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';Why should anyone want to pinch the daggerexcept to do somebody in?'No one answered this question.Item: one anonymous phone call reporting a murder at a historic country house but no body is to be found. Item: one ornate antique knife, discovered in a village call-box, blood-stains on the blade.Rather than identifying a corpse, Bobby Owen of the Yard has to find out who, if anyone, has actually been killed. Two persons, one a best-selling author, the other no-one's cup of tea, are missing but a particular kind of hat keep turning up in the case which also involves a haunted wood, a hatchet-wielding secretary, and a curious abundance of writers.The Golden Dagger is the twenty-ninth novel in the Bobby Owen Mystery series, originally published in 1951. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans, and a selection of E.R. Punshon's prolific Guardian reviews of other golden age mystery fiction.';What is distinction? in the works of Mr. E.R. Punshon we salute it every time.'--Dorothy L. Sayers

She wondered how Lady Masters got her old parlour maid to carry the coffee right across the lawn. But, of course, Lady Masters got things simply by always having had them and by taking it for granted that she always would have them.In Bramton Wick, the setting of Elizabeth Fair's cheerful debut novel, tensions and resentmentsnot to mention romanceroil beneath the polite interactions of its charming and eccentric residents.There's upper crust Lady Masters, taking the good things for granted but thoroughly cowed by her gardener. There's Gillian Cole, a war widow, and her sister Laura, for whom romance may (or may not) be in the offing. There's Miss Selbourne and ';Tiger' Garrett, who met driving ambulances during the war (the first one, though Miss Garrett does get them confused). There's Major Worthy, who is quite energetic for an invalid. And there's the three Misses Cleeve, who are ';all remarkably like toads' and who have a casual relationship with the truth.Furrowed Middlebrow is delighted to make available, for the first time in over half a century, all six of Elizabeth Fair's irresistible comedies of domestic life. These new editions all feature an introduction by Elizabeth Crawford.';Miss Fair's understanding is deeper than Mrs. Thirkell's and her humour is untouched by snobbishness; she is much nearer to Trollope, grand master in these matters.'--Stevie Smith';Miss Fair's first novel is not one of promise but of accomplishment. Good luck to her!'--John Betjeman';Deliciously malicious humour abounds.'--Vanity Fair

Of all the unhappiness my divorce has brought upon me, loneliness has never been in the least a part. Lack of company in the evening is to me an absolute luxury.Thus does Vicky, a young divorce in London with a small daughter to support, reassure herself.But as the plucky courage of the early days of World War II gives way to the fatigue and deprivations of its middle, company in the evening is just what she gets. To the chagrin of her housekeeper, Vicky agrees to take in a pregnant, widowed sister-in-law (';Talking to her is like walking through a bogsquash, squash, squashnever, just never do you really crunch on to anything solid'). As she is adapting to this change and the tensions it creates, and dealing with an impossible client at work at a literary agency, she happens to meet ex-husband Raymond one night Told in a first-person confessional style ahead of its time, and featuring Ursula Orange's trademark humour, Company in the Evening is a charming evocation of wartime life, snobbishness in many forms, and the difficulties of being a woman on her own.';Delightfully entertaining good portraits add considerably to its attractiveness. Light reading of the most enjoyable kind.' Sunday Times';Brilliant portraiture. Crisp writing. Human understanding. Really excellent light reading.' Sunday Graphic

Oxford, it appeared, if it did not seem to have fitted her for any precise occupation, had at least unfitted her for a great many things.In her charming and incisive debut novel, Ursula Orange focuses her sharp eye on four young women only recently down from Oxford.Jane and Florence live in London, working at office jobs, the latter channelling her excess energy into a dreadfully earnest novel of her own. Sylvia remains at home, shocking her family with theories of sexual and social liberation. And Leslie, as the novel opens, idealizes the other three, as she tries to convince her mother to let her use her small nest egg to attend art school in London.As the four friends balance their youthful ideals with the realities of work and romance in 1930s England, Orange offers hilarious and thoughtful perspectives on the quandaries of educated, ambitious women in a world not yet ready for them. This new edition includes an introduction by Stacy Marking.';a charming and deftly written book' Sunday Times';The fresh quality and genuine youthfulness of this story are as charming in fiction as in life.' Times Literary Supplement';an unusually good first novel, in a decade of unusually good first novels.' Daily Telegraph

';I wonder what Mr. Heritage thought of his godson,' she said quickly.';Rather clumsy, but quite good manners,' Edith remarked. ';And a well-shaped skull.'These were her own views, but she took it for granted that sensible people would agree with her.Sisters Edith and Rose have rather come down in the world by keeping their hotel, Seaview House. So Mr Heritage believes, and he's not pleased when Rose's daughter Lucygrown a bit too attractive for his comfortbecomes friendly with his godson Edward. Would-be paramour Nevil isn't thrilled either, and to complicate matters further, Edward is behind a scheme to build new terraced housing, depriving village residents of their coveted sea view.Dilemmas and dramas unfoldincluding a fire, a cook's prophecy, and a disaster of a luncheonbut the loose ends get tied up in Elizabeth Fair's cheerful, inimitable style.Furrowed Middlebrow is delighted to make available, for the first time in over half a century, all six of Elizabeth Fair's irresistible comedies of domestic life. These new editions all feature an introduction by Elizabeth Crawford.';light-hearted, shrewd, diverting'--New York Times';Miss Fair makes writing look very easy, and that is the measure of her creative ability.'--Compton Mackenzie

