Death in a Duffle Coat

Death in a Duffle Coat, first published in 1956 as a Crime Club Detective Story, features Inspector Henry Arnold and Desmond Merrion, no. 52 in the series of British mysteries by Miles Burton (a pen-name for prolific author Cecil Street [1884-1964]).

From the dustjacket: Two old ladies, Miss Price and Miss Marsland, lived together in the Lodge Cottage. Old Miss Price's death looked like a tragic accident: she must have slipped and fallen in the icy yard of the cottage when, wearing a duffle coat against the cold, she went to fetch a bucket of coal. But it transpired that Miss Price had been murdered. Indeed, the cottage was empty, for Miss Marsland too had mysteriously disappeared, though in her case no body was found. Desmond Merrion and Inspector Arnold soon find themselves involved in a case of great complexity. There are more murders and some strange discoveries, inexplicable and macabre. Merrion slowly moves towards a solution, impeded and baffled, as we believe the reader will be too, by the prevalent fashion for wearing duffle coats. Miles Burton has excelled himself in this most ingenious and exciting detective story.