{"title":"Books by Christianna Brand","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780712354233","title":"Suddenly at His Residence","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Christianna Brand is not merely a purveyor of thrills or a maker of puzzles. She is a novelist.” – The Daily Telegraph\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile the Blitz bombards London, the boisterous grandchildren of Sir Richard March have descended upon Swanswater Manor in Kent for a family gathering and the finalising of the patriarch’s will. Disgruntled by the behaviour and life choices of his heirs, March seems poised to deny all of them their inheritance and heads out to his lodge to make arrangements – only to be discovered dead the next morning with strychnine in his blood.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith evidence at the crime scene suggesting that nobody could possibly have entered the lodge to murder March, Inspector Cockrill – the “Terror of Kent” – has the challenge of finding any plausible solution for this impossible crime before death comes to darken the doors of Swanswater once more.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlso known by its American title \u003cem\u003eThe Crooked Wreath\u003c\/em\u003e, this classic mystery novel from 1947 is loaded with sharply drawn characters and devilish misdirection, all capped by one of the genre’s most thrilling denouements.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43128872861874,"sku":"9780712354233","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780712354233_51b0550a-a2b2-4802-918e-2b00ec59aad0.jpg?v=1786014816"},{"product_id":"9780008381004","title":"Bodies from the Library 4","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis annual anthology of rare stories of crime and suspense brings together tales from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction for the first time in book form, including a short novel by Christianna Brand.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMystery stories have been around for centuries—there are whodunits, whydunits and howdunits, including locked-room puzzles, detective stories without detectives, and crimes with a limited choice of suspects. Countless volumes of such stories have been published, but some are still impossible to find: stories that appeared in a newspaper, magazine or an anthology that has long been out of print; ephemeral works such as plays not aired, staged or screened for decades; and unpublished stories that were absorbed into an author’s archive when they died . . .\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHere for the first time are three never-before-published mysteries by Edmund Crispin, Ngaio Marsh and Leo Bruce, and two pieces written for radio by Gladys Mitchell and H. C. Bailey—the latter featuring Reggie Fortune. Together with a newly unearthed short story by Ethel Lina White that inspired Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes, and a complete short novel by Christianna Brand, this diverse mix of tales by some of the world’s most popular classic crime writers contains something for everyone. Complete with indispensable biographies by Tony Medawar of all the featured authors, the fourth volume in the series Bodies from the Library once again brings into the daylight the forgotten, the lost and the unknown.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":57685883945333,"sku":"9780008380977","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43128990859442,"sku":"9780008381004","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780008381004_cae81f05-b82d-4409-9807-e54f71e59b7a.jpg?v=1792599109"},{"product_id":"9780712354905","title":"Green for Danger","description":"\u003cp\u003eIt is 1942, and struggling up the hill to the new military hospital, Heron’s Park, Kent, postman Higgins has no idea that the sender of one of the seven letters of application he is delivering will turn out to be a murderer in a year’s time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Higgins is brought in following injuries from a bombing raid in 1943, his inexplicable death from asphyxiation at the operating table casts four nurses and three doctors under suspicion, and a second death in quick succession invites the presence of the irascible – yet uncommonly shrewd – Inspector Cockrill to the scene. As the prospect of driving back across Kent amid falling bombs detains the inspector for the night, a tense and claustrophobic investigation begins to determine who committed the foul deeds, and how it was possible to kill with no evidence left behind.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43204049240242,"sku":"9780712354905","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780712354905_64d9f715-da86-49ce-bbd8-b6a8768d7478.jpg?v=1786014874"},{"product_id":"9780712354912","title":"Death of Jezebel","description":"\u003cp\u003eAt Elysian Hall, a great exhibition space in post-War London, a cast has been assembled for a Medieval pageant show. There are knights in coloured armour, real horses, and a fair damsel in the tower on high. Tragedy is in the air when several members of the troupe are sent death threats before the show, and the worst comes to pass when one of the players is found dead – killed during the performance while all entrances to backstage were observed and with the eyes of the audience on the other side. Inspector Cockrill and Inspector Charlesworth adopt the case, rivals in a race to answer the impossible question: how could it have been done?