He was, indeed. It turned out that Brewer had been backing a dark horse for at least three years in Punnetts Green, and there was an illegitimate child called Johnny to whose support he was committed by law. He was behindhand with his payments there, too, and the woman—a Mrs. Castle—had written, demanding the money and suggesting a visit on Thursday.
“And that’s where you were?” asked Crewe.
Brewer said, “Yes.” But actually he hadn’t arrived until six, though the letter had established four as the time of the rendezvous. He had the usual story of a puncture, but no witnesses to support it. And when the police asked to see the letter he fumbled about in his briefcase and then gave the belated, feeble excuse that he’d destroyed it to keep it from falling into his wife’s hands. Mrs. Castle backed him up, but she wasn’t regarded as a very reliable witness, and the upshot of it was that Brewer was arrested for murder and subsequently found guilty.
He’d been right about one thing. When the story broke, his wife changed her tune with a vengeance. You’d have thought she wanted to see him hanged. She even let out that they’d been counting on what the old woman would leave them, knowing she couldn’t last much longer. She wouldn’t even go to see Brewer in prison the night before he was hanged.
“She’d murder him herself if she could,” said Millie. “It’s enough to make you feel sorry for him, whatever he’s done.”
And now here’s the sequel. On the day following her husband’s execution Daisy Brewer put the house and its contents in the hands of a local auctioneer, and on the way home she was knocked down by a bus and killed on the spot. At the subsequent auction sale I bought a rather attractive little chest she’d had in her room. I was planning to get married, and I thought Anne might like it if she didn’t suspect where it came from.
I asked Millie to keep it for me, and just before the wedding I took it home and polished it up. I opened one of the drawers, which were all paper-lined and quite hard to open, and I found a small manila envelope wedged in the back.
When I pried it loose I saw it was addressed to Brewer. Inside was the letter from Mrs. Castle that might have saved his life. After that I wasn’t surprised to discover that the newspaper used for the lining was an Evening Sun dated July 21, 1955.
So there I was, with evidence that Mrs. Brewer had deliberately lied away her husband’s life.
Well—what would you have done?
I know what I did. I took all the evidence and dumped it on the fire. What was the sense in reopening the case when they were all three dead? I suppose I’m the only man who knows the identity of Mrs. Masters’ visitor on that fatal Thursday.
She’d planned it well, knowing Brewer would be on the other side of the county, and naturally the old woman wouldn’t refuse to admit her nephew’s wife. The fair’s being that day made it that much easier, and the sugar in the tea would disguise the taste of the tablets—if they had any.
“She’d murder him herself if she could,” Millie had said. Well—she had.
Sources
“You Can’t Hang Twice”, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (hereafter, EQMM), November 1946; The Queen’s Awards 1946, Little Brown 1946, Gollancz 1948.
“Once is Once Too Many”, EQMM, December 1955.
“A Nice Little Mare Called Murder”, Crime Writers’ Choice, Hodder and Stoughton 1964
“Give Me A Ring”, Illustrated London News, 11 November 1955
“The Black Hat”, Best Stories of the Underworld, Faber 1942; The Armchair Detective Reader, Boardman 1948
“The Reading of the Will”, Eve, 24 August 1927
“Curtains For Me”, Evening Standard (hereafter, ES), 3 October 1951; John Creasey’s Mystery Magazine, February 1958; The Mystery Bedside Book, Hodder and Stoughton 1960
“Point of No Return”, EQMM, May 1968; Ellery Queen’s Anthology Spring Summer 1973, Davis 1973
“Cul-de-sac”, ES, 17 June 1952
“Following Feet”, Daily Express, 22 April 1935
“Three Living and One Dead”, ES, 13 July 1955
“The Man With The Chestnut Beard”, Eve, 17 August 1927
“Over My Dead Body” ES, 19 June 1951; EQMM, July 1952; MacKill’s, September 1952; Ellery Queen’s Minimysteries, World 1969
“The Funeral of Dendy Watt”, EQMM, January 1970 “Horseshoes For Luck”, Detection Medley, Hutchinson, 1939
“He Found Out Too Late Just How Good an Artist Mabel Was,” ES, 2 June 1964; Saint, May 1966
“A Day of Encounters”, EQMM, February 1972; Ellery Queen’s Crookbook, Davis 1974, Gollancz 1974
“Sequel To Murder”, Eat, Drink and Be Buried, Viking 1956; For Tomorrow We Die, Macdonald 1958; also known as “What Would You Have Done?” The Evening Standard Detective Book, Series 2, Gollancz 1951.
