Hare Sitting Up (23 page)

They were all outside. Jean had found one of the fire extinguishers. But it was clear that whatever had been in the spilt drum had instantly transformed the fire into something utterly beyond control. They stood looking upward. It was like gazing at some colossal blazing torch.

Suddenly Clandon gave a shout and pointed. The wretched Grindrod had somehow contrived to climb out on the very apex of the tower. For a moment he stood swaying in air. His clothes were burning. He was like a small torch himself. A second later he was a sprawled heap on the ground, only a few yards away from them.

Appleby walked slowly back to the waiting group. He had inspected his second dead body within five minutes. ‘Broken neck,’ he said briefly. Then he turned to one of the two identical men who, begrimed and haggard, were staring at the flaming tower. ‘Mr Miles Juniper, I presume?’

For a moment the man addressed failed to answer. Then, very faintly, he smiled. ‘Howard,’ he said.

The Juniper who was really Miles pointed in a dazed way at Grindrod’s body. ‘Crazy too,’ he said. ‘He felt he’d fatally incriminated himself by trying to blackmail us, each in the other’s presence. He was going to kill us and blame Lord Ailsworth. He threatened it before.’

Appleby made no reply. He walked over to Jean. ‘Your grandfather is dead,’ he said gently. ‘And there’s no possibility of recovering the body. He was madder than you knew. He thought that he could persuade Professor Juniper to join with him – and with the birds – in exterminating human life on this planet.’

Jean was silent for a long time. Then she said: ‘And we’re watching his funeral pyre.’ And then she pointed. ‘Look!’

They looked. Very high in the air, a great flight of wild fowl wheeled and wheeled again above the rising smoke.

‘Quite so.’ Appleby paused for a decent moment to acknowledge the thing. And then he turned to the Junipers. ‘We can’t,’ he said, ‘deal in hugger-mugger with two violent deaths. So it’s going to be awkward, I’m afraid. But perhaps you won’t do it again.’

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.