Appleby And Honeybath (23 page)

Terence plainly thought they were going to do him quite a lot of good – thousands of pounds of it, so mad was the world. He stared at the papers, at first unbelievingly and then – it seemed – with a certain stirring of curiosity. What on earth could be the sort of tosh that people would give that money for?

Terence turned over a page, and read. He actually
read
: there could be no doubt about it. And as he read, his brow darkened. His brow darkened, his face flushed. His face turned red beyond (it might have been said) the scope of Charles Honeybath’s palette. And then he uttered a roar of rage. Totally inarticulate at first, it swiftly revealed itself as imprecation of no common order. Terence was on the verge of apoplectic seizure. Offering in energetic heroic couplets his estimate of Grinton and the Grintons, the metrical death-adder Alexander Pope looked to be at work again. Mr Grinton was as Professor Hagberg had been, but with furious indignation taking the place of glee.

And then it was all over. With a final bellow of fury, Terence crumpled the manuscript and hurled it into the heart of the fire. Nine thousand pounds was something. But the honour of the Grintons was something more.

Everybody looked on, stunned. Nobody knew what to say. Or nobody except Judith Appleby. Judith glanced at her watch and turned to Dolly.

‘Why, Dolly!’ she said. ‘It’s almost tea-time.’

So they all dispersed. Or all except Terence Grinton, who remained staring at the fire, and Charles Honeybath, who advanced upon him with quiet resolution.

‘Grinton,’ Honeybath said, ‘I think we should perhaps give our minds to the question of the portrait.’

‘The portrait?’ For a moment Terence was understandably a little at sea. And then he remembered.

‘Yes, of course,’ he said. ‘My dear fellow, yes, of course. Wednesday or Thursday – or any day you like.’

John Appleby first appears in
Death at the President ’s Lodging
, by which time he has risen to the rank of Inspector in the police force. A cerebral detective, with ready wit, charm and good manners, he rose from humble origins to being educated at ‘St Anthony’s College’, Oxford, prior to joining the police as an ordinary constable.

Having decided to take early retirement just after World War II, he nonetheless continued his police career at a later stage and is subsequently appointed an Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police at Scotland Yard, where his crime solving talents are put to good use, despite the lofty administrative position. Final retirement from the police force (as Commissioner and Sir John Appleby) does not, however, diminish Appleby’s taste for solving crime and he continues to be active,
Appleby and the Ospreys
marking his final appearance in the late 1980’s.

In
Appleby’s End
he meets Judith Raven, whom he marries and who has an involvement in many subsequent cases, as does their son Bobby and other members of his family.

These titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels

These titles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels

Published by House of Stratus

The Ampersand Papers While Appleby is strolling along a Cornish beach, he narrowly escapes being struck by a body falling down a cliff. The body is that of Dr Sutch, an archivist, and he has fallen from the North Tower of Treskinnick Castle, home of Lord Ampersand. Two possible motivations present themselves to Appleby – the Ampersand gold, treasure from an Armada galleon; and the Ampersand papers, valuable family documents that have associations with Wordsworth and Shelley.

Appleby and Honeybath Every English mansion has a locked room, and Grinton Hall is no exception – the library has hidden doors and passages…and a corpse. But when the corpse goes missing, Sir John Appleby and Charles Honeybath have an even more perplexing case on their hands – just how did it disappear when the doors and windows were securely locked? A bevy of helpful houseguests offer endless assistance, but the two detectives suspect that they are concealing vital information. Could the treasures on the library shelves be so valuable that someone would murder for them?

Appleby and the Ospreys Clusters, a great country house, is troubled by bats, as Lord and Lady Osprey complain to their guests, who include first rate detective, Sir John Appleby. In the matter of bats, Appleby is indifferent, but he is soon faced with a real challenge – the murder of Lord Osprey, stabbed with an ornate dagger in the library.

Appleby at Allington Sir John Appleby dines one evening at Allington Park, the Georgian home of his acquaintance Owain Allington, who is new to the area. His curiosity is aroused when Allington mentions his nephew and heir to the estate, Martin Allington, whose name Appleby recognises. The evening comes to an end but just as Appleby is leaving, they find a dead man – electrocuted in the son et lumière box which had been installed in the grounds.