The Murder of Eve

"Life hasn't always been easy here, but nobody has tried to murder me before."

Roger Fordyce, a little battered by an unhappy affair, visits the Albergo Del Castello, a splendid hotel located in a little town outside Rome. While wandering the grounds one morning, Roger believes he sees a dead body with long black hair floating in a water tank. The hotel-owner dismisses the corpse as the body of a mongrel dog, and Roger returns to England. Little does he heed the ripples now set in motion, which will have fearsome consequences for himself and many others.

Before long Roger is forced back to Italy, having joined forces with an unlikely band of amateur sleuths, including British writer Francis Gale, his schoolgirl daughter Anne, disgraced piano teacher Lily, earnest British embassy official Ronald, and the high-born Marchese Luigi de Sanctis.

The Murder of Eve was first published in 1945. This new edition includes an introduction and afterword by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.