As Miss Maggs made her way nervously home, a clock stuck one, the town's lights were switched off and footsteps sounded behind her. She broke into a desperate run. Later the doctor pronounced that she...

When Dorothy Squirl's speech for the opening of the Fallowfield Fête blew out of her hands, she found herself under the heady influence of an overdose of pep pills, calling on all women to unite to put...

A Victorian family is left high and dry when its lord and master sails off to China to bring back the first tea of the season. Absent for six months at a time, he never ceases to dominate the lives of...

Laura Chance, wife of Borford's prospective Lord Mayor, becomes infatuated with her young hairdresser, Pierre, who resembles her dead son. Pierre is utterly selfish, unscrupulous and sees in the wealthy,...

The quiet town of Cattminster is shocked by news of a startling murder - startling because all the evidence points to the murderer being Richard Groom, grandson of the late canon of Cattminster Cathedral...

Mrs Bonnet was renowned for the delicacies she concocted in her semi-basement kitchen, but never did she imagine she would serve up murder to her beloved mistress! But when Mrs Bonnet, who has the lightest...

A short story by Guy Cullingford 'See my finger's wetSee my finger's drySlit my throat if I tell a lie . . .'When a young girl approaches a man reading by a tree, warning him of a murder, he rushes to...

Who killed Gilbert Worth? The official verdict was suicide, but those that knew him best thought he was not the type to take his own life. Furthermore, before his death, a missing gun, a half-written...

Joyce Cave had her husband, Robert, exactly where she wanted him - in a private gaol with herself, her aunt and her uncle as warders. He had been charged with killing the local good-time girl, who had...

George White, an inoffensive little chemist in East Anglia, finds himself the possessor of a somewhat unusual accomplishment - he only has to wish someone dead and his wish is granted.The first inkling...

When Bertha Harris's husband dies she draws comfort from routine and expects the rest of her life to drift by in the same quiet, uneventful way. But she hasn't reckoned on her nephews and niece, who are...

Archie Wayne, successful playwright, could not say what impulse had made him return to the small town of his boyhood. On impulse, he called on his boyhood friend, and the matter would have ended there...

In the cheerful, grubby backstreets of Soho, Jessie Milk finds herself a most unsuitable occupation as a receptionist in a hotel frequented by unsuccessful variety artists. Among the hotel's regulars...