by Henry Cecil
Alibi For A Judge
Mr Justice Carstairs is a High Court Judge. He is completely incompetent and a chronic worrier to boot. This is perfectly illustrated when he sentences a man to ten years’ imprisonment and then immediately doubts his verdict. Taking the unprecedented step of trying to overrule his own judgement he encounters resistance on all sides. Matters get really complicated when, in trying to prove the man’s innocence, he becomes convinced of his guilt. He also becomes the target of a blackmailer. Find out how he resolves this dilemma in this is highly amusing and whimsical tale of a man assailed by his own doubts.
The Asking Price
Ronald Holbrook is a fifty-seven year-old batchelor who has lived in the same house for twenty years. Jane Doughty, the daughter of his next-door neighbours, is seventeen. She suddenly decides she is in love with Ronald and wants to marry him. Everyone is amused at first but then events take a sinister turn and Ronald finds himself in a very difficult situation.
Brief Tales from The Bench
What does it feel like to be a Judge? Read these stories and you can almost feel you are looking at proceedings from the lofty position of the bench. With a collection of eccentric and amusing characters, Henry Cecil brings to life the trials in a County Court and exposes the complex and often contradictory workings of the English legal system.
Brothers In Law
Roger Thursby, aged twenty-four, is called to the bar. He is young, inexperienced and his personal life is complicated. We see him blunder his way through a succession of comic adventures including his calamitous debut at the bar. His career takes an upward turn when he is chosen to defend the caddish Alfred Green at the Old Bailey. In this first Roger Thursby novel Henry Cecil satires the legal profession with wit and insight.
The Buttercup Spell
Imagine a situation where a judge hands out a lenient sentence because he is suddenly filled with love for his fellow man. Think of a world where Trades Union leaders fully support their bosses’ high salaries and where policemen hug and kiss drivers stopped for speeding. The secret of this strange behaviour is nothing less than buttercup pollen. It appears to contain the formula to make people love their fellow man. However, the attraction of this modern Utopia begins to fade as the country yearns for an end to the boredom of infinite love. Eventually the government is forced to step in and matters gradually return to normal…
Cross Purposes
The Bartons are a happy family who are finding it difficult to make ends meet. Then, one day, Mrs Barton wins a large sum on the football pools and their lives change forever. The Bartons are a kind couple and they use their newly won fortune to help their family and friends. This leads them into a tangled web serious legal and moral problems and they find themselves worse off than before.
Daughters In Law
Mr Justice Coombe is a well-respected judge who has beautiful twin daughters. One goes to the Bar while the other becomes a solicitor. They each fall in love with the sons of Major Claude Buttonstep. Unfortunately the Major dislikes lawyers and cannot accept his sons’ choice of partner. The Major is then unexpectedly forced into litigation with his neighbour, Mr Trotter and events take an interesting turn for everyone concerned . . .
Fathers In Law
What rights does a natural father have in an adoption case? How does the court decide between the conflicting claims of each parent? In many ways this is a heart-rending story as Henry Cecil steers us through the labyrinths of adoption law but tension is relieved by his touches of humour right through to the unexpected outcome.
Friends At Court
Roger Thursby is prospering in the legal profession and is about to be made a Queen’s Council. In this brilliantly funny sequel to Brothers in Law we follow him through a further series of hilarious legal highs and lows.
Full Circle
One day a distinguished law professor is involved in an accident and suffers a slight knock on the head. He continues to behave normally in most respects but, instead of delivering lectures, he delights his students by telling them crazy and convoluted stories to illustrate his points of law. His fame spreads and his lectures become crowded. Fearing for his sanity, the university authorities take action and he is locked away. Then something happens to change things once again. These stories, written with Henry Cecil’s true verve and wit, will delight the reader.
Hunt the Slipper
Harriet and Graham have been happily married for twenty years. One day Graham fails to return home and Harriet begins to realise she has been abandoned. This feeling is strengthened when she starts to receive monthly payments from an untraceable source. After five years on her own Harriet begins to see another man and divorces Graham on the grounds of his desertion. Then one evening Harriet returns home to find Graham sitting in a chair, casually reading a book. Her initial relief turns to anger and then to fear when she realises, that if Graham’s story is true, she may never trust his sanity again. This complex comedy thriller will grip your attention to the very last page.
Independent Witness
Mr Justice Grampion hates dangerous drivers and believes it is his duty to give very severe sentences to those who offend. He is well-known for his opinion on the matter, so, when Michael Barnes, MP, is to be tried for a very serious motoring charge, he is devastated to hear that Grampion will be the judge. To make Michael’s problems worse he has no witness to support his story. Ranged against him are a host of independent witnesses whose testimonies are hilarious and often contradictory. While this is another highly amusing novel from Henry Cecil it also examines the serious nature of truth and reality as perceived by different witnesses.
Much in Evidence
William Richmond is bald and lame. But that is not his only misfortune. On the very night he has £100,000 in his safe, his home is broken into and he is beaten up. His insurance company pays up – but they are highly suspicious. It would appear that a series of bald and lame men have been making dubious insurance claims. In this hilarious trial novel we see how amazing coincidences can really happen.
Natural Causes
When megalomaniac proprietor of the Clarion Newspapers Ltd, Alexander Bean is humiliated in court by judge Mr Justice Beverly, he swears revenge. He engages the services of Sidney York to find a way to blackmail the judge. The situation gets out of hand when Sidney dies in a mysterious accident. The judge and his family fall under suspicion. Thus Alexander Bean becomes involved in a story that runs out of control for all those involved until it reaches its final unexpected conclusion.
