Bloody Instructions: An Antony Maitland Mystery

By Sara Woods

Book Overview

"Miss Bell found him," said Antony. "That was about fifteen minutes after I got there. She let out a yell that brought us all running. He'd been stabbed in the back"

Who had the effrontery to fatally stab James Winter, a mild and highly respectable London solicitor, as he was inoffensively taking tea in his office?

The possibilities are plentiful, but police suspicion lands on a temperamental Shakespearean actor, Joseph Dowling, whose estranged wife the old man had been representing in her divorce action. The larger-than-life star of London's latest hit production of Macbeth, Dowling not only had a motive for murder, he had a dagger to draw as well. These actors

Now it may well be the last act for Dowling in his newest role-criminal defendant-unless brilliant barrister-sleuth Antony Maitland and his famed courtroom performer uncle, Sir Nicholas Harding, can put the spotlight on the real killer in this, Sara Woods' highly-praised debut detective novel.

This gripping courtroom drama from 1962 features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

"This is just the sort of book I enjoy - a good detective story, with human characters and told with freshness and an amusing good humor." - Francis Iles, author of Malice Aforethought

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1915393949
• ISBN13: 9781915393944
• Release Date: December 2024
• Publisher: Dean Street Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.1" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

First in the series

Antony Maitland is sent by his uncle to pick up some legal papers from a fellow solicitor's office. When he gets there, he finds the lawyer slumped over his desk, a knife in his back. Early suspicion falls on a friend of his, the dead man's law partner. But instead, the father of another friend is arrested. It seems he was seen leaving the office. But Antony is a witness to the contrary. And the outcome of this trial will also decide the outcome of Antony's future career. I enjoyed this one. This first book introduces Margaret Hamilton, future friend of the Maitlands, and the Maitland household as well. Really good.