A bobby on his night rounds discovers a corpse in evening dress locked in the stocks on the village green. Inspector Hannasyde is called in, but sorting out the suspects proves a challenge. Anyone in the eccentric, exceedingly uncooperative Vereker family had the motive and means to kill Andrew Vereker, who seemed to have been universally disliked. One cousin allies himself with the inspector, while the victim's half-brother and sister, each of whom suspects the other, markedly try to set him off the scent. To readers' delight, the killer is so cunning (not to mention the author), that the mystery remains until the very end…

Uncle Henry has a history of heart trouble and doesn't wake up one morning. No one, even his physician, is surprised. But dear Aunt Gertrude, listening to Intuition, suspects Foul Play and insists on an autopsy. Since Aunt Gertrude is a cross between a battleship and a Victorian bulldog, an autopsy she gets. Surprise! Uncle Henry was, indeed, poisoned. The problem is that all of his relations have a motive. You see, Uncle Henry was not well liked at all; he took positive delight in thwarting his erstwhile relatives. They included two sisters, one sister-in-law, a niece, two nephews, and an attending physician who all had reason to hate him, and all benefited in one way or another from his unlamented passing

Silas Kane's sixtieth birthday party is marred by argument and dissension amongst his family, and then the next morning, Kane is found dead. The coroner's verdict of death by misadventure would seem to confirm that Silas accidentally lost his way in the fog. But then his heir is shot, and threats are made against the next in line to inherit his fortune. The redoubtable Superintendent Hannasyde is called in to investigate. All clues point to an apparently innocuous eighty-year-old woman, but as the Inspector delves further into the case, he discovers that nothing is quite as it seems…

When Ernest Fletcher is found bludgeoned to death in his study, everyone is shocked and mystified: Ernest was well liked and respected, so who would want to kill him? Enter Superintendent Hannasyde who, with consummate skill, begins to uncover the complexities of Fletcher’s life. It seems the real Fletcher was far from the gentleman he pretended to be