The Corpse in the Crimson Slippers

306 pp. "Sir Thomas had assembled a distinguished, if ill-assorted, group of people at his old manor house on Dartmoor. They included a self-made financier, a noted antiquarian, a peer's son, a lovely girl, a too-charming French adventurer, and a scientist. But there was one univited stranger who turned out to be the guest of honor, and his name was Death. For shortly after everyone had retired, a shot shattered the stillness of the summer night. In a few seconds the household was awake. It seemed incredible that the briliant young scientist, Lewisson, should have taken his own life. Yet there had been no chance for a murderer to escape, and in the dead man's hand was a vicious .38 revolver. The police hurried through the case. Obviously suicide, they reported, and the coroner and jury seconded the motion. But Philip Tolefree, detective-at-large, wasn't quite satisfied. And, despite the evidence, the guests seemed furtive and fear-haunted. Somehow the word Murder hung on the summer air. Tolefree had come to Old Hallerdon to solve the case of a curious cryptogram, but soon this cat-and-mouse game of murder absorbed him."