The Wychford Poisoning Case. Anthony Berkeley

      

      ‘THE DETECTIVE STORY CLUB is a clearing house for the best detective and mystery stories chosen for you by a select committee of experts. Only the most ingenious crime stories will be published under the THE DETECTIVE STORY CLUB imprint. A special distinguishing stamp appears on the wrapper and title page of every THE DETECTIVE STORY CLUB book—the Man with the Gun. Always look for the Man with the Gun when buying a Crime book.’

       Wm. Collins Sons & Co. Ltd., 1929

      Now the Man with the Gun is back in this series of COLLINS CRIME CLUB reprints, and with him the chance to experience the classic books that influenced the Golden Age of crime fiction.

       Copyright

      Published by COLLINS CRIME CLUB

      An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      First published in Great Britain by The Crime Club by W. Collins Sons & Co. Ltd 1926

      Copyright © Estate of Anthony Berkeley 1926

      Introduction © Tony Medawar 2017

      Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2021

      A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

      This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

      Source ISBN: 9780008216429

      Ebook Edition © February 2017 ISBN: 9780008216436

      Version: 2020-11-30

       Dedication

      TO

      E. M. DELAFIELD

      MOST DELIGHTFUL OF WRITERS

      MY DEAR ELIZABETH,

      There is only one person to receive the dedication of the book which has grown out of those long criminological discussions of ours. You will recognise in it many of your own ideas, which I have unblushingly annexed; but I hope you will also recognise the attempt I have made to substitute for the materialism of the usual crime-puzzle of fiction those psychological values which are (as we have so often agreed) the basis of the universal interest in the far more absorbing criminological dramas of real life. In other words I have tried to write what might be described as a psychological detective story.

      In any case I offer you the result as a small expression of my admiration of your work and of my gratitude for the gift of your friendship.

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Introduction

I. MARMALADE AND MURDER

II. STATING THE CASE

       III. MR SHERINGHAM ASKS WHY

       IV. ARRIVAL AT WYCHFORD

       V. ALL ABOUT ARSENIC

       VI. INTRODUCING MISS PUREFOY

       VII. MOSTLY IRRELEVANT

       VIII. TRIPLE ALLIANCE

       IX. INTERVIEW WITH A HUMAN BURR

       X. SHOCKING TREATMENT OF A LADY

       XI. ENTIRELY FEMININE

       XII. THE HUMAN ELEMENT

       XIII. WHAT MRS BENTLEY SAID

       XIV. INTERVIEW WITH A GREAT LADY

       XV. MISS BLOWER RECEIVES

       XVI. CONFERENCE AT AN IRONING-BOARD

       XVII. MR ALLEN TALKS

       XVIII. MR SHERINGHAM LECTURES ON ADULTERY

       XIX. INTRODUCING BENTLEY BROTHERS

       XX. MR SHERINGHAM SUMS UP

       XXI. DOUBLE SCOTCH

       XXII. ENTER ROMANCE

       XXIII. FINAL DISCOVERIES

       XXIV. VILLAINY UNMASKED

       XXV. ULTIMA THULE