Overview

'My dear Inspector, this is simply nonsense. Girls don't murder each other in respectable dress shops.' Life for the staff of the West End boutique Christophe et Cie is hard enough with all the pressures of delivering the ambitious Mr. Bevan's vision and then comes murder, a poisoning via the toxic crystals of hat-cleaner, pitching haute couture into heinous crime. Faced with a fashionable collection of overwrought designers, buttoned-up models, downtrodden sales girls and tyrannical middle-managers, the dashing Inspector Charlesworth of Scotland Yard must disentangle workplace grudges from deadly motives before the killer can make a trend of murder. First published in 1941, Brand's debut mystery is brimming with the caustic wit, ingenious misdirection and ruthless twists that would later earn her a place among the queens of classic crime fiction. 'It is a very long time since I have read a better story. Oh yes, this is not only the book of the month, but the book of the year.' Raymond Postgate in Time and Tide, April 1941 'A bull's-eye! Miss Brand has succeeded not only with the puzzle (which is uncommonly good), but even more with the atmosphere.' Illustrated London News 'This new writer of mystery tales is welcome, for she has a cheerfully satiric manner... The reader is kept on tenterhooks until the end.' Daily Telegraph

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Reviews

“A bull’s-eye! Miss Brand has succeeded not only with the puzzle (which is uncommonly good), but even more with the atmosphere.” – Illustrated London News “This new writer of mystery tales is welcome, for she has a cheerfully satiric manner… The reader is kept on tenterhooks until the end.” – Daily Telegraph “Miss Brand has exhibited an ingenuity worthy of Agatha Christie in throwing us off the scent of the real criminal.” – J. D. Beresford

Author Information

Christianna Brand (19071988) was born in British Malaya and was one of the most celebrated crime writers of the twentieth century. She is best known for her mystery novels featuring Inspector Cockrill along with the Nurse Matilda books for children, which were adapted for screen as Nanny McPhee. The Cockrill novels Green for Danger, Death of Jezebel and Suddenly at His Residence have been published as British Library Crime Classics.

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