A01=Billie Houston
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
Author_Billie Houston
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bibliomystery
Category1=Fiction
Category=FFC
COP=United Kingdom
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
detective
eq_crime
eq_fiction
eq_isMigrated=2
Golden Age mystery
inspector
Language_English
literary
PA=Available
Price_€10 to €20
PS=Active
softlaunch
traditional British mystery
whodunit
Product details
- ISBN 9780712354035
- Dimensions: 130 x 190mm
- Publication Date: 10 Apr 2023
- Publisher: British Library Publishing
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
Delivery/Collection within 10-20 working days
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“It is past the half-hour. My time is coming nearer with every tick of the clock.”
Horace Manning, scientist, recluse and ‘closed book’ even to his friends is found dead in his study at 4am, following a dinner in honour of his daughter’s engagement. An ivory-handled carving knife rests between his shoulder blades as the houseguests gather round to witness the awful crime. The telephone line has been sabotaged – a calculated murder has been committed.
Rewinding twelve hours, the events of the afternoon and evening unfold, revealing a multitude of clues and motives from a closed cast of suspects until the narrative reaches 4am again – then races on to its riveting conclusion at 4pm as the reader is led twice round the clock.
First published in 1935, the sole novel from the actor and dancer Billie Houston is a lively country house mystery and a true lost gem of the Golden Age of crime writing.
Billie Houston (1906-1972) was the pen name of Glasgow-born writer and entertainer Sarah McMahon Gribbin. A big name in the 1920s, making up half of the Scottish dance act: the Houston Sisters, she was a big fan of crime novels and took a shot at writing one herself, purportedly in spare moments in the dressing rooms and backstage areas of her shows.
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