Ask a Policeman

Ask a Policeman
Agatha Christie

Gladys Mitchell

Helen Simpson

Anthony Berkeley

Dorothy L. Sayers

This new edition, which is reproduced from a first printing of the book, is introduced by the author Martin Edwards, archivist of the Detection Club, and includes a never-before-published Preface by Agatha Christie, ‘Detective Writers in England’, in which she discusses her fellow writers in the Detection Club.Lord Comstock is a barbarous newspaper tycoon with enemies in high places. His murder in the study of his country houseposes a dilemma for the Home Secretary. In the hours before his death, Lord Comstock’s visitors included the government Chief Whip, an Archbishop, and the Assistant Commissioner for Scotland Yard. Suspicion falls upon them all and threatens the impartiality of any police investigation. Abandoning protocol, the Home Secretary invites four famous detectives to solve the case: Mrs Adela Bradley, Sir John Saumarez, Lord Peter Wimsey, and Mr Roger Sheringham. All are different, all are plausible, all are on their own – and none of them can ask a policeman…This classic whodunit adopted a completely new approach: Milward Kennedy proposed the title, John Rhode plotted the murder and provided the suspects, and four of their contemporaries were asked to lend their well-known detectives to the task of providing solutions to the crime. But there was to be another twist: the authors would swap detectives and use the characters in their sections of the book. Thus Gladys Mitchell and Helen Simpson swapped Mrs Bradley and Sir John Saumarez, and Dorothy Sayers and Anthony Berkeley swapped Lord Peter Wimsey and Roger Sheringham, enabling the authors to indulge in skilful and sly parodies of each other.The contributors to ASK A POLICEMAN are: John Rhode, Helen Simpson, Gladys Mitchell, Anthony Berkeley, Dorothy L. Sayers, Milward Kennedy with Agatha Christie and Martin Edwards.

ASK A POLICEMAN

BY

ANTHONY BERKELEY

MILWARD KENNEDY

GLADYS MITCHELL

JOHN RHODE

DOROTHY L. SAYERS

&

HELEN SIMPSON

COPYRIGHT

Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

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London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

This 80th anniversary edition published in 2012

First published in Great Britain by Arthur Barker Ltd 1933

Copyright © The Detection Club 1933, 2012

The Authors asserts the moral right to be identified as the authors of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

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Source ISBN: 9780007468621

Ebook Edition © SEPTEMBER 2012 ISBN: 9780007468652

Version: 2018-08-06

CONTENTS

Cover (#ud6a427f9-3217-56b1-8558-c1c351bcbfc9)

Title Page (#u04314e97-be06-5413-8ad5-fbded0ad2973)

Copyright (#uafffe8ea-b30e-5956-84d2-8edb21475e3a)

Map (#ufd3af23a-f1f0-53d8-ba73-36e5a740f514)

Foreword: Ask a Detective Writer by Martin Edwards (#u1bcd7b72-3b24-5160-8e12-37df9ce50ea9)

Preface: Detective Writers in England by Agatha Christie (#ua2f1eb5e-2e0e-520e-933e-88a8e4669825)

PART I (#ue014027f-b176-5342-a482-2d73badd8b0e)

DEATH AT HURSLEY LODGE BY JOHN RHODE (#ud61a564b-e918-5327-8555-997a8bc97cfe)

PART II (#litres_trial_promo)

I. MRS. BRADLEY’S DILEMMA BY HELEN SIMPSON (#litres_trial_promo)

II. SIR JOHN TAKES HIS CUE BY GLADYS MITCHELL (#litres_trial_promo)

III. LORD PETER’S PRIVY COUNSEL BY ANTHONY BERKELEY (#litres_trial_promo)

IV. THE CONCLUSIONS OF MR. ROGER SHERINGHAM. BY DOROTHY L. SAYERS (#litres_trial_promo)

PART III (#litres_trial_promo)

“IF YOU WANT TO KNOW—” BY MILWARD KENNEDY (#litres_trial_promo)

Final Note (#litres_trial_promo)

Footnotes (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

FOREWORD