The Case of the Vanishing Corpse

Sherlock Holmes isn’t the only detective in London—Andrew Tillet and Sara Wiggins at your service!

Andrew Tillet can hardly believe his luck. Only one year ago he landed in London completely unaware of his real name and identity, or that his mother was the beautiful and accomplished actress Verna Tillet. Now that he and Verna have been reunited and Sara and her family are well provided for, it seems like all their dreams are coming true.
 
But no amount of good fortune can spoil Andrew and Sara’s taste for adventure, and when they run across an unusually observant policeman named Constable Wyatt, they have a feeling they’ll be seeing him again.
 
When they do, it’s sooner than expected. The fabulous Denham diamonds have been stolen from Verna Tillet’s own bedroom, and Andrew, Sara, and Constable Wyatt jump on the case. But how did the thief get into the second-floor window without a ladder? When Andrew and Sara find a fresh corpse on their lawn one night, only for it to disappear before the police arrive, can they convince anyone to follow the clues and recover the jewels before it’s too late?

Born in New York City, Robert Newman (1909–1988) was among the pioneers of early radio and was chief writer for the Inner Sanctum Mysteries and Murder at Midnight—forerunners of The Twilight Zone that remain cult favorites to this day. In 1944 Newman was put in charge of the radio campaign to reelect Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was also one of the founding members of the Radio Writers Guild, which became the Writers Guild of America.

In 1973 Newman began writing books for children, most notably the Andrew Tillet, Sara Wiggins & Inspector Wyatt mysteries. The series takes place in Victorian London and follows the adventures of two teenage amateur detectives who begin as Baker Street Irregulars. Newman has also written books of fantasy, among them Merlin’s Mistake and The Testing of Tertius. His books based on myths and folklore include Grettirthe Strong, and he has published two adult novels.

Newman was married to the writer Dorothy Crayder. Their daughter, Hila Feil, has also published novels for children and young adults. Newman lived his last days in Stonington, Connecticut.