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Too Clever By Half
When Lady Darley asks for Hooky Hefferman's help, he wonders what sort of trouble she can be in. She doesn't look the sort to have a very grisly skeleton in her cupboard, but you never can tell ... Hooky's insatiable curiosity is soon aroused by her story, and he is easily persuaded to go down to Monkhamblin Hall, the old family mansion. Once there, a corpse and the odd behaviour of the present owner are quite enough to keep his famous nose glued to the trail.
The Lost Half Hour
Oliver Seaton was an up-and-coming Labour MP when his mother committed suicide by gassing herself. Oliver had lived at his mother's house and the inquest judge was keen to know what time he got home to find his mother dying. He had called an ambulance at 9.26pm. Among the crowd at the inquest is Alan Strang. Oliver and Strang have had a private relationship in the past, a relationship that, if it came to light, could ruin the fast-developing career of the MP, not to mention his marriage. When a muck-raking journalist elicits from Strang that he saw Oliver reach his mother's house at 8.55pm on the night she died there is a missing half hour to account for, and the danger for Seaton starts growing ...
Death By Arrangement
When Hooky Hefferman, playboy and private detective, does a chance favour for wealthy Waveney Rolffe, he is rewarded with a lucrative position as Rolffe's personal bodyguard. The job is easy: entertain Rolffe and live harmoniously with the other members of the household - pleasant Mrs Fitzroy, who directs Rolffe's future with her crystal ball; Dempster Childers, Rolffe's aloof private secretary; and Cooper, the gardener. Hooky's luck has never been better. But when ex-con Barney Phillips shows up in the local tavern and becomes friendly with Cooper, Hooky begins to suspect that trouble is brewing. After all, Rolffe's vast financial empire and the curiosities of his daily routine provide tempting possibilities - like illegal personal gain and international thievery - and a motive for murder.
The Thirteen Trumpeters
Hooky Hefferman is commissioned by his formidable aunt to convey a 'brilliantly coloured, exquisitely detailed painting of young soldier blowing a trumpet' to Southern Italy, to her old admirer Sir Lucian Bryers-Fane. Two others are heading in the same direction: a beautiful young academic who has been sent to read a commemorative scroll to Sir Lucian on the occasion of his eightieth birthday; and another party with entirely less admirable objectives.
The Fairly Innocent Little Man
Major Weller plays bridge and plays it very well. He isn't a major, and his name isn't Weller, but Hooky Hefferman doesn't know this. In fact, so impressed is he with the self-possessed major that he is completely unaware of the crime being committed under his nose. The potential victim is Hooky's formidable aunt, the Hon. Mrs Page-Foley, but she doesn't seem to be the 'victim' type, and from most people's point of view, including Hooky's, she appears more than capable of looking after herself. But the crime goes wrong, and Hooky soon finds himself in the midst of an impending disaster. A disaster he must prevent if anyone - including his aunt and his latest love interest - is to take him seriously as a private detective again.
The Open Door
Stella Brendan was accustomed to a comfortable unearned income and she was fifty-two years old when it vanished. How could she survive? She could survive by marrying Sir Loder Cholerton, tycoon and ageing bachelor. But Stella has skeletons in her past, skeletons that would not appeal to Sir Loder should they come out. When that threat occurs Stella calls Hooky Hefferman, who finds himself trying to protect Stella's interests. Then there's a murder. A man has been shot and there are several people who could have fired the fatal bullet ... 'Thoroughly civilised writing, managing to up-date the easy, humorous, engaging mood of pre-war days, floods this pleasant country house mystery with a sunny glow' Glasgow Herald
Hooky on Loan
A tiny Sussex village harbours a motley collection of inhabitants. Millerscroft, the big house, is now an expensive school, run by the flamboyant and promiscuous Raymond Montague. Hooky Hefferman is introduced into the community supposedly as a temporary teacher at Millerscroft, but in reality to investigate the theft of £500 from one of the students. It doesn't take Hooky long to discover that underneath the outwardly tranquil veneer of the village there's a tangle of adultery, debt and venomous hatred. But before Hooky can identify the thief a body is found in a stream. Did he fall or was he pushed?
The Frightened Man
Hooky Hefferman, private detective, is, as they say in the theatrical profession, 'resting'. So when the thin little man in the shabby blue suit calls to ask for professional advice, though he looks by no means promising as a provider of much-needed funds, Hooky is at least prepared to listen - and finds his interest at once held. Edward Rider wants to stay alive until the following Friday, and asks Hooky to help him achieve this modest ambition. On that day, he is anxious to meet a certain person arriving from Berlin, and it is becoming increasingly obvious that someone is determined to prevent this.
Hooky Goes to Blazes
The man in the dock up on an arson charge considers that Sebastian Wrighton, who owned the building, is responsible for his daughter committing suicide. What he's done, he says, is an act of justice. Sebastian next turns up as an antiques dealer in the Cotswold village of Bardbury. Once again he has a young woman in tow and therefore (some think) in danger. Spurred on by his terrifying aunt, Hooky Hefferman finds himself in Bardbury too, and soon he is investigating another case of arson ...
Danger Round the Corner
Edward Rigby's sudden death in South America provides Hooky Hefferman, private investigator, with his first case. Rigby's employers, the San Lucca Railway Concession, have hinted that he committed suicide, which is enough to prevent his insurance company paying up. His wife, Hilda, thinks the story needs investigation, and Hooky is the man she chooses to do it. The San Luccans are notoriously hot-blooded, and Hooky, with his genius for getting into scrapes, soon finds plenty of trouble. In fact, his first case nearly becomes his last.
