E. X Ferrars

"A weekend holiday at a wealthy relative's country manor is a recipe that calls for mayhem in this charming cozy English mystery. Andrew Basnett's cousin Felicity is old, rich, and the owner of a swanky Berkshire estate. If Basnett were a savvy mystery reader rather than a retired professor of botany, he would know that an invitation to spend Easter weekend at such an estate is all but guaranteed to involve at least one murder. But since Felicity...

When an old colleague complains of disappearing neighbors, a retired professor of botany starts digging for clues in this delightful cozy mystery. Andrew Basnett may be retired from academia, but that doesn't seem to have stopped his former colleagues from dumping problems in his lap. This time around it's peppery Constance Camm, whose neighbors keep disappearing. Miss Camm and her sister, Mollie, would probably shrug it off if not for a frightening...

Academic conferences can be full of petty squabbles-and sometimes, not-so-petty ones. . . . "There are few detective-story writers so consistently good." -Sunday Times   Professor Andrew Basnett has returned to his old university for a meeting of the Botanical Association, an event that should be entirely benign, aside from the usual inflated egos and bickering. But he can't help being just a little curious about Carl Judd, an artist who...

Plans for peaceful seaside holidays rarely work out well in the world of classic British mysteries. Retired professor Andrew Basnett, for example, envisioning sandcastles and the blessings of a pale English sun on his pale English skin, is startled to meet his nephew, Peter, on the beach. He's more startled (and not entirely thrilled) when Peter gets him invited to dinner with a celebrity novelist. And he's extremely startled when the novelist's sister-in-law...

The murder of a local author has an amateur sleuth and her con artist ex-husband on the case in this mystery by the author of Last Will and Testament. Virginia's trouble is that whenever something awful happens, it is far too easy to imagine that her ex-husband, Felix-that lying, light-fingered charmer-is behind it somehow. So her suspicions are understandably raised when he unexpectedly shows up on her weekend getaway with the Boscotts, just as...

"Virginia Freer's elderly friend has died, the will seems to have prompted both theft and murder, and the situation is further complicated when Virginia's cad of a husband reappears"-- A wealthy woman's last will and testament draws together friends, family, a master felon, and a charming conman in this delightful mystery series debut. Mrs. Arliss was witty. Mrs. Arliss was delightful. But mostly, Mrs. Arliss was rich. And now, Mrs. Arliss is dead....

The irresistible Andrew Basnett series may have been written in the 1980s and '90s, but its soul lies with the classic crime fiction of the 1930s. Here, for example, is A Hobby of Murder, with its setting at-wait for it-a classic country-house party, that staple of the Golden Age. Rounding out the guest list are, among others, a mystery writer, a lawyer with a reason to dislike him, a doctor, a retired teacher with a passion for photography, and the...