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Murder as a Fine Art
Series: British Library Crime Classics
Ratings/reviews counts are updated frequently.
Check link for latest rating. ( 164 ratings, 32 reviews)
Brief Description
The newly formed Ministry of Fine Arts has a staffing problem—one minister dead within six months of its inception, his successor snuffed out shortly before the General Election. When a third victim, Permanent Secretary Edwin Pompfret, is fatally crushed by the fall of a giant bust,...
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Format: Paperback / softback
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See moreA classic mystery reprinting for the first time since the 1950s copies of the original are extremely scarce. One of our reader favourites of the Crime Classics series returns, with the third Carnac novel starring Julian Rivers to join the Crime Classics series. From a London political setting, sending up the machinations of the civil service and the ego-driven world of fine art.
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Description
The newly formed Ministry of Fine Arts has a staffing problem—one minister dead within six months of its inception, his successor snuffed out shortly before the General Election. When a third victim, Permanent Secretary Edwin Pompfret, is fatally crushed by the fall of a giant bust, Inspector Julian Rivers is drawn into a case of murder of artistic devilment.
"Her best yet. A classic story with well concealed and ingenious clues, sufficiently difficult to leave us properly surprised by both murderer and method."
— Spectator, 1953
Series: British Library Crime Classics
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Girls Together magazine agony-aunt 'Mrs Friendly-wise', aka Katinka Jones, finds herself at a loose end in Swansea, and decides to pay a surprise visit to one of the magazine's regular correspondents, 'Amista'. But reaching the address—a strange house perched atop a mountain which matches all of the descriptions in the letters—nobody has even heard of 'Amista'. As Katinka begins to...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
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It is 1942, and struggling up the hill to the new military hospital, Heron's Park, Kent, postman Higgins has no idea that the sender of one of the seven letters of application he is delivering will turn out to be a murderer in a year's time. When Higgins is brought in following injuries from a bombing raid in 1943, his...Paperback$2799Unit price /UnavailableIn StockShips today -
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Murder in Vienna
After all, under its gaiety and brilliance, Vienna has always been a centre of intrigue. The distinguished industrialist, the fair girl, and the aggressive young man—although Superintendent McDonald tried to avoid studying his fellow-passengers, he simply couldn't help it. For him, it was difficult to adjust to being on holiday. He turned away deliberately. These people weren't his problem; he...PaperbackSold Out -
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Calamity in Kent
In the peaceful seaside town of Broadgate, an impossible crime occurs. The operator of the cliff railway locks the empty carriage one evening; when he returns to work the next morning, a dead body is locked inside—a man who has been stabbed in the back. Jimmy London, a newspaper reporter, is first on the scene. He is quick on the...PaperbackSold Out
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9780712355179
Publisher: British Library Publishing
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 10 January 2025
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: British Library Publishing
Illustration: Illustrations
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 129.0mm
Height: 198.0mm
Weight: 250g
Pages: 256
About the Author
Carol Carnac was a pen name used by Edith Caroline Rivett (18941958), a prolific English crime writer who also wrote as E.C.R. Lorac. She was a member of the prestigious Detection Club, and was lauded for the detailed and atmospheric settings of her mysteries. Her books include Murder by Matchlight, Bats in the Belfry, Crossed Skis and Death of an Author, all available as British Library Crime Classics.
Also by Carol Carnac
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Crossed Skis
In London's Bloomsbury, Inspector Julian Rivers of Scotland Yard looks down at a dismal scene. Here is the victim, burnt to a crisp. Here are the clues — clues which point to a good climber and expert skier, and which lead Rivers to the piercing sunshine and sparkling snow of the Austrian Alps. Yet there is something sinister beneath the...PaperbackSold Out -
Impact of Evidence
Her best yet. A classic story with well concealed and ingenious clues, sufficiently difficult to leave us properly surprised by both murderer and method. — The Spectator Near St. Brynneys in the Welsh border country, isolated by heavy snow and flooding from the thaw, a calamity has occurred. Old Dr. Robinson, a known 'menace on the roads', has met his...PaperbackSold Out
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Murder in Vienna
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Checkmate to Murder
On a dismally foggy night in Hampstead, London, a curious party has gathered in an artist's studio to weather the wartime blackout. A civil servant and a government scientist are matching wits in a game of chess, while an artist paints the portrait of his characterful sitter, bedecked in Cardinal's robes at the other end of the room. In the...PaperbackSold Out -
Crook o' Lune
It all began with sheep-stealing. A hateful act among the shepherds of the fells, and yet not a matter of life and death. Then came arson, and with the leaping of the flames, death and disorder reached the peaceful moors. Holidaying with his friends the Hoggetts in High Gimmerdale while on a trip to find some farmland for his retirement,...PaperbackSold Out -
Crossed Skis
In London's Bloomsbury, Inspector Julian Rivers of Scotland Yard looks down at a dismal scene. Here is the victim, burnt to a crisp. Here are the clues — clues which point to a good climber and expert skier, and which lead Rivers to the piercing sunshine and sparkling snow of the Austrian Alps. Yet there is something sinister beneath the...PaperbackSold Out -
Fell Murder
First published in 1944, Fell Murder sees E.C.R. Lorac at the height of her considerable powers as a purveyor of well-made, traditional, and emphatic detective fiction. The book presents a fascinating 'return of the prodigal’ mystery set in the later stages of the Second World War amidst the close-knit farmerfolk community of Lancashire’s lovely Lune valley. The Garths had farmed...PaperbackSold Out -
The Theft of the Iron Dogs
E.C.R. Lorac must be seriously considered for the position of leading writer of classic detective stories. – Birmingham Post While hot on the heels of serial coupon-racketeer Gordon Ginner, Chief Inspector MacDonald of Scotland Yard receives word of a peculiar incident up in Lancashire. The fishing cottage of a local farmer has been broken into, with an assortment of seemingly...PaperbackSold Out -
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