The Ironsidess Cromwell novels

The "Ironsides" Cromwell novels

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1        Footsteps of Death
(Rewritten from DW serial 217-230)

MEET Chief Inspector William (" Ironsides ") Cromwell of Scotland Yard—a detective who is essentially human, vividly alive—and refreshingly different. Bill Cromwell seldom does anything without a grumble, and the unconventional methods he sometimes employs would certainly get him dismissed from the Force if his Scotland Yard superiors knew anything about them. Not that Ironsides ever takes the slightest trouble to camouflage his actions. He is supremely contemptuous of official regulations and red tape. He ambles through an investigation in his own sweet way—and gets there every time. And more often than not he ambles just like a greyhound!
MEET Floyd Trenton, millionaire, President of Trenton Road Flyers Incorporated, of Michigan, U.S.A., alias Duncan Wayne, wanted for murder. A forceful, dynamic personality, yet lovable because of his frank nature and straight-from-the-shoulder honesty. He returns to his home town in the Midlands of England after an absence of eighteen years, knowing that every step he takes in the familiar old surroundings is a Footstep of Death.
MEET Nigel Stacey, prominent townsman of Netherton, whose engagement to Floyd Trenton's twenty-year-old daughter Pamela is the reason for Trenton's four thousand-mile journey into the shadow of the gallows. Outwardly a respectable and prosperous manufacturer, Nigel Stacey is that most dangerous of all men—a natural killer. Floyd Trenton suspects this. . . .
MEET " Mr. Nemesis," the mysterious, elusive character whose presence in Netherton coincides with the arrival of Floyd Trenton, and who precipitates the guilt-scarred Nigel Stacey into folly after folly, inexorably driving him on to the point when the pressure becomes too great—and he cracks. A grim, relentless game in which Ironsides is at first merely a spectator. . . .
MEET Victor Gunn, the author of this entirely different detective-thriller. We confidently prophesy that Mr. Gunn will soon be known as " The Big Shot of Thrilldom," and his blunt-spoken and likeable Bill Cromwell will very shortly be one of your favourite fiction characters. We have no doubt that you will acquire a soft spot, too, for Ironsides' cheerful young assistant, Sergeant Johnny Lister. This pair will soon be going places in a big way.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Sep-39, 288pp, 7s/6d
2nd         Collins, Oct-40, 284pp, 4s

2       Ironsides of the Yard
(R/P from Thrillers 556, 558, 560)

IN this new story of Chief - Inspector William Cromwell—Ironsides of the Yard—Mr. Victor Gunn has selected a grim theme which strikes a topical note. A nest of cold-blooded foreign spies are working for the Nazis in a peaceful old Suffolk manor house. In crossing swords with Ironsides they set the seal on their own destruction, for in challenging Ironsides they challenge Trouble. "Like the Mounties, he always gets his man," says the Manchester Evening News. " He is a vividly human, alive and entirely different detective. Victor Gunn is a man to watch. He handles mystery as it should be handled—with care and not in a slipshod manner." This is a story of the times and one which will, we believe, greatly enhance the repu-tation which Victor Gunn is making for himself. He looks like being the Big Shot of Thrillerdom.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Apr-40, 256pp, 7s/6d
2nd         Collins, Apr-41, 256pp, 4s
3rd          Collins, May-52, 256pp, 6s

3       Ironsides Smashes Through
(Partly R/P from Thriller 576)

HERE IS INSPECTOR CROMWELL again—Ironsides of the Yard to most people—just in time, just where he's needed. Fifth Columnists are using radio to keep in touch with their gangsters, and Ironsides tracks them down in a smart night club, in a deserted warehouse, and in a West End mansion. But the spy ring is unbroken, and the secret which means life and death to the Air Force is all but in their grasp. Ironsides grapples with death and escapes it by inches. Kingdoms are at stake, but still the struggle goes on until at last Ironsides Smashes Through. A vivid, exciting, quick-moving, up-to-the-minute thriller laced with humour and spiced with the oddities of human nature. This book will hold your attention from start to finish, and make you ask for more of Ironsides of the Yard and Victor Gunn, his clever creator, who has himself smashed his way through to the forefront of Thrilldom.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Oct-40, 252pp, 7s/6
2nd         Collins, Mar-42, 252pp, 4s

4       Ironsides’ Lone Hand
(Rewritten from SBL 406 and DW 257)

CHIEF INSPECTOR BILL CROMWELL of the Yard, familiarly known as "Ironsides," is of course again the leading character in Victor Gunn's splen-did new thriller, in which the murder of the very respectable Mrs. Smalley in her house on the semi-rural outskirts of Edgware is strangely linked with the equally mysterious killing of a knife thrower in a travelling circus.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, May-41, 256pp, 7s/6d
2nd         Collins, Jul-42, 256pp, 4s

