Michael Innes

A Scotland Yard detective investigates a peculiar case of murder, poetry, kidnapping, and German spies in this classic British wartime thriller. Insp. John Appleby is puzzled by the death of Philip Ploss. Who would want to kill such a harmless, quiet man known for writing mid-level nature poetry? . . . Poetry is what Sheila Grant overhears two men discussing on a train outside Edinburgh. Their whole conversation seems absurd to her, especially...

An erudite Scotland Yard detective investigates after a professor meets a hellish end with a heavenly body in this classic British mystery. When Professor Pluckrose is found dead in his deckchair on the campus of a provincial English university, it looks as though the eminent biochemist was struck by a falling meteorite. But this was no act of God-the stone was dropped from a nearby tower. With the local authorities baffled, Scotland Yard's...

A London detective investigates when a troubled Scottish laird takes a fall in this classic British mystery by the author of Hamlet, Revenge!. Strange things are happening around the remote Castle Erchany, located in the Scottish Highlands. The miserly and reclusive laird, Ranald Guthrie, roams the castle's freezing halls, reciting an old poem over and over: Timor mortis conturbat me. Fear of death disturbs me . . . Then on a wild winter night,...

A Scotland Yard detective is snowed in with a strange family and a killer with a lethal passion for literature in this classic British mystery. Something's afoot in the village of Snarl. Incidents include animals turned to stone and ominous tombstones inscribed with deaths yet to come. Det. Insp. John Appleby is travelling by train from London to consult on the case. However, impending his arrival to his connecting train is a terrible snowstorm....

In this chilling classic British mystery thriller, a Scotland Yard inspector and his sister search for her missing fiancé in a city of vanishing people. Petty con man Alfred Routh thinks a place like Milton Manor outside Oxford will have something nice to steal. When he learns what is inside, however, he is desperate to steal away with his life . . . Meanwhile, Sir John Appleby from Scotland Yard is headed to Oxford to help his sister Jane....

Scotland Yard's director and a school headmaster team up to find a missing biological warfare expert in this classic, Cold War–era mystery thriller. At the height of the Cold War, one of Britain's top-secret scientists is missing. Prof. Howard Juniper was last seen leaving his lab where he conducted research on biological warfare. What's even more troubling is he may have a virulent, deadly sample with him. He must be found as quickly-and with...

From a British crime author "in a class by himself among detective story writers," twenty-three short mysteries featuring the brilliant Inspector Appleby (The Times Literary Supplement). It appears Inspector Appleby is ready to tell all in this must-read collection of twenty-three short stories from acclaimed Scottish mystery author Michael Innes. One of the most discerning detectives of Golden Age fiction, Appleby sits down with pipe in hand to...

A Scotland Yard inspector holds the key when a college professor is shot behind a series of locked gates in this classic British mystery series opener. The usually quiet campus of St. Anthony's College is abuzz with talk of murder. Someone shot Prof. Josiah Umpleby, the college's president, in his room during the night. Word spreads all the way to London, and Insp. John Appleby of New Scotland Yard is dispatched to consult on the case. The...

A Scotland Yard detective probes a high-society house party for someone rotten when a government official is murdered in this classic British mystery. Preparations are underway for a grand party at Scamnum Court, the sweeping English country estate of the fabulously wealthy Duke of Horton. Some of the nation's elite are invited for dinner, and some are even set to star in a semi-amateur production of Hamlet on an authentic Elizabethan stage in...