‘Fortunately it isn’t out of the control of the police.’ Faircloth contrived to say this not at all like a man who is being steadily covered by a revolver. ‘May we now hear something about what has been called the third exhibit?’
Appleby turned to him. ‘Most certainly. The third exhibit was discovered by me in the fireplace of the late Mr Arthur Pettifor’s study at Tremlett. It is a typescript communication, partly consumed by fire. But there is no obscurity about its meaning. It is an attempt to extort a large sum of money from Arthur Pettifor by menaces. And it makes an appointment on Knack Tor.’
‘Most interesting – most significant.’ Faircloth paused. ‘And is there any means of telling where this blackmailing letter came from?’
Appleby nodded. ‘Certainly there is. It was typed on Colonel Farquharson’s machine, which is now in his room at the George. I think it’s not too much to say that we have a clear case.’ And Appleby turned to Farquharson. ‘You agree?’
Farquharson considered this impassively for a moment. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I certainly agree. But there’s a little more to mention, is there not?’
‘There is.’ The revolver was very steady in Appleby’s hand. ‘The typescript fragment purports, of course, to have been written yesterday, at the latest. But – as I have explained to the Colonel – it was in fact produced on the machine late this evening.’
‘Fantastic!’ Faircloth’s voice rose in a sudden shout.
‘Not at all. The typeface bears the trace of a small but unmistakable mutilation which I effected myself, with my penknife and in the presence of two witnesses, scarcely a couple of hours ago.’
There was a moment’s dead silence. It was broken not by a voice, but by a sudden shattering of glass. With a single swift movement the hitherto immobile girl had hurled the oil lamp to the floor.
What followed, followed in a flash. Open to the night though it was, the room seemed for a moment quite dark. Appleby sprang to bar the way to the staircase. Timothy made for Faircloth and bumped into David, who switched on the torch. The girl was standing where she had stood before. Pettifor had hurried to the gap in the farther wall and was peering queerly out and down. Faircloth had vanished.
‘He hasn’t jumped?’ Appleby shouted this from the door.
‘No, no – the ivy…he’s trying to climb down.’ Pettifor was leaning far out. ‘Stop, man!’ he called. ‘It’s tearing…keep still…Faircloth, quick…my arm…grab, man…grab!’ He leant out further. There was a rending sound, a despairing cry from Faircloth, and then silence. Pettifor had gone. Where he had been a moment before there was only dust, drifting up and in from the ivy, dancing in the cold pale light from the moon.
10
Appleby was at the George not long after breakfast next day. He found David Henchman sitting wanly in an obscure corner of the garden. He sat down beside him. ‘Ian Dancer not too bad?’ he asked.
‘Not too bad. He’s had to have a doctor again. But he’s up.’ David poked idly at the ground with his toe. ‘Ogg’s taken it very well.’
Appleby nodded. ‘Ogg’s all right.’ It pleased him to remember that this had been Pettifor’s opinion too.
‘Shaved off that beard. Says he must do the fair thing by the tenants, and get their confidence. They might distrust a beard in so young a squire.’
‘Good lord!’ Appleby felt suddenly rather old. It was a feeling one got sometimes, when confronted with the incredible resilience of the young.
There was a long pause. ‘Did he know?’ David asked.
‘Did Pettifor know about Faircloth – that he was the man ultimately responsible for his brother’s death? Yes, he’d tumbled to it, all right. But it didn’t make any odds, when it came to stretching out an arm to a falling man.’
‘No.’ David considered. ‘Rather a good show,’ he said.
‘Eh? Oh, yes – decidedly.’ Appleby looked at David curiously. The boy seemed quite unaware of any echo in his words. ‘Well,’ he went on, ‘at least it’s all cleared up. That’s what I came out to tell you…to tell all of Pettifor’s lot. The girl talked.’
‘Oh – the girl.’ David said this very coldly.
‘And we’ve got last night’s insignificant absentee – the First Assistant, or whatever we called him. But he doesn’t know much.’
