“The body” was discovered by Inspector Roderick Alleyn himself, old friend of the deceased, eighty-three-year-old Miss Emily Pride. Miss Pride had been looking for trouble: the sole inheritor of a tiny island, site of a miraculous spring, she didn’t approve of the sudden flood of visitors in search of miracles. So she threatened to close the spring. And brought her what she’d been looking for…
Among the guests at the Plume of Feathers on the memorable evening of the murder were a West End matin?e idol, a successful portrait painter, an Oxford-educated farmer’s daughter, a radical organizer and assorted rustics and villagers. Each of them had an opportunity to place the deadly poison on the dart that seemingly had been the instrument of murder. But no one admitted seeing any suspicious movement on the part of anyone else. And what exactly had been the method of the killer? This was the problem Inspector Alleyn had to solve — and he does so with all of his accustomed verve and brilliance.
The woman stretched both her hands out and the priest gave her the cup.“The wine of ecstasy gives joy to your body and soul.”She raised the cup to her lips. Her head tipped back until the last drop must have been drained. Suddenly she gasped violently. Her face twisted into an appalling grimace. She pitched forward like an enormous doll, jerked twice, and then was still…She may have been in a state of ecstasy, but she was undoubtedly dead.
When the Sword Dancer's mock beheading becomes horribly real, it is Superintendent Roderick Alleyn who must discover who had the best motive for murder.
Obra de madurez de Raymond Chandler, EL LARGO ADI?S (1953) discurre a trav?s de una compleja trama que se urde en torno a Terry Lennox millonario consorte y veterano de guerra con el que Marlowe simpatiza a primera vista y su acaudalada mujer. El detective no s?lo encarna aqu?, una vez m?s, una honradez y rectitud que, por raras, lindan con la extravagancia, sino que a lo largo del libro, tanto ?l como el resto de personajes que se imbrican en la acci?n, son matizados con una sensibilidad que hace que la novela trascienda de forma indudable de las convenciones del g?nero.
The guests ranged themselves at both sides of the door, like the chorus in a grand opera, A figure appeared in the entrance. It was not Mary Bellamy, but Florence. As if to keep the scene relentlessly theatrical, she began to cry out in a small, shrill voice: “A doctor! A doctor! Is there a doctor in the house!”
Eine Kriminalgeschichte, bei der niemand zu Schaden kommt au?er dem Verbrecher selbst, in der es oft noch nicht mal eine Leiche gibt – das ist das Kennzeichen vieler Geschichten um den katholischen Priester und unkonventionellen Ermittler Father Brown. Und doch sind G. K. Chestertons Detektiverz?hlungen spannend und fesselnd, wie es das Genre verspricht: Mit reiner Menschenkenntnis statt mit kriminalistischem Know-how schafft es Father Brown immer wieder, die kniffligsten F?lle zu l?sen.Erstmals werden die packendsten Erz?hlungen um Father Brown in einem Band ver?ffentlicht – ein Mu? f?r jede Sp?rnase.Gilbert ...