5       Death’s Doorway
(Rewritten from SBL 3/6)

CHIEF INSPECTOR WILLIAM CROMWELL—Ironsides of the Yard—had been hauled out of bed some time after midnight to hear the sensational news from the Assistant Commissioner himself. Lord Arlenford, Minister of National Defence, a man vital to Britain's security, had been murdered at his country seat at Hinton Beverley. At the same time the theft of a valuable quantity of radium was announced—a coincidence that suggested to the Yard that enemy agents were on the track of Britain's most closely guarded military secret and would not stop short of murder to attain their ends. Here • is an intensely exciting thriller, told in Victor Gunn's most dramatic manner.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Nov-41, 192pp, 7s/6d
Paperback             Collins White Circle Thriller, Apr-51, 192pp, 1s/6d

6       Mad Hatter’s Rock
(Rewritten from DW serial 310-321)

MAD HATTER'S ROCK was something of a phenomenon, for although the Sussex coast there was penicularly flat and low-lying, that strange precipitous island stuck straight out of the sea with sheer, rock cliffs on all sides, making approach impossible except at certain stages of the tide. The old abbey on the island was the residence of Sir Hugo Vaizey, the financial magnate, but there was reason to suspect that his spectacular financial transactions had their shady side, and that Sir Hugo himself lived a sort of Jekyll and Hyde exist-ence. There was every reason for that belief, as Inspector Bill Cromwell of the Yard soon found out, for his investigation of the dastardly shooting of Lord Taviston in a London street soon brought him with whirlwind rapidity to that strange hide-out on the Sussex coast, where the high drama of this exciting man-hunt attains its tremendous climax.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Sep-42, 192pp, 7s/6d
2nd         Collins, May-51, 192pp, 2s, (Green wrapper/blue board)
Paperback             Collins White Circle Thriller, Mar-59, 192pp, 2s

7       Ironsides Sees Red
(Rewritten from DWs 179, 235, 252)

HERE'S Ironsides again—in other words, Chief-Inspector William Cromwell of the Yard. We meet him on holiday with his cheery young assistant, Johnny Lister. As a matter of fact, Ironsides takes three holidays in this book ; one on the lonely Cornish moors, another at Christmas in the Peak District of Derbyshire, and the third in the swelter of a summer heatwave at a holiday camp in the Isle of Wight. And in each of these situations Ironsides finds himself up against baffling mystery and a ruthless killer. Mr. Gunn well lives up to his reputation in this breathless book, which is packed with mystery and suspense, plus those frequent touches of humour which are so characteristic of this author's work. If you have enjoyed Mr. Gunn's previous Ironsides stories, you are going to revel in his latest effort.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Jul-43, 192pp, 7s/6d
2nd         Collins, Jan-45, 192pp, 4s/6d
Paperback                Collins White Circle Thriller, Jul-50, 192pp, 1s
2nd Paperback     Collins White Circle Thriller, Jun-57, 192pp, 1s/6d
3rd Paperback      Collins White Circle Thriller, Sep-58, 192pp, 2s
"Death in December" has been reprinted in "Crimson Snow" ed. Martin Walker, British Library, November 2016.

8       The Dead Man Laughs
(Rewritten from UJ 2/1364 & Dixon Hawke Lib 380)

CHIEF INSPECTOR BILL CROMWELL, better known perhaps as " Ironsides," is at the top of his form in Mr. Victor Gunn's new mystery thriller. In spite of his veneer of toughness there is something very human and likeable about Ironsides. Dip into this book and see what happens when Cromwell and Sergeant Johnny Lister, his cheery assistant, find the body of Sir Kenneth Parsloe lying in a ditch. There is something suggestive in the agitation of Dr. Benjamin Trumper, the strange-looking village practitioner, who tries to convince Ironsides that Sir Kenneth met his death by accident—and not by a murderous blow delivered by an escaped con-vict who was not only on the fatal spot at the fatal time, but who had broken gaol for the express purpose of getting his fingers round Sir Kenneth's throat. . .. This typical Victor Gunn thriller has many tense moments, but there are plenty of light touches to relieve the grim picture of tragedy and mystery—to say nothing of a climax which will make the most hardened reader sit back and do a bit of deep breathing. . . . One of Victor Gunn's extra-specials.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Sep-44, 160pp, 7s/6d
2nd         Collins, Jun-46, 4s/6d
Paperback             Collins White Circle Thriller, Mar-47, 1s