Sequel to Murder: The Cases of Arthur Crook and Other Mysteries, by Anthony Gilbert, edited by John Cooper, is set in Goudy Old Style, a digital version of a type designed by Frederic W. Goudy in 1915. It is printed on sixty-pound Natures acid-free, recycled paper. The cover design is by Gail Cross. The first edition was published in two forms: trade softcover, notchbound; and one hundred fifty copies sewn in cloth. Sequel to Murder was typeset by G.E. Satheesh, Pondicherry, India, and printed and bound by Thomson-Shore, Inc., Dexter, Michigan, It was published in September 2017 by Crippen & Landru Publishers, Inc., Norfolk, Virginia, and Cincinnati, Ohio.
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Since 1994, Crippen & Landru has published more than 100 first editions of short-story collections by important detective and mystery writers.
This is the best edited, most attractively packaged line of mystery books introduced in this decade. The books are equally valuable to collectors and readers. [Mystery Scene Magazine]
The specialty publisher with the most starstudded list is Crippen & Landru, which has produced short story collections by some of the biggest names in contemporary crime fiction. [Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine]
God Bless Crippen & Landru. [The Strand Magazine]
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Crippen & Landru Lost Classics
Crippen & Landru is proud to publish a series of new short-story collections by great authors who specialized in traditional mysteries. Each book collects stories from crumbling pages of old pulp, digest, and slick magazines, and most of the stories have been “lost” since their first publication.
We have received many requests for a complete list of “Lost Classics.” Only those books with prices listed below are currently in print (September 2017) but out of print books can often be found on the web or from mystery bookshops.
The Newtonian Egg and Other Cases of Rolf le Roux by Peter Godfrey, introduction by Ronald Godfrey. 2002.
Murder, Mystery and Malone by Craig Rice, edited by Jeffrey A. Marks. 2002.
The Sleuth of Baghdad: The Inspector Chafik Stories, by Charles B. Child. 2002. Trade softcover, $17.00.
Hildegarde Withers: Uncollected Riddles by Stuart Palmer, introduction by Mrs. Stuart Palmer. 2002.
The Spotted Cat and Other Mysteries from the Casebook of Inspector Cockrill by
Christianna Brand, edited by Tony Medawar. 2002. Cloth, $29.00.
Marksman and Other Stories by William Campbell Gault, edited by Bill Pronzini; afterword by Shelley Gault. 2003. Trade softcover, $19.00.
Karmesin: The World’s Greatest Criminal – Or Most Outrageous Liar by Gerald Kersh, edited by Paul Duncan. 2003. Cloth, $27.00.
The Complete Curious Mr. Tarrant by C. Daly King, introduction by Edward D. Hoch. 2003.
The Pleasant Assassin and Other Cases of Dr. Basil Willing by Helen McCloy, introduction by B. A. Pike. 2003. Cloth, $27.00. Trade softcover, $18.00.
> Murder – All Kinds by William L. DeAndrea, introduction by Jane Haddam. 2003. Cloth, $29.00.
The Avenging Chance and Other Mysteries from Roger Sheringham’s Casebook by Anthony Berkeley, edited by Tony Medawar and Arthur Robinson. 2004. Second edition enlarged, 2015. Trade softcover, $19.00.
Banner Deadlines: The Impossible Files of Senator Brooks U. Banner by Joseph Commings, edited by Robert Adey; memoir by Edward D. Hoch. 2004. Cloth, $29.00.
The Danger Zone and Other Stories by Erle Stanley Gardner, edited by Bill Pronzini. 2004.
Dr. Poggioli: Criminologist by T.S. Stribling, edited by Arthur Vidro. 2004. Cloth, $29.00.
The Couple Next Door: Collected Short Mysteries by Margaret Millar, edited by Tom Nolan. 2004.
Sleuth’s Alchemy: Cases of Mrs. Bradley and Others by Gladys Mitchell, edited by Nicholas Fuller. 2004.
Who Was Guilty? Two Dime Novels by Philip S. Warne/Howard W. Macy,
edited by Marlena E. Bremseth. 2004. Cloth, $29.00. Trade softover, $19.00.
Slot-Machine Kelly by Dennis Lynds writing as Michael Collins, introduction by Robert J. Randisi. Cloth, $29.00. 2004. Trade softcover, $19.00. The Evidence of the Sword by Rafael Sabatini, edited by Jesse F. Knight. 2006. The Casebook of Sidney Zoom by Erle Stanley Gardner, edited by Bill Pronzini. 2006.
The Detections of Francis Quarles by Julian Symons, edited by John Cooper.
2006. Cloth, $29.00.
The Trinity Cat and Other Mysteries by Ellis Peters (Edith Pargeter), edited by
Martin Edwards and Sue Feder. 2006.
The Grandfather Rastin Mysteries by Lloyd Biggle, Jr., edited by Kenneth Lloyd Biggle and Donna Biggle Emerson. 2007. Cloth, $29.00. Trade softcover, $19.00.
