Books published by Dean Street Press

"Anonymity is such a terribly strong position in which to entrench one's self. To you I am Sheila Delaney - to me you are - an unknown quantity."At the Hunt Ball in Westhampton, Sheila Delaney dances the night away with a stranger - a man who wanted only to be known as Mr X. At the end of the evening, he departs as mysteriously as he appeared.Months later, private investigator Anthony Bathurst is approached by the Crown Prince of Clorania over a nasty blackmail case.At the same time a sea-side dentist finds that the girl he was treating has been found dead, apparently injected with cyanide.The three events prove to be intimately related, and Anthony Bathurst and Chief Detective-Inspector Bannister find themselves on the trail of an exceptionally ruthless murderer.The Mystery of the Peacock's Eye was originally published in 1928. This new edition includes an introduction by crime fiction historian Steve Barge."One of the ablest pieces of misdirection one could wish to meet" Sutherland Scott

Rex Harrison's fifth - but not last - wife, Elizabeth said of him: 'I was very fond of Rex before we were married, and even more fond of him after we were married - it was the bit in between that was so difficult.'The Incomparable Rex is an affectionate and witty memoir of one of Britain's great theatrical and cinematic talents, Rex Harrison. When he died in 1990, the English-speaking world lost one of its most eloquent and fastidious high comedians.Patrick Garland worked with Harrison on the revival of My Fair Lady and came to know him well and - despite Rex's reputation as something of an unholy terror - became extremely fond of him. Rex Harrison was famed for his urbane style, his mordant wit, his numerous wives and his truly appalling temper, quite apart from his legendary and much loved performance as Henry Higgins on both stage and screen.The Incomparable Rex is a delightful and frequently laugh-out-loud blend of anecdote, pen-portraits and personal reminiscence which gives a vivid flavour of this complex man, and the pressures of working with him and a large cast, and of reviving a great musical on the American stage. This edition features a new introduction from actor and writer Simon Callow.'A scrupulously fair and most diverting memoir' Daily Telegraph

The murderer was clever and the planning was perfect. There was apparently nothing that had been overlooked and nothing that didn’t go to plan. There was nothing that could be called a slip. Why then was the murderer caught?Too few answers chasing too many questions is the problem facing Ludovic Travers and Superintendent George Wharton when a famous actress is murdered. The crime-investigator always looks for unusual circumstances, departures from customary routines. Travers’ trouble is that in the odd-behaviour department he finds himself confronted by a definite surfeit of riches. . . .The Case of the Seven Bells was originally published in 1949. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.“Has all the elements of mounting suspense. . . . not only well-plotted but told with the skill in depicting atmosphere and character that readers have learned to expect from Mr. Bush.” Knoxville News-Sentinel

"We've managed to head off the Press men so far. But that won't last. We can't escape publicity, and the reading public enjoys murders."Harriet Hall, living in her isolated cottage outside the village of Larnwood, might not have been everyone's cup of tea, but why did someone feel the need to kill her on the eve of the arrival of her young niece, Amy? Why had the likeable Deene family seemingly been so in thrall to the late Harriet? The innocent in this classic murder mystery have every reason to be grateful for Inspector Collier of Scotland Yard's involvement, given the incompetent behavior of the local Chief Constable. But as Collier's investigation deepens, the case gets stranger still. Finally, however, the guilty are punished - though readers will have to read through to the book's final, quietly devastating chapter to see just how.The Strange Case of Harriet Hall was originally published in 1936. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

Together they looked down at the inert sprawling figure of a man fantastically dressed in red-and-white-striped pyjama trousers, with a red sash belt and a white silk shirt open at the neck.A Christmas gathering of young and old in a great country house in England-a masquerade-and the lights are turned off for a game of hide and seek. Silence-then a man's cry for "Lights!" The lights come on, revealing Hugh Darrow, blind since the War, standing in the main hall, fresh blood dripping from his hands and covering his white Pierrot costume. He tells the story of having discovered a dead man, stabbed through the heart, lying in a curtained window embrasure next to the one in which he was hiding. The murdered man proves to be Stallard, one of the visitors, and a writer of mystery tales. There follows a thrilling tale in which the life of an innocent man hangs in the balance. A grand and baffling tale for the mystery lover.The Night of Fear was originally published in 1931. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

"I want to catch them. To do that we've got to lead them on. Now listen to me."Elbert J. Pakenham of New York City is among just nine survivors of the sinking of the Coptic - not counting his black cat Jehosaphat. The benevolent Mr. Pakenham has made his fellow survivors joint beneficiaries in his will, his nephew having recently passed away. But it seems that someone is unwilling to share the fortune, as the heirs start to die under mysterious circumstances . . .Then Mr. Pakenham himself disappears, and Inspector Collier of Scotland Yard suspects dirty work. When a trap is laid that seriously wounds his best friend at the Yard, Superintendent Trask, Collier is certain his suspicions are correct. Into his net are drawn a charming young woman, Corinna Lacy, and her cousin and trustee, Wilfred Stark; a landed gentleman of dubious reputation, Gilbert Freyne, and his sister-in-law, Gladys; an Italian nobleman of ancient lineage and depleted estate, Count Olivieri; and a Bohemian English artist, Edgar Mallory. But Collier will need some unexpected feline assistance before the case is solved.One by One They Disappeared was originally published in 1929. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

"I think you had better telephone for the police," he said. "This woman has been poisoned."Norma de Grey, the Principal in the Christmas pantomime Dick Whittington, was not popular with the rest of the Pavilion Theatre company. But was she hated enough to be killed by prussic acid, during the performance itself?Suspicion immediately falls on the Cat, her fellow actor in the fatal scene. Until it transpires that the Cat too has been poisoned - and his understudy has a solid alibi. But someone must have donned the disguise and appeared on stage incognito. Detective-Inspector Harry Manson, analytical detective par excellence, is on the case.Who Killed Dick Whittington? was originally published in 1947. This new edition includes an introduction by crime fiction historian Nigel Moss.