9       Nice Day For a Murder
(Rewritten from UJ 2/917 & Dixon Hawke Lib 301)

IT was August and very hot, and Chief Inspector Bill Cromwell was on holiday in the sleepy little Essex village of Bassington. But, as often happens when detectives deign to take a holiday, he ran into as pretty a mystery as any one could wish for. It started with rather an elaborate practical joke, but quickly developed into a murder chase of breathless excitement.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Apr-45, 192pp, 8s/6d
2nd         Collins, Mar-52, 192pp, 2s, (Green wrapper/blue board)
Paperback             Collins White Circle Thriller, Apr-59, 192pp, 2s

10     Ironsides Smells Blood
(Rewritten from DWs 210, 110, 33)

It was altogether a nasty evening in the Isle of Sheppey. A thick fog enshrouded the bungalow which Tony Marshall, a young medical student, used as his week-end cottage. Tony had driven down from town in the expectation of finding peace and quiet. There was nothing to show him so far that the absolute reverse was to be his lot, nothing at least until he saw the stranger leaning over his garden gate. . . . And then things began to happen at breakneck speed. The popular Victor Gunn tells this latest adventure of Chief Inspector Bill Crom-well with all his usual gusto. It is a fast-moving, • wildly exciting and thoroughly enjoyable story.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Apr-46, 192pp, 8s/6d
2nd         Collins, Apr-50, 192pp, 4s/6d
Paperback             Collins White Circle Thriller, Jul-56, 192pp, 1s/6d

11     Death on Shivering Sand
(Rewritten from UJ 2/737)

WHEN George Glynn, rising young architect, invites his pal, Johnny Lister, to spend Christmas with him at his uncle's castle on a lonely part of the Welsh coast he thinks he is letting Johnny in for the dullest Christmas on record. But it isn't long before things begin to happen ; and the dis-covery of a dead man on Shivering Sand, a treacherous quagmire, brings Chief Inspector Cromwell down to Wales by the next train. This is one of Victor Gunn's fastest-moving thrillers, super-charged with high-speed drama and enlivened with a bright touch of light-hearted humour.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Jan-47, 192pp, 8s/6d
Paperback             Collins White Circle Thriller, May-59, 192pp, 2s

12     Three Dates With Death
(Rewritten from DW 99, UJs 2/1384, 2/1354)

A CHECKER LINE coach on its midnight run to Gallow's Cross . . . and a dead man at the end of the journey. Chief Inspector Bill Cromwell is called upon to investigate a bizarre and baffling crime. Who killed Michael Bothwell in full sight of the coach passengers and got away with it ? Another death soon follows as the killer strikes again—this time with the Inspector himself actually in the coach. Plenty of tension here, to say nothing of mystery and thrills ; in fact there is no doubt that this newest Ironsides Cromwell book, written with Mr. Victor Gunn's usual speed and snap, provides exciting reading.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Oct-47, 192pp, 8s/6d
2nd         Collins, Jun-51, 192pp, 5s
Paperback             Collins White Circle Thriller, May-58, 192pp, 2s

13     Ironsides on the Spot
(Rewritten from UJs 2/1425, 2/1435)

SERGEANT JOHNNY LISTER thought it odd enough when his old colleague, Chief Inspector Bill Cromwell, suddenly dragged him into The Pink Elephant, the most exclusive night club in town. But he didn't have long to wonder why : in the next five minutes " Ironsides " Cromwell was brought crashing to the floor by a Rugger Blue, while Johnny lashed out with his fists at the social elite. It may have been a misunderstanding, but it was a costly one, for in the melee the Gate Boys, the most dangerous organisation of gunmen in London, made their getaway . . . Victor Gunn packs his thriller with events as swift and tense as any he has yet written, but despite the grimness of the job on hand there's always a lighter side keeps breaking through.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Aug-48, 192pp, 8s/6d
2nd         Collins, Jun-51, 192pp, 5s
Paperback             Collins White Circle Thriller, Apr-55, 192pp, 1s/6d

14     Road to Murder
(Rewritten partly from DW 93, 128, & NLL 1/96)

WHEN old Father Thames gives up his dead it's generally a job for the River Police who ceaselessly patrol London's great river. Often the Yard displays an interest in the gruesome catch, as happened on that morning when Chief Inspector Bill Cromwell studied the report that a body had been fished out of the river with every possible clue to identification deliberately removed. A plain case of murder ! Or perhaps not quite so plain. Bill Cromwell—Ironsides to every one—reached for his desk telephone to set the swift machinery of the Yard in motion, but even he, for all his lively imagination, was unable to foresee the amazing events which Mr. Victor Gunn relates so vividly in Road to Murder.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Jan-49, 192pp, 8s/6d
2nd         Collins, Feb-53, 192pp, 6s
Paperback             Collins White Circle Thriller, Mar-58, 192pp, 2s