Masquerade: Ten Crime Stories by Max Brand, edited by William F. Nolan.
2007. Cloth, $29.00. Trade softcover, $19.00.
Dead Yesterday and Other Mysteries by Mignon G. Eberhart, edited by Rick
Cypert. 2007. Cloth, $30.00.
The Battles of Jericho by Hugh Pentecost, introduction by S.T. Karnick. 2008.
Cloth, $29.00. Trade softcover, $19.00.
The Minerva Club, The Department of Patterns and Other Stories by Victor Canning, edited by John Higgins. 2009. Cloth, $29.00. Trade softcover, $19.00.
The Casebook of Gregory Hood by Anthony Boucher and Denis Green, edited by Joe R. Christopher. 2009. Cloth, $29.00.
Murder at the Stork Club and Other Stories by Vera Caspary, edited by
A.B. Emrys. 2009. Trade softcover, $19.00.
Appleby Talks About Crime by Michael Innes, edited by John Cooper. 2010.
Ten Thousand Blunt Instruments by Philip Wylie, edited by Bill Pronzini 2010.
Cloth, $29.00. Trade softcover, $19.00.
The Exploits of the Patent Leather Kid by Erle Stanley Gardner, edited by Bill Pronzini. 2010. Cloth, $29.00. Trade softcover, $19.00.
The Duel of Shadows: The Extraordinary Cases of Barnabas Hildreth by Vincent Cornier, edited by Mike Ashley. 2011. Cloth, $28.00.
The Casebook of Jonas P. Jonas and Other Mysteries by E. X. Ferrars, edited by
John Cooper. 2012. Cloth, $29.00. Trade softcover, $19.00.
Night Call and Other Stories of Suspense by Charlotte Armstrong, edited by
Rick Cypert and Kirby McCauley. 2014. Cloth, $30.00. Trade softcover,
$20.00.
Chain of Witnesses: The Cases of Miss Phipps by Phyllis Bentley, edited by
Marvin Lachman. 2015. Cloth, $29.00. Trade softcover, $19.00.
The Puzzles of Peter Duluth by Patrick Quentin. Introduction by Curtis Evans.
2016. Cloth, $29.00. Trade softcover, $19.00.
The Purple Flame and Other Mysteries by Frederick Irving Anderson, edited by Benjamin Franklin Fisher IV. 2016. Cloth, $29.00. Trade softcover,
$19.00.
Sequel to Murder: The Cases of Arthur Crook and Other Mysteries by Anthony
Gilbert, edited by John Cooper. 2017. Cloth, $29.00. Trade softcover,
$19.00.
The Zanzibar Shirt and Other Stories by James Holding., introduction by Jeffrey A. Marks. Forthcoming.
Other Recent Publications
Nothing Is Impossible: Further Problems of Dr. Sam Hawthorne by Edward D. Hoch. Full cloth in dust jacket, signed and numbered by the publisher,
$45.00. Trade softcover, $19.00.
Swords, Sandals and Sirens By Marilyn Todd. Full cloth in dust jacket, signed and numbered by the author, $45.00. Trade softcover, $19.00.
My Mother, The Detective: The Complete “Mom” Stories by James Yaffe. Second edition enlarged. Trade softcover, $19.00.
All But Impossible: The Impossible Files of Dr. Sam Hawthorne. Full cloth in dust jacket, signed and numbered by the publisher, $45.00. Trade softcover, $19.00.
Subscriptions
Subscribers agree to purchase each forthcoming publication, either the Regular Series or the Lost Classics or (preferably) both. Collectors can thereby guarantee receiving limited editions, and readers won’t miss any favorite stories. Subscribers receive a discount of 20% off the list price (and the same discount on our backlist) and a specially commissioned short story by a major writer in a deluxe edition as a gift at the end of the year.
The point for us is that, since customers don’t pick and choose which books they want, we have a guaranteed sale even before the book is published, and that allows us to be more imaginative in choosing short story collections to issue. That’s worth the 20% discount for us.
Table of Contents
Introduction
You Can’t Hang Twice
Once IS Once Too Many
A Nice Little Mare Called Murder
Give Me A Ring
The Black Hat
The Reading Of The Will
Curtains for Me
Point of No Return
Cul-De-Sac
Following Feet
Three Living ... And One Dead
The Man With The Chestnut Beard
Over My Dead Body
The Funeral of Dendy Watt
Horseshoes for Luck
He Found Out Too Late Just How Good an Artist Mabel Was
A Day of Encounters
Sequel to Murder
Sources
Crippen & Landru Lost Classics
Other Recent Publications
Subscriptions
Sequel to Murder: The Cases of Arthur Crook and Other Mysteries Page 32