Crooked House

First published in 1949, this mystery follows Charles Hayward, who returns from the war hoping to marry Sophia Leonides and finds her grandfather Aristide poisoned in the family house at Swinley Dean. Three generations live under one roof: the old man's young widow, his sons and their wives, a children's governess, and a sister who writes children's books. Charles, with the police, sifts wills, medicines, and household hatreds. The house itself, built and added to without plan, holds the suspects. The novel is a closed-circle family murder story, not a Poirot or Marple case.

Three-quarter bound in black cloth with blocked spine title and a colour printed and blocked cream Modigliani paper front board. Green endpapers. Plain slipcase.