Blurbs for Christianna Brand Mysteries

(Note: Books are listed alphabetically.)

Green for Danger (1944)

by Christianna Brand

Carroll & Graf (3rd edition, 1997)

Cover price: $4.95

'Green for Danger, set in a military hospital during the Blitz, is one of Brand's most intricately plotted mysteries, executed with her characteristic cleverness and gusto.

'When a patient dies under the anesthetic and later the presiding nurse is murdered, Inspector Cockrill finds himself with six suspects -- three doctors and three nurses -- and not a discernible opportunity among them. How Cockrill's determined, if eccentric fortitude brings about a dramatic, last-minute confession makes for an ingeniously twisted missing piece to a superbly suspenseful detection puzzle.'

"Perhaps the last golden crown of the Golden Age detective story." -- H. R. F. Keating, Crime & Mystery: The 100 Best Books

Heads You Lose (1941)

by Christianna Brand

Bantam (July 1988)

Cover price: $3.50

POOR GRACE MORLAND LOST HER HEAD ...

'"I wouldn't be seen dead in a ditch in a hat like that!" These were the last words of mousy Grace Morland before she was found brutally murdered behind Squire Stephen Pendock's gracious mansion, her body in a ditch, her severed head obscenely garbed in Francesca Hart's new feathered hat. Six people at Pigeonsford Cottage heard Grace Morland utter those bitter, jealous words, including the dazzling Francesca herself, her twin sister Venetia, and dashing Pendock, the Squire of the Village, whose attention Grace had so desperately wanted, and who only had eyes for Francesca, who cared for him not at all ...

... AND THE BUTLER FOUND IT IN THE WOODS

'Surely Grace's killer must have been one of the six denizens of Pigeonsford. For too long passions in this hot-house atmosphere have remained secret and unrequited. Now, it's up to Inspector Cockrill of Scotland Yard to ensure that justice will out -- and with it, long-buried lusts and jealousies -- before the ghastly executioner strikes again.'

"You have to reach for the greatest of the Great Names (Agatha Christie, John Dickson Carr, Ellery Queen) to find Christianna Brand's rivals in the subtleties of the trade." -- Anthony Boucher, The New York Times