No Bail for the Judge
A dour and highly respected High Court judge finds himself on trial for the murder of a prostitute. He has no recollection of the events leading up to the murder so believes he may be guilty. His daughter, however, is convinced of his innocence, so she enlists the help of a petty thief to help solve the complex mystery.
No Fear or Favour
‘If everyone had a perfectly clear conscience, the blackmailer would have no chance’. So begins a trial in which the unfortunate judge is himself blackmailed. Unwittingly ‘picked up’ by a ‘respectable-looking girl’ the judge finds himself put into an impossible situation in which an unscrupulous blackmailer threatens his career and personal life in an attempt to steer the course of a trial to an acquittal. Can Mr Justice Slaughter save himself from ruin and degradation?
The Painswick Line
Lucy Meeson-Smith works at a big bookmaker’s and always manages to back the winners. Her employers become suspicious and take her to court for fraud. At her trial it is revealed that her father, a vicar, studies form avidly and is a brilliant tipster (though he himself is not a betting man). The judge in the case, Mr Justice Painswick is most intrigued by the evidence. His own personal life is complicated by his son – a thoroughgoing cad who is deeply in debt. Find out how these personalities are brought together in a lively and unexpected way in this witty, upbeat novel.
Portrait of a Judge
What does an e
lderly judge do when he is confronted by a man who wants to kill him for a death sentence he had given out years before? ‘Portrait of a Judge’ is the first fascinating story in this collection of short stories based on all matters legal. Written with cracking pace and full of unexpected twists, paradoxes and subtleties the book will have you riveted to the very last page.
Settled Out of Court
Lonsdale Walsh is a rich financier who is wrongly imprisoned for murder. From his prison cell Lonsdale hatches an intricate plan to stage his own retrial at a secret location. Find out if Lonsdale can secure an acquittal and relish the further unexpected twists that are to be revealed.
Sober as a Judge
Roger Thursby, the hero of Brothers in Law and Friends at Court, continues his career as a High Court judge. He presides over a series of unusual cases, including a professional debtor and an action about a consignment of oranges which turned to juice before delivery. There is a delightful succession of eccentric witnesses as the reader views proceedings from the bench..
Tell You What I’ll Do
Harry Woodstock is a lazy but amiable criminal who would rather live by fraud than by working. He is very comfortable in Albany Prison, Isle of Wight where a clergyman visits him in an attempt to reform his character. When he is out of prison he stays with a friend in Albany, Piccadilly and tries to avoid a violent criminal who is convinced Harry defrauded him out of £60,000. Understandably, Harry feels safer in prison so, when not dodging his enemy, he spends his time thinking up ways to get himself inside again. His amusing story ends with an ingenious solution for them all.
Truth with Her Boots On
Judge Julian Whitehall is a man of the highest moral integrity. He is approaching retirement age but still has a little time to serve. Suddenly, to the enormous surprise of everybody, he retires early. It transpires that an old friend has asked him to lie on his behalf. Deciding that loyalty to a friend is more important than loyalty to the public, he helps his friend but immediately resigns. The judge cannot get used to retirement so he spends his time studying cases of possible miscarriages of justice. The drama which then unfolds makes a formidable and fascinating adventure which has twists and turns right to the very last page.
Unlawful Occasions
Mrs Vernay and her husband live in a flat above the Chambers of Brian Culsworth Q. in the Temple. One day Mrs Vernay receives a visit from a Mr Sampson and she gets the impression that he is a blackmailer. She immediately seeks advice from Mr Culsworth in his chambers below. Mr Culsworth’s client, a Mr Baker, is bringing an action to recover his share on a win on the pools. The story of these people becomes inextricably linked in a brilliant novel of suspense and humour.
Wanted Man
When Norman Partridge moves to Little Bacon, a pretty country village, he proves to be a kind and helpful neighbour and is liked by everyone. Initially it didn’t seem to matter that no one knew anything about his past or how he managed to live so comfortably without having to work. Six months before, John Gladstone, a wealthy bank-robber had escaped from custody. Gradually, however Partridge’s neighbours begin to ask themselves questions. Was it mere coincidence that Norman Partridge had the build and features of the escaped convict? While some villagers are suspicious but reluctant to report their concerns to the police, others decide to take matters into their own hands…
Ways and Means
When Basil Merridew and his ‘nephew’, Nicholas Drewe, arrive in the prosperous village of Tapworth Magna their neighbours are unprepared for the upheaval that is to follow. The new arrivals’ short period of residence in the village ends when Basil takes out a slander action against twenty-two of his neighbours and pockets £10,000 as a settlement. This is just the first episode in a fascinating plot which has our two heroes using the subtleties of the law to plan ever more convoluted and intricate ways to make their way in the world. In this brilliantly worked legal drama, see how they find ‘ways and means’ of supporting their attractive wives and comfortable standard of living without actually having to do a single day’s real work.
A Woman Named Anne
Anne, beautiful and intelligent, stands in the dock accused of adultery. Utterly humiliated by hearing the evidence against her, she is determined to put the record straight. But the prosecution does not play the game she had been expecting and she is forced to change her approach. This duel between a brilliant barrister and a very determined and astute young woman has an unexpected twist which keeps you guessing right to the end.
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