Francis Vivian: 12 books

At what point in the life of Edward Packman did the Angel of Death put his finger on him and say “You are mine!”? When Packman was killed, he died unmourned. The editor of a weekly paper, Packman was heartily hated by his staff, and where you have reason for hatred you may have motive for...

“Where are you going?” asked Knollis, as Brother Ignatius pushed back his chair. “To try to prevent a murder.” Roger Cartland was a successful and respected business man in Burnham. So all the citizens believe—until his poisoned body is found late one night in the wreckage...

“Lomas was poisoned, shaved after death, and placed in the river. He is full of whisky and the post-mortem examination will undoubtedly prove that cocaine was in the alcohol. The murderer worked on him with a lavish hand, one so lavish that it may eventually prove to be his undoing.” When...

Frank Jennings was a keen murder-mystery fan, but no one was more surprised than he to find himself mixed up in a murder mystery in real life, and that the victim was the wife of one of his own neighbours. Paul Murray was the sort of man who ought to have hanged for murder. There everybody...

“Of course, it’s rotten having a murder in the village, and especially in what was once my own house, but I’m not sorry that he’s gone.” Inspector Gordon Knollis heads from Scotland Yard to the village of Bowland, investigating what initially appears a trivial mystery. Mrs. Frederick...

He shone the torch into the depths of the well. There was water at the foot of the shaft. Something dark and mis-shapen was huddled against the brickwork. What Old Heatherington doesn’t know about bee-keeping isn’t worth knowing. But the behaviour of the bees that day was extraordinary—they...

If Lesley Dexter had not been a snob her husband might have lived out his three-score-and-ten years. Five years have passed without any major crime disturbing the provincial peace of the city of Burnham, and then, on an October night, a scream rends the midnight air in the residential suburb...

Grayson tipped back his head, and stared at the ceiling. Herby was certainly not liked, but who on earth, apart from himself, hated him sufficiently to think of murder? As he waits for the Norfolk-bound train to steam from its London terminus, Brother Ignatius experiences a strange premonition....

“Inspector, it’s—it’s dastardly!” “Mrs. Huntingdon,” said Knollis, “your choice of words is admirable!” Inspector Knollis of Scotland Yard is hoping for a nice quiet weekend in the country. Instead he is embroiled in a murder case—the death by gunshot of local bigwig...

“He’s dead all right. Taken him clean through the heart. It’s murder, Rose!” Michael Maddison, the host of the Fox Inn, is hellbent on preventing his sister and niece from marrying—a difficult task when both ladies are being ardently courted in the district. When one of the suitors,...

Madeleine Burke is prepared to swear that she was Dr. Challoner’s last patient on Tuesday evening, and that he was alive and in good spirits when she bade him good night. While holidaying in Algiers, Hugh Challoner encounters the lightning-sketch artist Aubrey Highton. Highton is desirous...

Sugarcane is the source of over three quarters of the world’s sugar, and is grown widely in the tropics and sub-tropics. Despite rising demand, average yields have not increased significantly, partly because of continued vulnerability to pests and diseases. In addition, cultivation has been seen...