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFirst published in 1948, Brand’s masterpiece of the impossible crime subgenre is a fiendishly complex yet riveting mystery, featuring nuanced characters, Shakespearean plotting, dumbfounding acts of misdirection and a truly thrilling denouement.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43206073024690,"sku":"9780712354912","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780712354912_76cc1373-9772-462d-a981-d94983e00aab.jpg?v=1786014876"},{"product_id":"9780712355407","title":"London Particular","description":"\u003cp\u003e“You have to reach for the greatest of the Great Names (Agatha Christie, John Dickson Carr, Ellery Queen) to find Christianna Brand‘s rivals in the subtleties of the trade.” – Anthony Boucher in the New York Times\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNight falls in the capital, and a “London particular” pea-souper fog envelops the city. In Maida Vale, Rose and her family doctor Tedwards struggle through the dark after a man has telephoned from Rose’s house, claiming to have been attacked. By the time they arrive the victim, Raoul Vernet, is dead. The news he brought from Switzerland for Rose’s mother has died with him.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eArriving to the scene, Inspector Cockrill faces a fiendish case with seven suspects who could have murdered their guest – family members and friends with alibis muddled by the suffocating fog and motives wrapped in mystery. Now, the race is on to find the truth before the killer strikes again.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFirst published in 1952, London Particular was Brand’s favourite among her own books, and it remains a fast-paced and witty masterpiece of the genre, showing off the author’s signature flair for the ruthless twist.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44203689509042,"sku":"9780712355407","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780712355407_fd34c56f-76e7-4085-8058-0175a519e40a.jpg?v=1786014917"},{"product_id":"9780008289256","title":"Bodies from the Library","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis anthology of rare stories of crime and suspense brings together 16 tales by masters of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction for the first time in book form, including a newly discovered Agatha Christie crime story that has not been seen since 1922.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt a time when crime and thriller writing has once again overtaken the sales of general and literary fiction, Bodies from the Library unearths lost stories from the Golden Age, that period between the World Wars when detective fiction captured the public’s imagination and saw the emergence of some of the world’s cleverest and most popular storytellers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis anthology brings together 16 forgotten tales that have either been published only once before – perhaps in a newspaper or rare magazine – or have never before appeared in print. From a previously unpublished 1917 script featuring Ernest Bramah’s blind detective Max Carrados, to early 1950s crime stories written for London’s Evening Standard by Cyril Hare, Freeman Wills Crofts and A.A. Milne, it spans five decades of writing by masters of the Golden Age.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMost anticipated of all are the contributions by women writers: the first detective story by Georgette Heyer, unseen since 1923; an unpublished story by Christianna Brand, creator of Nanny McPhee; and a dark tale by Agatha Christie published only in an Australian journal in 1922 during her ‘Grand Tour’ of the British Empire. With other stories by Detection Club stalwarts Anthony Berkeley, H.C. Bailey, J.J. Connington, John Rhode and Nicholas Blake, plus Vincent Cornier, Leo Bruce, Roy Vickers and Arthur Upfield, this essential collection harks back to a time before forensic science – when murder was a complex business.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56221434610037,"sku":"9780008289256","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780008289256_e16a1af8-255b-4511-a914-a1c52e49deac.jpg?v=1785658933"},{"product_id":"9780712355636","title":"As If By Magic","description":"\u003cp\u003eImpossible crime stories have delighted readers since the invention of detective fiction as puzzle-lovers sought more cerebral entertainment. Following on from Miraculous Mysteries, CWA Diamond Dagger Award-winning crime writer Martin Edwards brings together a whole new casebook of mystifying locked room mysteries and impossible crimes. Featuring more great stories by John Dickson Carr, Julian Symons and Margery Allingham alongside newly rediscovered writers, this selection of stories will bring you more insight into one of the most celebrated and dazzling sub-genres of detective fiction.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56294659555701,"sku":"9780712355636","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780712355636_763f1b5e-d897-4c7d-9614-cf036b0cce0f.jpg?v=1786014937"},{"product_id":"9780712355360","title":"Tour de Force","description":"\u003cp\u003e“Written with much ingenuity, gaiety of colour and bright, joyful malice ... Christianna Brand’s readers are also taken on holiday in Tour de Force.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e– Julian Symons in the Times Literary Supplement, 1955\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eInspector Cockrill has finally booked a holiday, destined for a Mediterranean tour with a motley crew of fellow vacationers. By the time they have reached the island of San Juan el Pirata off the Italian coast, the tour group is a bubbling pot of rivalries and tension between friends and lovers, threatening to boil over into violence in the scorching summer heat.