The rasp

By Philip MacDonald

A cabinet minister lies murdered in his country residence, and the evidence appears almost too decisive. The apparent weapon bears the fingerprints of his secretary, leaving official procedure with a ready-made case. Anthony Gethryn, a former intelligence operative turned independent investigator, is less easily persuaded. To him, certainty built upon convenient evidence may conceal a far more carefully constructed deception. Abbotshall becomes a puzzle of rooms, gardens, disputed movements and competing accounts, where each alibi must be tested against the physical facts. A malfunctioning grandfather clock unsettles the accepted chronology, while planted clues and a staged crime scene blur the boundary between discovery and manipulation. Gethryn's investigation depends not only on reconstruction but on imaginative reasoning: the ability to recognise when apparently separate details have been arranged to produce a convincing, and potentially false, version of events. Beyond the murder investigation, this detective mystery examines how truth can be distorted by public sensationalism and by the authority of evidence that seems conclusive. The tension between official methods and Gethryn's intuition gives the inquiry its distinctive shape, as appearances are repeatedly measured against possibility, timing and human testimony. Justice depends upon seeing past the story the crime scene has been made to tell. This book was out of print for decades and is now republished by Alpha Editions. It has been restored for today's and future generations. This edition is not just a reprint - it's a collector's item and a cultural treasure.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9377781752
• ISBN13: 9789377781750
• Release Date: October 2026
• Publisher: Alpha Edition
• Length: 194 Pages
• Weight: 0.59 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"