Vintage Classic Crime

'If a man is likely to be murdered you can't just stand by and do nothing. Or can you?' Inglewood Turrets, an expensive anachronism in the leafy outskirts of North London is a cross between St Pancreas Station and Holloway Gaol, and the house where the formidable Miss Charlotte Cambric recreates Victorian elegance for foreign culture-vultures. Vassily Kopeck, the half-Russian, half-Polish physicist and an 'attaché of sorts', disappears as effectively as a cat who turns a corner in a London fog after a visit to The Turrets – and thereby becomes a much-wanted man. Then Felix Perdreau, the flamboyant rare book dealer and friend of Kopek, who knows more than he is letting on, also goes missing… L.C. Corkran, of Her Majesty's security service, is convinced that something awful is about to happen there. Others showing an unnatural interest in the goings-on at The Turrets include Moryak, the Russian 'diplomat' hunting the missing scientist; a ruthless property developer and his even more ruthless acolyte, a very dodgy private investigator with a penchant for stamp-collecting, and Rupert (whose surname just happens to be Campion) and Perdita, two innocent but resourceful young people hired to act out harmless Victorian charades in a far from harmless situation. Fortunately, Albert Campion – that self-effacing professional adventurer who simply cannot resist a mystery – is also on hand.