, being murdered quite another. It seemed that one of the members of the Civil Service who billeted in the village had been a little too curious about everybody and everything in Little Biggling, and there was a terrible price to pay. Inspector Cam found that he wasn’t getting much help in finding the person who had the most to hide… First published in 1949 this was the first of three detective thrillers penned by Joan Cockin, otherwise Edith Joan Burbidge Macintosh, PhD, CBE.
The Case of the Michaelmas Goose by Clifford Witting
Galileo Publishing | 9781915530127 | PB | £10.99 | 26th October 2023
Detective-Sergeant Martin christened him ‘Whiskers’, but nobody could be certain who he really was. That was not the only question that confronted Inspector Charlton of the C.I.D. How, for instance, did young Courtenay Harbord die? And why? Who was Number 106 and in what way did Mr. Ninian McCullough upset the apple-cart? The fourth Duke of Redbourn had built Etchworth Tower on the summit of High Down in 1782 and it was at the foot of it that they found Harbord one autumn morning, false bearded and with a broken neck. It looked, on the face of it, a simple case of suicide, but was it? This story of the Goose, the Killing and the Golden Eggs is not a murder mystery solved by an amateur criminologist from the depths of an armchair, but a page from the casebook of a professional detective, who does not get results by sitting still. A delicately-handled love affair adds piquancy to the complicated, but never tedious, investigation; Sergeant Bert Martin is always there with his pungent Cockney wit; and from the moment when old Tom Lee says, ‘Well I’ll be danged!’ the tale goes steadily forward to its exciting climax.
Who Killed The Curate? by Joan Coggin
Galileo Publishing | 9781915530134 | PB | £10.99 | 5th October 2023
With Christmas round the corner, why not get in the spirit with Joan Coggin’s witty humour and plotting in feel-good writing perfect for the season! Meet Lady Lupin Lorimer Hastings, the young, lovely, scatter brained and kind-hearted newlywed wife to Andrew, the vicar of St Marks parish in Glanville, Sussex. When it comes to matters clerical, she is rather at sea. Nevertheless, she is determined to make her husband proud of her or at least not to embarrass him too badly. When, on Christmas Eve, Andrew’s unpopular, blackmailing curate gets himself murdered, things all get a bit (hilariously) overwhelming for poor out-of-her-depth Lady Lupin. Lupin enlists old society pals Duds and Tommy Lethbridge, as well as Andrew’s nephew, a British secret service agent, to get at the truth. Lupin refuses to believe that Diana Lloyd, 38-year-old author of the children’s detective stories, could’ve done the deed and casts her net over the other parishioners. But all the suspects seem so nice — very much more so than the victim.
