Crime Classics: The Woman in the Wardrobe

The little Sussex town of Amnestie had not known a death so bloody since the fifteenth century. And certainly none more baffling - to all except Mr Verity. From the moment he appears this bearded giant - ruthless inquirer, devastating wit and enthusiastic collector of the best sculpture - has matters firmly (if fantastically) under control. Things are certainly complicated, but this is hardly enough to deter Mr Verity. As he himself observes: ''when the number of suspects is continually increasing, and the number of corpses remains constant, you get a sort of inflation. The value of your individual suspect becomes hopelessly depreciated. That, for the real detective, is a state of paradise.''