The Case of the Happy Warrior

“At first it may seem an astounding coincidence that two members of a family should have considered it necessary to ask for the services of the same detective agency. I think I can prove otherwise, and even if I can’t, the facts remain. Alice Stonhill and Peter Wesslake did precisely what I have said, and what’s more . . .”

So Ludovic Travers says at the opening of a case in which he joins with Bill Ellice and Superintendent George Wharton to solve the mystery of a novelist, his two wives, and a murder that happened contrary to expectations—not to mention the identity of the Happy Warrior. This is one of Christopher Bush’s crispest brain-teasers told in the smooth and friendly Travers manner loved by the author’s devotees.

The Case of the Happy Warrior was originally published in 1950. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

“Christopher Bush is one of the good ones. Although he has written so many mysteries, the strange thing is that they all sound fresh, wide-eyed and dewy, as if he had written hardly any.” New York Herald Tribune