Green for Danger
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4.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
“Hands down one of the best formal detective stories ever written.”— Kirkus Reviews, STARRED review
This Golden Age masterclass of red herrings and tricky twists, first published in 1944, features a tense and claustrophobic investigation with a close-knit cast of suspects.
“You have to reach for the greatest of the Great Names (Agatha Christie, John Dickson Carr, Ellery Queen) to find Christianna Brand’s rivals in the subtleties of the trade.”
—Anthony Boucher in The New York Times
It is 1942, and struggling up the hill to the new Kent military hospital Heron’s Park, postman Joseph Higgins is soon to deliver seven letters of acceptance for roles at the infirmary. He has no idea that the sender of one of the letters will be the cause of his demise in just one year’s time.
When Higgins returns to Heron’s Park with injuries from a bombing raid in 1943, his inexplicable death by asphyxiation in the operating theatre casts four nurses and three doctors under suspicion, and a second death in quick succession invites the presence of the irascible—yet uncommonly shrewd—Inspector Cockrill to the hospital. As an air raid detains the inspector for the night, the stage is set for a tense and claustrophobic investigation with a close-knit cast of suspects.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Originally published in 1944, this intriguing mystery from Brand (1907–1988) swiftly sets out its premise—seven suspects, one of them a murderer—and then settles into describing their disparate lives and the reasons that have brought them together at Heron's Park Military Hospital early in WWII. When retired postman Joseph Higgins dies on the operating table during a simple surgical procedure, curmudgeonly Inspector Cockrill of the Kent Police arrives to determine whether the death was an accident or murder. Though eager to get back home before the blackout, the detective eventually concedes that Higgins met with foul play. But how, by whom, and why? The investigation carries on amid squabbles, burgeoning love affairs, and broken hearts. Brand skillfully delivers a full complement of surprises, motives, and suspects. However, what gives this classic closed-circle puzzle its fascinating patina for contemporary readers are the authentic details and insights into life in London under the blitz, which Brand experienced firsthand, as revealed in an author's note. This entry in the British Library Crime Classics series is a must for readers who like their mysteries wrapped in sobering history.