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs six holidaymakers relax at the beach under Cockrill’s watch, the seventh of their number is slain in the hotel. Believing that the murderer must have been one of the beachgoers, Cockrill faces what looks like an impossible puzzle – one that must be solved before the island’s own police force delivers the wrong suspect to their doom.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFirst published in 1955, Brand’s classic novel skewers the package holiday experience while unravelling one of the most audacious and devilish mysteries in the history of the genre.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56296038564213,"sku":"9780712355360","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780712355360_edb8f78e-94b7-44b5-a77d-5547b2ada395.jpg?v=1786014913"},{"product_id":"9780712355520","title":"Cat and Mouse","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eGirls Together\u003c\/em\u003e magazine agony-aunt ‘Mrs Friendly-wise’, aka Katinka Jones, finds herself at a loose end in Swansea, and decides to pay a surprise visit to one of the magazine’s regular correspondents, ‘Amista’. But reaching the address – a strange house perched atop a mountain which matches all of the descriptions in the letters – nobody has even heard of ‘Amista’. As Katinka begins to fall for the dashing master of the house, Carleon, more weird mysteries emerge and the plucky Detective Inspector Chucky joins the search for the truth in this self-consciously lurid mystery-melodrama; a rollicking cavalcade of Brand’s signature twists and turns.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56296669380981,"sku":"9780712355520","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780712355520_bd3a2e1c-089c-4ed3-ba59-c4b3358f16a1.jpg?v=1786014928"},{"product_id":"9781526659507","title":"The Nurse Matilda Collection","description":"\u003cp\u003eA beautiful new collection of the classic Nurse Matilda tales that inspired the film and musical \u003ci\u003eNanny McPhee\u003c\/i\u003e – with glorious original illustrations by Edward Ardizzone\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eOnce upon a time there was a huge family of children; and they were terribly, terribly naughty …\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe inspiration for the much-loved film \u003ci\u003eNanny McPhee\u003c\/i\u003e, starring Emma Thompson and Colin Firth, and soon to be a West End Musicalm the Nurse Matilda stories overflow with naughtiness, wit and timeless humour. This collection is the perfect gift for mischief-makers both young and old!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe collection contains all three instalments in the Nurse Matilda series, accompanied by Edward Ardizzone’s beautiful original illustrations:\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNurse Matilda\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNurse Matilda Goes to Town\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eNurse Matilda Goes to Hospital\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56303055765877,"sku":"9781526659507","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781526659507_0fe7035c-65fe-4ca6-9128-7886cc6f435d.jpg?v=1786022419"},{"product_id":"9780712355247","title":"Death in High Heels","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe pursuit of fashion is a matter of life and death in the debut novel from Christianna Brand, one of the Queens of Golden Age crime fiction. Life in the West End dress shop Christophe et Cie is hard enough with all the pressures of delivering Frank Bevan’s business vision – and then comes murder, delivered by oxalic acid, transforming the boutique into a crime scene. Featuring a colourful cast of designers, models, shop floor assistants and the fresh-faced Inspector Charlesworth, this 1941 mystery brims with Brand’s signature wit and ruthless twists.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56367784821109,"sku":"9780712355247","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780712355247_03fc95d5-4260-4bfd-b122-90f1dedf9c91.jpg?v=1786014901"},{"product_id":"9780712369503","title":"Shadows Over Cymru","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom the peaks of Eryri to dramatic coastlines, misty valleys and haunted mines, Wales is a land whose myth and folklore has long been reflected in a thriving storytelling tradition, with the dragons and sorcerers of the \u003cem\u003eMabinogion\u003c\/em\u003e and Arthurian legend laying a path for later tales of the \u003cem\u003eTylwyth Teg\u003c\/em\u003e, and the pitiless fair folk of Arthur Machen’s fictional world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo show the breadth of the strange tales inspired by the Celtic history and local legends of Cymru, horror expert Aaron Worth presents an exciting new selection of Anglophone Welsh fiction, including folkloric retellings, classics of the early twentieth-century weird and chilling pieces by writers from beyond the country’s borders. Featuring stories by Dylan Thomas, Christianna Brand, Algernon Blackwood, Arthur Machen, Margiad Evans and many more, this collection welcomes you to the darker side of Cymru.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56420506075509,"sku":"9780712369503","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780712369503_58bd4e5e-1041-49a1-9389-e410977a775e.jpg?v=1786015005"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-christianna-brand.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}