A widow, at an age when birthdays are best forgotten, with no children to occupy her mind, can be very lonely. Julia Dunstan knew she was more fortunate than most widows, not merely because she was prosperousas widows gobut because she had always taken an interest in other people.And from the moment Julia moves to Goatstock, where she has inherited a house, there are plenty of people for her to take an interest in. For a start, there's cousin Dora, who might just as easily been left the house herself and who instead becomes Julia's companion.Then there's Lady Finch, the local expert on Fresh Food and the victim of a deception so dastardly that even her attractive but irreverent niece, Harriet, is indignant. This distracts Harriet for a while from the rather thankless task of planning the futures of her friends, Marian and Robert. And all are concerned with news that the village will be made into a ';New Town'. However the old values, at least those of Elizabeth Fair's fiction, remain: wit, charm, and romance.Furrowed Middlebrow is delighted to make available, for the first time in over half a century, all six of Elizabeth Fair's irresistible comedies of domestic life. These new editions all feature an introduction by Elizabeth Crawford.';Where she breaks with the Thirkell school is in her total absence of sentimentality and her detached and witty observation of her characters.'--The Sphere';Miss Fair makes writing look very easy, and that is the measure of her creative ability.'--Compton Mackenzie

At the end of the war, Mrs. Midge stayed on. While the war lasted Mrs. Custance had accepted her as part of the war-effort; it was only in the past year or two that Mrs. Midge had been transferred to the category which Mrs. Custance described as ';people we could manage without.'Elizabeth Fair's rollicking second novel takes place in Little Mallin, where village life is largely dominated by preparations for the August Festival. Out of such ordinary material Fair weaves a tale of conflict, scheming, misunderstandingand of course romance.Among the villagers are a vicar dreaming of ancient Greece; his wife, largely concerned with getting their daughter married off; the melancholic Colonel Ashford; the eccentric Eustace Templer and his nephew; not to mention Mrs. Midge and her delicate son. The author said the novel was meant for people who ';prefer not to take life too seriously.' Compton Mackenzie said it was ';in the best tradition of English humour.'Furrowed Middlebrow is delighted to make available, for the first time in over half a century, all six of Elizabeth Fair's irresistible comedies of domestic life. These new editions all feature an introduction by Elizabeth Crawford.';Where she breaks with the Thirkell school is in her total absence of sentimentality and her detached and witty observation of her characters.'--The Sphere';A real success will give pleasure to those for whom Trollope and Jane Austen remain the twin pillars of English fiction.'--John O'London's Weekly

';Take my advice; from to-day keep your own counsel. Listen to everything, disclose nothing. Avoid being alone. Come to me if you're in doubt about anything or feel you scent danger. I can assure you we both live in danger.'Geoffrey Mayne is in need of some serious r'n'r after studying intensively for his bar exams in London. A luxurious Pacific island cruise seems just the ticket, especially when one of his fellow passengers is the attractive young Freda Shannon.But after a terrible storm and shipwreck, Geoffrey and Freda find themselves in a small party of survivors, marooned on a remote South Sea island. The castaways resolve to make the best of what may be a long wait on the deserted isle. But is it really deserted? A gunshot is heard and then one of their party is found, slain. Is a shadowy denizen intent on murdering the interlopers, or is the hidden truth more diabolical still?Murder on Paradise Island was first published in 1937. This new edition includes an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.';Mr. Forsythe belongs to the new school of detective story writers which might be called the brilliant flippant school.' J.B. Priestley

';There's a spot of trouble this morning. Old gentleman found dead in his bath.'Bobby answered: ';there may be one chance in a million it's natural death.'When the notorious gangster Cy King was imprisoned thanks to Commander Bobby Owen's investigation, he spent a good deal of time talking about avenging himself. Now Cy's out of jail, linked to a notorious London nightclub owner, while a man impersonating Bobby has been spotted snooping around in a remote London suburb. The same suburb, as it happens, where a young woman, recently arrived from Canada, has seemingly vanished into thin air. All Bobby's investigations lead to the unassuming borough of Southam, where the disappearance of Elizabeth Smith is compounded by the sudden death of a respectable old man. Cy keep dodging around in the background of the case, but can Bobby bring it home to the old villain or find an alternative solution?The Secret Search, a classic golden age whodunit, is the twenty-eighth novel in the Bobby Owen Mystery series, originally published in 1951. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans, and a selection of E.R. Punshon's prolific Guardian reviews of other golden age mystery fiction.';What is distinction? in the works of Mr. E.R. Punshon we salute it every time.'--Dorothy L. Sayers

';I judge him to have been dead just about twenty-four hours. Suicide, almost certainly.'Ludovic Travers polished his eyeglasses. Inspector Wharton gruntedsure signs of impending mystery. And they were right.The car took the wrong turning and landed them in double murder dressed as suicide. In one room, made up for her principal success, Mary Tudor, was Mary Legreyepoisoned on her throne. In the next, the handymandead on the floor. Nothing initially justifies arrestbut Travers pursues his hunch, breaks a cast-iron alibi, and justifies, as never before, his reputation for unerring intuition.The Case of the Tudor Queen was originally published in 1938. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.';The visionary Travers seems to be crooning to himself with considerable justice: ';We are the alibi breakers; we are the dreamers of dreams.''--Observer