15     Dead Man’s Warning
(Rewritten partly from NLLs 3/4 - 3/6)

VICTOR GUNN'S new story begins with a bang ! A terrific explosion in the night at a lonely farmhouse, a dying man who gasps out a warning message, and Chief-Inspector Bill Cromwell—Ironsides to everyone at the Yard—has another baffling case on his hands. Dead Man's Warning is a streamlined thriller moving at tremendous pace through a welter of inter-national intrigue and espionage to a dramatic climax, in which after a relentless pursuit Ironsides catches up on a clever rogue who, like many other criminals, decides that when it comes to the pay-off he can't take it !

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Sep-49, 192pp, 8s/6d
2nd         Collins, Feb-52, 192pp, 6s
Paperback             Collins White Circle Thriller, Jul-58, 192pp, 2s

16 Alias the Hangman

WHEN MONTY HAYLE, an imaginative young thriller writer, finds a corpse hanging from a tree on a lonely stretch of wasteland near his home, he asks himself what his own hero-adventurer would do—and does it. With the result that he is soon caught up in a whirl of danger and excitement far exceeding anything his own fertile brain could invent. Who is the Hangman ? Chief Inspector Bill Cromwell—you know him as Ironsides—thinks he is on to him, and reveals his suspicions to the Assistant Commissioner, only to get a sharp rap on the knuckles. Doggedly he persists in his investigations, and ultimately finds himself in the same position as Monty—to wit, in the clutches of the dreaded Hangman. This is one of Victor Gunn's most breath-taking novels ; he sustains the interest by the very pace of his story and the raciness of his writing ; you are kept on tenterhooks until the last chapter.

British Printing History:
1st Collins, May-50, 192pp, 8s/6d

17 The Borgia Head Mystery
(Rewritten from NLL 2ns/9)

MR. PRESTON DODD, American millionaire, is so anxious to possess the Borgia Head, a newly dis-covered masterpiece executed by the brilliant Benvenuto Cellini, that he is willing to pay a small fortune for it. Unluckily for him, Mr. Frederick Charles Brody, one of the cleverest confidence tricksters of two continents, has the same idea—except that he aims to possess the Borgia Head without paying for it. But the trouble really starts when the Black Hole comes into the picture, and when Ironsides and Johnny find themselves up in Cumberland, amid the beautiful lakes and fells of the Lake District, when they are plunged into an atmosphere of grim mystery and breathless action.

British Printing History:
1st Collins, Aug-51, 192pp, 9s/6d
Large Print, Ulverscroft, Apr-71, 375pp, 1.25

18    Murder on Ice

A LONELY old inn, standing in the dreary Essex marshlands—the mournful howling of a dog above the soft whistle of the late autumn wind—a gaunt and leathery-faced stranger hammering at the inn door after closing time. These are the opening chills in Victor Gunn's latest story featuring his famous Scotland Yard pair, Chief Inspector " Ironsides " Cromwell and Sergeant Johnny Lister. It was Bill Cromwell's meeting with the fainting girl in the Underground train which sent him hot-foot to the inn in the lonely marsh country, there to investigate a grim and mysterious murder, and to crowd a hundred excitements into one terrible night.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Feb-51, 192pp, 8s/6d
2nd         Collins, Mar-60, 192pp, 6s

19     The Body Vanishes

WHEN PETER FELL, junior clerk in an old-fashioned lawyer's office, hears a woman's scream coming from an old derelict house in the Finchley Road—when, in the murk of that November evening, he looks through the letter-box and sees a blonde-haired girl lying on the floor in a pool of blood—he little realises that this grim incident is but the forerunner of a series of nightmare events, which starts with the unbelievable and astonishing disappearance of the body in question. Fortunately, the celebrated " Ironsides " Cromwell, of the C.I.D., interests himself in Peter's story—and ultimately unmasks a strange and breath-taking plot. We are accustomed to expect action and thrills from Mr. Victor Gunn, and in this new novel he excels all his previous efforts. This is a mystery to grip and hold you until the very last page.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Feb-52, 192pp, 9s/6d
Paperback             Collins White Circle Thriller, Jan-57, 192pp, 1s/6d