‘It really was spy stuff?’
‘Decidedly. What Faircloth and Redwine were after wasn’t, of course, money. That cropped up only in the typewritten scrap faked and planted by Faircloth, after I’d told him a whopping lie about Farquharson being a notorious blackmailer. It was a crude trap. But Faircloth fell right in.’
‘It wasn’t money? It was secrets?’
‘Yes. Arthur Pettifor, as a high-up man with a scientific back-ground, had access to a lot. I got on to that quickly enough. What he was told to bring to the Tor was…well, you can call it a document of state. And they planned to get lots more out of him too. But he rallied. He sent that document up in smoke pretty well under Redwine’s nose – and then told him to publish and be damned. Redwine instantly saw that he was ruined. If Arthur Pettifor defied him and went to the police, Redwine’s whole game would be uncovered and he’d go to jail. So he shot Pettifor out of hand. Then, together with First Assistant, he went after you. But Faircloth, who was the real boss, and who was lurking around – he’d been brought, you know, by the girl he passed off as his daughter – Faircloth pulled Redwine out of the chase, leaving it to First Assistant and the man in knickerbockers. Faircloth felt in no danger, for you hadn’t spotted him. He took Redwine back to the Tor, I imagine, because he didn’t trust his story. And quite soon his distrust mounted to a point at which he decided poor Redwine would be better liquidated. So he shot him there and then, arranged the appearance of that obscure affray, and made off. He hadn’t much else to fear. But he knew you mustn’t get another sight of the girl. That really meant that you must be liquidated too. Hence his spurious telegram, which he trusted to your spotting was spurious, and the subsequent trap he improvised for your romantic temperament. At the same time he sent his appeal for help to Farquharson – whom he still believed to be, by the greatest good fortune in the world, a blackmailer notorious to the police. It was you who were to fall from the top of that tower – and Farquharson too. But I’d told Farquharson quite a lot. And you, by the grace of God, ran out of petrol. So the scheme failed. In a way, it deserved to.’
‘Deserved to?’
‘It was a crackpot scheme. But a brilliant improvisation, all the same.’
‘What made you lay that trap with Farquharson’s typewriter? How had Faircloth given himself away?’
‘By very carelessly saying something about the affair being a matter of national security, or something of the sort. I’d said not a word about that, and he oughtn’t to have known.’
David reflected. ‘And that’s all?’
‘That’s all.’
David stretched himself as he sat. The mild sunshine was beginning to bring a faint, luxurious warmth to the garden. ‘I say,’ he asked, ‘could you do a walk with me this afternoon – to Knack Tor? I’ve remembered something. I left my walking stick. Rather a nice stick, you said.’
Appleby got up. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Straight after lunch.’ And as he walked away he murmured to himself again: ‘Good lord!’
Note on Inspector (later, Sir John) Appleby Series
John Appleby first appears in Death at the President's Lodging, by which time he has risen to the rank of Inspector in the police force. A cerebral detective, with ready wit, charm and good manners, he rose from humble origins to being educated at 'St Anthony's College', Oxford, prior to joining the police as an ordinary constable.
Having decided to take early retirement just after World War II, he nonetheless continued his police career at a later stage and is subsequently appointed an Assistant Commissioner of
the Metropolitan Police at Scotland Yard, where his crime solving talents are put to good use, despite the lofty administrative position. Final retirement from the police force (as Commissioner and Sir John Appleby) does not, however, diminish Appleby's taste for solving crime and he continues to be active, Appleby and the Ospreys marking his final appearance in the late 1980's.
In Appleby's End he meets Judith Raven, whom he marries and who has an involvement in many subsequent cases, as does their son Bobby and other members of his family.
