''Cottage Sinister'' is the classic 1931 traditional village mystery that marks the very first book published under the famous collaborative pseudonym Q. Patrick.
The story takes place in the seemingly quiet, picturesque English village of Crosby-Stourton. The peace is shattered when a wave of brutal poisonings decimates the working-class Lubbock family. Two sisters visiting from London-Amy and Isabel-drop dead within the same day after consuming a rare, highly specialized poison during teatime. Because the local police are entirely unequipped for the crime, Scotland Yard sends Inspector Archibald "the Archdeacon" Inge. He is a unique sleuth whose greatest strength is his complete lack of imagination, which forces him to stick purely to rigid facts. As the body count rises and strikes a local locked-room setting at Crosby Hall, the solution hinges on scientific knowledge. The clever poisoning method was directly inspired by the author's real-life career in pharmaceuticals.
