The Midnight Guest: A Detective Story

vii, 331 pp. EXCERPT: "A HANSOM pulled up in front of 799, Park Lane, and a slim figure of a woman, dressed in deep mourning, ran up the broad flight of marble steps leading to the house. Her features were closely concealed by a thick veil, so that the footman who answered the ring could make nothing of the visitor. Her voice was absolutely steady as she asked to see Lord Ravenspur at once."That is impossible, madam," the footman protested; "his lordship is not yet down, and besides--" "There is no 'besides' about it," the visitor said, imperiously. "It is a matter of life and death."" "The murder of Louis Delahay in his studio immediately after his return to London with his new wife seems entirely unmotivated, but when one witness testifies to seeing Mrs Delahay enter the studio with her husband, and another contradicts her assertion that she never left the hotel that night, things look grim for the bride. When Delahay's friend Lord Ravespur is attacked in his own studio, Ravenspur's nephew Walter Lance suspects a connection between the crimes, and attempts to improve his suit with his uncle's attractive young ward by setting off on an investigation that entangles him in a Sicilian feud with a man who can fly by strapping wings to his arms."