The Documents in the Case

Paul Harrison opens a troubling family case by asking Sir Gilbert Pugh to read the papers with an open mind and decide for himself what happened in the household of Paul's late father. What follows is a tense, intelligent mystery assembled from letters, statements, notes, telegrams, and press reports, with each document adding a new angle to the story of the Harrison family, John Munting, Elizabeth Drake, Margaret Harrison, and Harwood Lathom. Alongside the investigation runs a sharp, witty epistolary voice: playful mockery, comic self-correction, and affectionate argument about science, biography, marriage, gender, and the absurd rules people try to impose on domestic life. As the evidence hardens into a legal narrative, the novel turns toward guilt, loyalty, and the possibility of a hidden instigator behind a poisoning. Clinical observations of death and the grim progress of justice give the story its unsettling edge, culminating in Harwood Lathom's execution for murdering George Harrison with muscarine. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.