There is so much War News in News Bulletins, in Newspapers, and so much talk about the war that I do not intend to write about it in my diary. Indeed my diary is a sort of escape from the war . . . though it is almost impossible to escape from the anxieties which it brings.Bestselling author D.E. Stevenson's charming fictional alter-ego, Hester Christie-or "Mrs. Tim" as she is affectionately known to friends of her military husband-was first introduced to readers in Mrs. Tim of the Regiment, published in 1932. In 1941, Stevenson brought Mrs. Tim back in this delightful sequel, to lift spirits and boost morale in the early days of World War II.With her husband stationed in France, Hester finds plenty to keep her busy on the Home Front. From her first air raid and a harrowing but hilarious false alarm about a German invasion, to volunteering at the regiment's "Comforts Depot," guiding the romantic destinies of her pretty houseguest and an injured soldier, and making a flying visit to a blacked-out, slightly bedraggled London with its fighting spirit intact, Mrs. Tim does indeed carry on-in inimitable style.Mrs. Tim returns in two subsequent novels, Mrs Tim Gets a Job (1947) and Mrs Tim Flies Home (1952), all back in print for the first time in decades from Furrowed Middlebrow and Dean Street Press. This new edition features an introduction by Alexander McCall Smith."She admirably preserves her lightness of touch, with a tinge of melancholy added, which perfectly suits the mood of 1940." Glasgow Herald"This is not merely a war book to which cheerfulness keeps breaking in, it is a book of cheerfulness from which the war cannot be kept out . . . Major Tim's amazing escape from Dunkirk is high drama superbly handled, and her word pictures are both lifelike and lively." Manchester Evening News

Frances was free. She had enough money for her holiday, and when it was over she would find useful work. Her plans were vague, but she would have plenty of time to think things out when she got to Cairn. One thing only was certain-she was never going back to prison again.Young Frances Field arrives in a scenic coastal village in Scotland, having escaped her dreary life as an orphan treated as little more than a servant by an uncle and aunt. Once there, she encounters an array of eccentric locals, the occasional roar of enemy planes overhead, and three army wives-Elise, Tommy, and Tillie-who become fast friends. Elise warns Frances of the discomforts of military life, but she's inclined to disregard the advice when she meets the dashing and charming Captain Guy Tarlatan.The ensuing tale, one of D.E. Stevenson's most cheerful and satisfying, is complicated by a local laird with a shady reputation, a Colonel's daughter who's a bit too cosy with Guy, a spring reputed to guarantee marriage within a year to those who drink from it, and a series of misunderstandings only finally resolved in the novel's harrowing climax.Spring Magic, first published in 1942, is here reprinted for the first time in more than three decades. Furrowed Middlebrow and Dean Street Press are also reprinting four more of Stevenson's best works-Smouldering Fire, Mrs. Tim Carries On, Mrs. Tim Gets a Job, and Mrs. Tim Flies Home. This new edition includes an introduction by Alexander McCall Smith."The author tells of what befell a young woman who, while on a seaside holiday in Scotland, enters the social life surrounding a battalion of troops and of how she found personal happiness. Lively and charming." Sunday Mercury"The cheeriest company . . . charmingly told" Sunday Times

Iain stood for a few minutes on the little bridge that crossed the burn and looked at the house-he felt that he had betrayed it. No people save his own had ever lived in the house, and now he had sold it into slavery. For three months it would shelter strangers beneath its roof, for three months it would not belong to him.Despite his passionate love for Ardfalloch, Iain has been driven to let his home and estate to Mr Hetherington Smith, a wealthy London businessman, and his kindly wife (who was, truth be told, happier when they were poor).MacAslan stays on in a cottage by the loch, aided by his devoted keeper Donald and Donald's wife Morag. But he finds himself irresistibly drawn to Linda Medworth and her young son, invited to Ardfalloch by Mrs Hetherington Smith. Lush Highland scenery and a ruined castle set the stage for a mystery, and tension builds to a shocking conclusion.Smouldering Fire was first published in the U.K. in 1935 and in the U.S. in 1938. Later reprints were all heavily abridged. For our reprint, Furrowed Middlebrow and Dean Street Press have followed the text of the first U.K. edition, and are proud to be producing the first complete, unabridged edition of the novel in eighty years."A charming love story set in the romantic Scottish highlands, with plenty of local colour, a handsome hero, a lonely, lovely heroine and a curious mystery into the bargain." Sunday Mercury"A tale in which those who love the Highlands will delight, for the minor characters are gloriously alive and the atmosphere is profoundly right." Punch

';He's dead all right. Taken him clean through the heart. It's murder, Rose!'Michael Maddison, the host of the Fox Inn, is hellbent on preventing his sister and niece from marryinga difficult task when both ladies are being ardently courted in the district. When one of the suitors, expert archer Harry Saunders, finds two of his lethal arrows missing, it seems Maddison is in deadly earnestyet it is the latter who is found murdered, two green-and-white fletched arrows sticking out of his ribs.Inspector Knollis is back on cracking form in this, his seventh mystery. A tale of archery and assasination in which Knollis must pull from his own quiver the solution lest the mysterious Bowman strike again . . .The Elusive Bowman was originally published in 1951. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.';Mr. Vivian keeps his story as taut as the string on his elusive murderer's bow.' Liverpool Evening Express';Francis Vivian skips all tedious preliminaries and is commendably quick off the mark; we meet his characters with lively pleasure.' Observer