The Rasp

A victim is bludgeoned to death with a woodworker’s rasp in this first case for the famed gentleman detective Anthony Gethryn – the latest in a new series of classic detective novels from the vaults of HarperCollins.

Ex-Secret Service agent Anthony Gethryn is killing time working for a newspaper when he is sent to cover the murder of Cabinet minister John Hoode, bludgeoned to death in his country home with a wood-rasp. Gethryn is convinced that the prime suspect, Hoode’s secretary Alan Deacon, is innocent, but to prove it he must convince the police that not everyone else has a cast-iron alibi for the time of the murder.

This Detective Story Club classic is introduced by crime fiction expert and writer Tony Medawar, who investigates the forgotten career of one of the Golden Age’s finest detective story writers.

Reviews

‘The more I read his work, the better I like it.’ Sunday Times

‘This author shares with A.E.W. Mason a quality which few detective story-writers possess, the ability to construct situations of almost unbearable suspense. Common sense may tell us that right must triumph, but until we reach the last page our harrowed sensibilities will not allow us to lay aside the book.’ The Times

‘However tastes may differ, most people would admit that Philip MacDonald is one of the half-dozen best writers of detective fiction.’ Glasgow Herald

‘Mr MacDonald, almost alone among detective story-writers, mixes literature with murder.’ Time and Tide

About the author

British author Philip MacDonald wrote more than 30 accomplished crime novels, many of them after moving to Hollywood in 1931, where he also wrote and produced more than 100 scripts for the silver screen. His first solo novel, The Rasp (1924) introduced Colonel Anthony Gethryn, a gentleman detective who went on to appear in a dozen novels, including The Noose, The Maze and finally The List of Adrian Messenger in 1959.