Appleby Titles in order of first publication
These titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels
1. Death at the President's Lodging Also as: Seven Suspects 1936
2. Hamlet! Revenge 1937
3. Lament for a Maker 1938
4. Stop Press Also as: The Spider Strikes 1939
5. The Secret Vanguard 1940
6. Their Came Both Mist and Snow Also as: A Comedy of Terrors 1940
7. Appleby on Ararat 1941
8. The Daffodil Affair 1942
9. The Weight of the Evidence 1943
10. Appleby's End 1945
11. A Night of Errors 1947
12. Operation Pax Also as: The Paper Thunderbolt 1951
13. A Private View Also as: One Man Show and Murder is an Art 1952
14. Appleby Talking Also as: Dead Man's Shoes 1954
15. Appleby Talks Again 1956
16. Appleby Plays Chicken Also as: Death on a Quiet Day 1957
17. The Long Farewell 1958
18. Hare Sitting Up 1959
19. Silence Observed 1961
20. A Connoisseur's Case Also as: The Crabtree Affair 1962
21. The Bloody Wood 1966
22. Appleby at Allington Also as: Death by Water 1968
23. A Family Affair Also as: Picture of Guilt 1969
24. Death at the Chase 1970
25. An Awkward Lie 1971
26. The Open House 1972
27. Appleby's Answer 1973
28. Appleby's Other Story 1974
29. The Appleby File 1975
30. The Gay Phoenix 1976
31. The Ampersand Papers 1978
32. Shieks and Adders 1982
33. Appleby and Honeybath 1983
34. Carson's Conspiracy 1984
35. Appleby and the Ospreys 1986
Honeybath Titles in order of first publication
These titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels
1. The Mysterious Commission 1974
2. Honeybath's Haven 1977
3. Lord Mullion's Secret 1981
4. Appleby and Honeybath 1983
Synopses (Both Series & ‘Stand-alone’ Titles)
Published by House of Stratus
The Ampersand Papers
While Appleby is strolling along a Cornish beach, he narrowly escapes being struck by a body falling down a cliff. The body is that of Dr Sutch, an archivist, and he has fallen from the North Tower of Treskinnick Castle, home of Lord Ampersand. Two possible motivations present themselves to Appleby – the Ampersand gold, treasure from an Armada galleon; and the Ampersand papers, valuable family documents that have associations with Wordsworth and Shelley.
Appleby and Honeybath
Every English mansion has a locked room, and Grinton Hall is no exception – the library has hidden doors and passages…and a corpse. But when the corpse goes missing, Sir John Appleby and Charles Honeybath have an even more perplexing case on their hands – just how did it disappear when the doors and windows were securely locked? A bevy of helpful houseguests offer endless assistance, but the two detectives suspect that they are concealing vital information. Could the treasures on the library shelves be so valuable that someone would murder for them?
Appleby and the Ospreys
Clusters, a great country house, is troubled by bats, as Lord and Lady Osprey complain to their guests, who include first rate detective, Sir John Appleby. In the matter of bats, Appleby is indifferent, but he is soon faced with a real challenge – the murder of Lord Osprey, stabbed with an ornate dagger in the library.
Appleby at Allington
Sir John Appleby dines one evening at Allington Park, the Georgian home of his acquaintance Owain Allington, who is new to the area. His curiosity is aroused when Allington mentions his nephew and heir to the estate, Martin Allington, whose name Appleby recognises. The evening comes to an end but just as Appleby is leaving, they find a dead man – electrocuted in the son et lumière box which had been installed in the grounds.
The Appleby File
There are fifteen stories in this compelling collection, including: Poltergeist – when Appleby's wife tells him that her aunt is experiencing trouble with a Poltergeist, he is amused but dismissive, until he discovers that several priceless artefacts have been smashed as a result; A Question of Confidence – when Bobby Appleby's friend, Brian Button, is caught up in a scandalous murder in Oxford, Bobby's famous detective father is their first port of call; The Ascham – an abandoned car on a narrow lane intrigues Appleby and his wife, but even more intriguing is the medieval castle they stumble upon.
Appleby on Ararat
Inspector Appleby is stranded on a very strange island, with a rather odd bunch of people – too many men, too few women (and one of them too attractive) cause a deal of trouble. But that is nothing compared to later developments, including the body afloat in the water, and the attack by local inhabitants.
