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by Christianna Brand
This Golden Age masterclass of red herrings and tricky twists, first published in 1944, features a tense and claustrophobic investigation with a close-knit cast of suspects.
It is 1942, and struggling up the hill to the new Kent military hospital Heron's Park, postman Joseph Higgins is soon to deliver seven letters of acceptance for roles at the infirmary. He has no idea that the sender of one of the letters will be the cause of his demise in just one year's time.
When Higgins returns to Heron's Park with injuries from a bombing raid in 1943, his inexplicable death by asphyxiation in the operating theatre casts four nurses and three doctors under suspicion, and a second death in quick succession invites the presence of the irascible―yet uncommonly shrewd―Inspector Cockrill to the hospital. As an air raid detains the inspector for the night, the stage is set for a tense and claustrophobic investigation with a close-knit cast of suspects.
"Hands down one of the best formal detective stories ever written...Murder stalks a wartime Kentish hospital in Brand's masterpiece…even the savviest fans of golden-age puzzles should prepare to be hornswoggled." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Brand skillfully delivers a full complement of surprises, motives, and suspects. However, what gives this classic closed-circle puzzle its fascinating patina for contemporary readers are the authentic details and insights into life in London under the blitz, which Brand experienced firsthand, as revealed in an author's note. This entry in the British Library Crime Classics series is a must for readers who like their mysteries wrapped in sobering history." —Publishers Weekly
"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." —The New York Times
This information about Green for Danger (British Library Crime Classics) was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Christianna Brand was the pseudonym of Mary Christianna Milne (1907–1988), a British crime writer who was born in British Malaya. She is best known for her mystery novels featuring series detective Inspector Cockrill, though she also wrote several acclaimed short story collections and authored the Nurse Matilda book series for children.
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