'First rate' - Time and Tide
Dr. Maurice Royd, the head of a psychiatric hospital, is found slumped over his desk with his skull caved in.
But a lack of hard evidence leaves the local police stumped.
The difficulty is that there are too many people who could have murdered Dr. Royd, too many people who wished him dead.
Any one of that 'bunch of crazies' might have yielded to the impulse to do it.
Private Investigator Jacob Chaos is given the case by Scotland Yard.
Now time is of the essence for Chaos as he tries to get the job done discreetly, hushing up any possibility of a scandal.
But it seems there is quite a lot of funny business concerning the late Dr. Royd and digging any deeper seems to start stirring up trouble.
Before he knows it, Chaos inadvertently kick-starts a killing spree.
Racing against the clock with an ever growing list of suspects, Jacob Chaos must work to unravel the twisted skeins hiding the truth and catch the audacious murderer...
Background for Murder is a classic whodunit and stark expose of human horror in the tangled worlds of sanity and insanity.
'Brilliant' - The Observer
'Stylish Thriller' - The Daily Herald
'... excellent character drawing... a thrilling climax' - The New York Times
'Beautifully Written' - The Spectator
Nancy Bodington was born in 1912. Under the pen name of Shelley Smith , she wrote 15 crime and detective novels between 1942 and 1978. Smith is best known for The Ballard of the Running Ma and its 1963 film adaption starring Laurence Harvey and Lee Remick.
Genre: Mystery
Dr. Maurice Royd, the head of a psychiatric hospital, is found slumped over his desk with his skull caved in.
But a lack of hard evidence leaves the local police stumped.
The difficulty is that there are too many people who could have murdered Dr. Royd, too many people who wished him dead.
Any one of that 'bunch of crazies' might have yielded to the impulse to do it.
Private Investigator Jacob Chaos is given the case by Scotland Yard.
Now time is of the essence for Chaos as he tries to get the job done discreetly, hushing up any possibility of a scandal.
But it seems there is quite a lot of funny business concerning the late Dr. Royd and digging any deeper seems to start stirring up trouble.
Before he knows it, Chaos inadvertently kick-starts a killing spree.
Racing against the clock with an ever growing list of suspects, Jacob Chaos must work to unravel the twisted skeins hiding the truth and catch the audacious murderer...
Background for Murder is a classic whodunit and stark expose of human horror in the tangled worlds of sanity and insanity.
Praise for Shelley Smith
'Brilliant' - The Observer
'Stylish Thriller' - The Daily Herald
'... excellent character drawing... a thrilling climax' - The New York Times
'Beautifully Written' - The Spectator
Nancy Bodington was born in 1912. Under the pen name of Shelley Smith , she wrote 15 crime and detective novels between 1942 and 1978. Smith is best known for The Ballard of the Running Ma and its 1963 film adaption starring Laurence Harvey and Lee Remick.
Genre: Mystery
Visitors also looked at these books
Used availability for Shelley Smith's Background for Murder