The Mystery of the Kneeling Woman

"Not another murder!"

"You've said it."

Kindly Reverend John Clare pays a social call upon the saturnine Simon Killick at his forbidding house, The Grange. Killick is a virtual recluse who relies on three dogs and a parrot for company.

Killick is soon found murdered in his home, while in a nearby wood a local schoolboy, Toby, discovers a dying stranger whose last words refer to a "kneeling woman." This kick-starts a complicated case for the local police and it is not long before Scotland Yard, in the form of Inspector Collier, is called in. Yet more murders follow-this time by poisoned chocolates. Are all the deaths connected, and is the "kneeling woman" the link? What might Sir Henry Webber, the new owner of Brock Hall, know about the case, or, for that matter, his snobbish wife Beryl, and their two ghastly sons? Or odd jobs man Tommy Yates, or Florrie Soper, cook at the Hall, who adores Edgar Wallace thrillers and is intent on marrying Tommy.

At least Collier has the eager assistance of Toby . . . and his widowed mother Sandra. Has love finally entered the life of Inspector Collier? Let's just say Sandra and, especially, Toby reappear in the next Inspector Collier case, Death in the Dark.

The Mystery of the Kneeling Woman was first published in 1936. This new edition includes an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.