Appleby Plays Chicken
David was hiking across Dartmoor, pleased to have escaped the oppressively juvenile and sometimes perilous behaviour of his fellow undergraduates. As far as he could tell, he was the only human being for miles – but it turns out that he was the only living human being for miles. At least, that is what he presumed when he found a dead man on top of the tor.
Appleby Talking
Arbuthnot is paying for a rash decision – he recently married a beautiful but slightly amoral girl whose crazy antics caught his rather cynical professional interest. His wife has taken a lover, Rupert Slade, and Arbuthnot wants nothing more than to see him dead – but the last thing he expected was that he'd walk into his living room and find just that!
Inspector Appleby shares the details of this and many other fascinating crimes in this un-missable collection.
Appleby Talks Again
Ralph Dangerfield, an Edwardian playwright who belonged to the smartest young set of his day, kept a scandalous diary recording the intimate details of his own life and those of his friends. After his death, it was believed that his mother had burnt the incriminating evidence, but fifty years later, a famous collector of literary curiosities claims to have the diary in his possession and threatens to blackmail fashionable London with belated secrets about people now in respectable old age. Sir John Appleby reveals how he uncovered this unscrupulous crime and talks about his key role in seventeen more intriguing cases.
Appleby's Answer
Author of detective novels, Priscilla Pringle, is pleased to find that she is sharing a railway compartment with a gentleman who happens to be reading one of her books – Murder in the Cathedral. He is military officer, Captain Bulkington, who recognises Miss Pringle and offers her £500 to collaborate on a detective novel. To everyone's surprise, Miss Pringle is rather taken with Captain Bulkington – is she out of her depth?
Appleby's End
Appleby's End was the name of the station where Detective Inspector John Appleby got off the train from Scotland Yard. But that was not the only coincidence. Everything that happened from then on related back to stories by Ranulph Raven, Victorian novelist – animals were replaced by marble effigies, someone received a tombstone telling him when he would die, and a servant was found buried up to his neck in snow, dead. Why did Ranulph Raven's mysterious descendants make such a point of inviting Appleby to spend the night at their house?
Appleby's Other Story
During a walk to Elvedon House, palatial
home of the Tythertons, Sir John Appleby and Chief Constable Colonel Pride are stunned to find a police van and two cars parked outside. Wealthy Maurice Tytherton has been found shot dead, and Appleby is faced with a number of suspects – Alice Tytherton, flirtatious, younger wife of the deceased; Egon Raffaello, disreputable art dealer; and the prodigal son, Mark Tytherton, who has just returned from Argentina. Could the death be linked to the robbery of some paintings several years ago?
An Awkward Lie
Sir John Appleby's son, Bobby, assumes his father's detective role in this baffling crime. When Bobby finds a dead man, in a bunker on a golf course, he notices something rather strange – the first finger of the man's right hand is missing. A young girl approaches the scene and offers to watch the body while Bobby goes for help, but when he returns with the police in tow, the body and the girl are missing.
The Bloody Wood
An assorted party of guests have gathered at Charne, home of Charles Martineau and his ailing wife, Grace, including Sir John Appleby and his wife, Judith. Appleby's suspicions are soon aroused with the odd behaviour of Charles, and the curious last request of Grace – who desires that upon her death, Charles marries her favourite niece, Martine. When Charles and Grace die on the same day, foul play is suspected.
Carson's Conspiracy
Businessman Carl Carson decides to make a dash for South America to escape the economic slump, leaving his home and his barmy wife. But he has a problem – if his company were seen to be drawing in its horns, it wouldn't last a week. His solution is his wife's favourite delusion – an imaginary son, named Robin. Carson plans to stage a fictitious kidnapping – after all, what could be more natural than a father liquidating his assets to pay the ransom demand? Unfortunately, Carson has a rather astute neighbour – Sir John Appleby, ex-Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.
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