Desmond Merrion

"They're terrible mistrustful of strangers in these parts." Samuel Whitehead, landlord of the Rose and Crown, is a stranger in the lonely East Anglian village of High Eldersham. When the newcomer is stabbed to death in his pub, and Scotland Yard is called to the scene, it seems that the veil dividing High Eldersham from the outside world is about to be lifted. Detective-Inspector Young forms a theory about the case so utterly impossible that merely entertaining the suspicion makes him doubt his own sanity. Surrounded by sinister forces beyond his understanding, and feeling the need of rational assistance, he calls on a brilliant amateur and "living encyclopedia", Desmond Merrion. Soon Merrion falls for the charms of a young woman in the village, Mavis Owerton. But does Mavis know more about the secrets of the village than she is willing to admit? Burton's best novels are fast-paced and crisply told, and The Secret of High Eldersham - which uncovers ancient secrets in sleepy rural England - is among the most entertaining of all his crime stories.

The book starts with the gruesome discovery of the dismembered body of an unidentified man in a milk churn outside the premises of a suitably surly farmer. He denies all knowledge of the headless corpse or the churn and Arnold and Merrion set off on the trail, which leads them all over the country. Obviously, the first question to arise is one of identity and in this our detectives are aided by various clues left with the body. Merrion quickly deduces that some have been left by the murderer in order to set the police on the wrong track while others appear to have been planted by someone trying to help the police apprehend the culprit. More hints follow, and despite some false trails, various red herrings and another brutal murder the villain is run to earth in an exciting finale.

On a dark November evening, Sir Wilfred Saxonby is travelling alone in the 5 o'clock train from Cannon Street, in a locked compartment. The train slows and stops inside a tunnel; and by the time it emerges again minutes later, Sir Wilfred has been shot dead, his heart pierced by a single bullet. Suicide seems to be the answer, even though no reason can be found. Inspector Arnold of Scotland Yard thinks again when he learns that a mysterious red light in the tunnel caused the train to slow down. Finding himself stumped by the puzzle, Arnold consults his friend Desmond Merrion, a wealthy amateur expert in criminology. To Merrion it seems that the dead man fell victim to a complex conspiracy-but the investigators are puzzled about the conspirators' motives, as well as their identities. Can there be a connection with Sir Wilfred's seemingly untroubled family life, his highly successful business, or his high-handed and unforgiving personality? And what is the significance of the wallet found on the corpse, and the bank notes that it contained?

The old ferryman had caught many strange fish in his time, but none so strange as the body he fished out of the harbour one summer evening as the tide was on the turn. To his horror he saw at once that it was Captain Stanlake, the local harbour master. In the few months that Captain Stanlake had been harbour master at Brenthithe he had made himself a confounded nuisance to everyone. That was perhaps not his fault, but was mainly due to his keen desire to make Brenthithe an industrial port rather than a seaside resort. He had made many enemies in this local feud, but would anyone go as far as murder-for foul play it certainly was. ''Death at Low Tide'' is an enthralling mystery with an attractive setting and an absorbing plot.

DESMOND MERRION and his wife Mavis go to the little seaside town of Croylehaven to spend a holiday. The place is practically owned by the wealthy Croyle family, who live in the large, ugly Castle Croyle. The present head of the family, Lord Croyle, an old gentleman of eighty, generally known as Lucifer, is surrounded by a large number of more or less expectant heirs.

The novel centers on the residents of a single street of a small English town; mistrust and suspicion grow when a series of strange warnings are received by the residents. The messages of death escalate into a number of dangerous pranks, and Desmond Merrion, friend of one of the victims, is asked to investigate. Following the deaths of a couple in one of the street's houses, Merrion's long-time associate, Inspector Arnold of Scotland Yard is also called in to solve the mystery and catch the killer.

The fishing port of Carmouth was a health resort on the South West Coast, but for two of the inhabitants, at least, it was to prove the opposite of healthy.

Two old ladies, Miss Price and Miss Marsland, lived together in the Lodge Cottage. Old Miss Price's death looked like a tragic accident: she must have slipped and fallen in the icy yard of the cottage when, wearing a duffle coat against the cold, she went to fetch a bucket of coal. But it transpired that Miss Price had been murdered. Indeed, the cottage was empty, for Miss Marsland too had mysteriously disappeared, though in her case no body was found. Desmond Merrion and Inspector Arnold soon find themselves involved in a case of great complexity. There are more murders and some strange discoveries, inexplicable and macabre. Merrion slowly moves towards a solution, impeded and baffled, as we believe the reader will be too, by the prevalent fashion for wearing duffle coats. Miles Burton has excelled himself in this most ingenious and exciting detective story.

This book finds series sleuth Desmond Merrion holidaying with wife Mavis at the seaside resort of Greycliffe-on-Sea, close to the site of his former junior school. When he and a local fisherman find the body of Arthur Harpole - brother of one of the schoolmasters - floating in the harbour, he is drawn into the inquiry into his murder.

A distinctive smell of smoke presages a series of murders in the village of Lamsford, and it proves a puzzling case for Inspector Arnold and Desmond Merrion.

After the corpse of George Hawken had been found on the rocks near his Cornish home the coroner's jury brought in an open verdict. Hawken had been a respected but financially unsuccessful artist whose death benefited no one except one of his nephews, who inherited a modest cottage. Yet that nephew had mysteriously disappeared. There was no doubt about the death of Hawken's brother, Sir Matthew, which followed not long afterwards: five grains of potassium cyanide had killed him instantly. Inspector Arnold and his friend Desmond Merrion were faced with a paradox: those who had had an opportunity to commit both crimes had no motive; no one with a motive had had the opportunity. Once more Miles Burton has succeeded in posing an intriguing problem whose solution will keep his readers guessing until Arnold finally arrests a triple murderer.

The story centers on the residents of Forest House, a private nursing-convalescent home. An apparent drug overdose is later determined to be a case of murder, and another resident is discovered along a nearby railroad track with her skull bashed-in. Inspector Arnold and Desmond Merrion investigate a faint trail of clues as they search for the killer.