Cost Price

Cost Price is a novel from Yates’ later career. The novel is a tale of stolen treasure set against the backdrop of World War II. This is the last appearance of Richard Chandos, and this finale does not disappoint: a traveling circus, striking villains, action and adventure, and even a Portuguese mule in trousers! Vintage comedy with a tense and assured plot from a master of the genre. In the US, this novel was titled “The Laughing Bacchante”.


Dornford Yates was the pseudonym of the British novelist, Cecil William Mercer (7 August 1885 – 5 March 1960), whose novels and short stories, some humorous (the Berry books), some thrillers (the Chandos books), were best-sellers in the 21-year interwar period between the First and Second world wars.