Death at the President's Lodging

Death at the President's Lodging

(Published in the US as 'Seven Suspects')

From the rear cover of the 1988 Penguin Books reprint:

"Just beside the President's grotesquely muffled head lay a human skull. And over the surrounding area of the floor were scattered little piles of human bones.

Inspector John Appleby has a difficult and delicate task when he investigates the murder of the unpopular Josiah Umpleby of St. Anthony's College. The crime is at once intriguing and bizarre, efficient and theatrical - and, intellectually, it is the most challenging crime of his career. For Appleby must pick his way through the malicious gossip and learned squabbles of the college's brightest academics and sift through an embarrassment of clues - genuine and planted.

But with the unexpected aid of three precicious undergraduates - and the St. Anthony's burgular - a subtle killer is unmasked and the devious dons find the oddest thing about the case is Appleby himself..."

From the rear cover of the 1984 US Penguin Books reprint of 'Seven Suspects':

"At St. Anthony's College, Inspector John Appleby must contend with academic intrigues, scholarly scandals, and one very clever killer."

Murder in the sanctity of an English university was bad enough; but such a vulgar, ungentlemanly murder - bones scattered about the room, a grotesque drawing of grinning death's-head scrawled on the wall, and poor President Umpleby's head wrapped in an academic robe - was a serious blot on the college's reputation.

In this complex and brilliantly resolved mystery Inspector John Appleby matches wits with some of the smartest - and most devious - suspects he has ever encountered."