Tessa Crichton Price mysteries

'Stabbed?' she repeated, in horror. 'Was he really?' 'I'm afraid so. From behind. He was sitting at his desk.' The soignée actress Tessa Crichton would rather be shopping and generally luxuriating in the pleasure of being newly married. However, she is soon embroiled in a plot involving an old acquaintance (murdered) and a friend (blackmailed). Being as shrewd as she is mischievous she begins to draw various conclusions, not all of them correct. Many...

'What if he'd done it in reverse? Supposing the murder had already been committed by the time you saw him?' The elegant actress Tessa Crichton is starring in a film to be made in Paris. Her husband Robin (otherwise Detective Inspector Price of Scotland Yard) and her cousin Ellen travel with her but the trip is off to a peculiar start when Tessa's jewel case disappears - and mysteriously turns up again; no jewellery missing. She and Robin go racing...

She lay on her back, her head and shoulders at an unnaturally curved angle, as though she had arched herself in a last tremendous convulsion as death overtook her. The grass around her was stained with blood and a dart was sticking out above the neckline of her dress. This is a sparkling whodunit in the best Anne Morice style: the action takes place in and around an ostentatious stately home where murder strikes at the garden fête. The gala is being...

When she turned round I saw that she had a carving knife in her hand. Why has Pelham Hargrave returned to his childhood home after twenty-five successful years in Canada and the United States, and is his beautiful and neurotic young American wife quite what she claims to be? Why has a celebrated Hollywood director chosen to retire to a remote English country house, and why does one young woman covet the house and another loathe it? Above all, what...

'He wants to see you, personally. He's Detective Meek, he's from Homicide, and chances are he's come to report a killing.' Tessa Crichton, actress and unwitting private detective, joins the cast of Host of Pleasures-a hit West End play opening its American run in Washington D.C. All is not well backstage. Artistic temperament, old hates and new jealousies combine to create an explosive atmosphere among the cast. When one of the actors is found dead,...

"I am absolutely certain that someone is trying to kill me," she announced, which was pretty run of the mill compared to most of her ghastly secrets over the years. Tessa Crichton is appearing in a West End play when her old school friend Anne reappears in her life. Anne and her baby daughter are living in her lover's family manor, while the latter's wife and teenaged daughter inhabit a cottage on the grounds. Pregnant again, possibly with a much...

'So what tips do you need of a criminal nature?' 'Oh, nothing complicated. Just the basic rules for committing the perfect murder will do to be going on with.' The Rotunda in Dearehaven has a reputation as one of the most distinguished theatres in the country. Its success is due to its owner, Elfrieda Henshaw, a strong-willed woman whose character and methods have moulded a professional and happy company. Tessa Crichton joins the cast of the new...

Some fast thinking would be required, if I were not to get my head chopped off on the coming Friday. When Mrs Trelawney, a much-married Australian of considerable fortune, bought the big house at Sowerley, the locals hoped her money would help enrich the locality and the community. Instead they found themselves in a cold war. When Tessa Crichton arrives in the neighbourhood to stay with some old friends, there is a tense atmosphere as the established...

"I should warn you that it is not a pretty story." "Stories about murder rarely are." Nobody knows who started the rumor that James McGrath murdered his wife Rosamund. Certainly, no one had seen her in a while, and she had gone off to visit a sick cousin without mentioning a trip to the neighbors. Still, everyone was inclined to accept the story, that is, until one of the neighbours meets the cousin in town, in excellent health and eager for news...

'I don't give much for Baba's chances. Her days as an authoress must be numbered.' It is well known that the celebrated playwright, Sheridan Seymour, had three children by his mistress. The copyright to his plays was left to his legitimate daughters, but over the years Baba, the youngest, has gained sole control. Now Sheridan's work is enjoying a popular revival on the West End stage. Baba is rich and planning to write a biography of her father,...

'I've got the details written down here for you. It's a little matter of a murderous assault, which took place in or near the Marshes' tea estate.' When Christine Marsh returns to live in the Sussex town where she grew up, the only person to greet the news with enthusiasm is her nearly senile mother Dolly. Christine's put-upon cousin Martha Kershaw knows how selfish Christine is: Martha takes care of Dolly with little recompense and has now been...

It was unlikely that many had actually prayed for the murder of Mr Waddington, and they did not light beacons on the Downs or rejoice openly when it came about, but most had probably uttered a silent word of thanks. There is no shortage of murderous feelings among the eccentric country folk opposed to the development of a new 'model village'. But when a nosy estate agent and her friend peer into the windows of the country house at the centre of the...