20     Death Comes Laughing

YOUNG Dr. Philip Harding is unpleasantly surprised when he finds somebody siphoning petrol out of the tank of his car on a dark country road ; and he little realises that this trifling incident is to lead to the complete shattering of his normal placid routine. Within the hour he is discovering the dead bodies of two people—and is secretly horrified by the suspicion that they have been ingeniously murdered. When this suspicion directly involves a lovely young girl, whom he has met in strange and intriguing circumstances, he finds himself up against a knotty problem—and, incidentally, the law. He has to do some very quick thinking. Chief Inspector Bill Cromwell, who plays a big part in this new Victor Gunn thriller—always accompanied by the energetic Johnny Lister—thinks more slowly, but with his customary shrewdness and brilliance. Step by step, he unravels the most absorbing mystery Mr. Gunn has ever given to us.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Aug-52, 188pp, 9s/6d
Paperback             Collins White Circle Thriller, Apr-57, 188pp, 1s/6d
Large Print, Lythway Press, Feb-77, 336pp, 2.25

21 The Whistling Key

IF Jimmy Warrender, assistant producer of television drama at Lime Grove, had not had a motor accident on his way to visit his uncle in the New Forest, he would have avoided a whole tangle of trouble. But here he is, stranded on the stormiest night of the year and as if mysterious dead bodies are not enough, there follows the fantastic affair of the Neat Little Parcels . . . the moaning whistle in the night . . . the elusive girl in the red sweater . .. and, to cap all, his hell-fire uncle. We invite you to meet Commander Horatio Staffe, a formidable character who ought to have lived three hundred years ago, when his piratical ideas would have been more in fashion. Oh, and by the way . . . Chief Inspector Bill Cromwell, better known as Ironsides of the Yard plays a leading role in this thrill-packed novel, assisted as usual by the debonair Johnny Lister. Before this famous pair unravel the tangle which Victor Gunn has so ingeniously concocted, they cross swords with one of the most dangerous and daring criminals ever to throw down the gauntlet.

British Printing History:
1st Collins, May-53, 192pp, 9s/6d

22     The Crooked Staircase

JANE BEDFORD'S grandfather, Old Dick Tetley, has dog a sizeable fortune made from the Tetley Flour Mills; but so peculiar are his ideas of disposing of it that fast Jane doubts if she will ever see her legacy. And when, without warning, the old man suddenly dies, her doubts her seem to be justified; for some unwelcome surprises hot follow fast upon the funeral. Then Jane receives a strange letter, inviting her to her dead grandfather's house in Norfolk, now empty and deserted. Arriving there on a misty November night, she is half-way across the large, neglected hall when a crawling fear the grips her; for the dignified staircase, just visible by the by flame of her cigarette lighter, has become crooked and bent, like a hunchback. And with death waiting for her at the top this is only the beginning of the nightmare . . . The next day reveals events so strange that this Chief Inspector Bill Cromwell and Sergeant Johnny Lister are called in from New Scotland Yard. Soon, even the redoubtable " Ironsides " knows that he is up against a clever, scheming killer who strikes unexpectedly and with abominable efficiency. But the Chief Inspector New acts swiftly, averting another murder, only to spring a trap upon the killer as simple as it is deadly. This is that one of Victor Gunn's best detective novels, gripping in the extreme, and with a beautifully turned surprise for the reader at the finish.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Jan-54, 192pp, 9s/6d
2nd         Collins, Jan-56, 6s
                        Large Print, Ulverscroft, Aug-68, 202pp

23     The Crippled Canary

When Jeffrey Waring found a crippled and dying canary, with blood on its wings, he was a very shocked and surprised young man, particularly as the incident occurred in a dark and misty suburban road while his mind was occupied by thoughts of a girl to whom he had never been introduced. When this bizarre incident led to an encounter with a phantomlike figure of the night, and the discovery of a murdered man, Jeffrey not unnaturally considered that things were getting a bit hot. But this was only the start of the trouble. The sensational " Canary Murder," as the newspapers called it, was soon to be followed by a second crime, and then a third in both of which the unfortunate Jeffrey found himself dangerously involved. Chief Inspector Bill Crom-well, of the Yard, who was put on the case, with the immaculate Johnny Lister as his assistant, soon found himself engaged on one of his most baffling and difficult problems. In this new novel, Victor Gunn has displayed " Ironsides " at the very top of his form, and mystery and suspense are sustained from the first page to the last

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Aug-54, 192pp, 9s/6d
2nd         Collins, Mar-57, 192pp, 6s
3rd          Collins, Sep-65, 192pp, 8s/6d

24 The Laughing Grave

THE sleepy little village of Yeldingthorpe in rural Suffolk . . . a village seething with an undercurrent of hatred and fear . . . and then the death of the Lord of the Manor in grim and mysterious circumstances. Such is the atmosphere into which Chief Inspector " Ironsides " Cromwell and Sergeant Johnny Lister are introduced when they arrive from Scotland Yard to investigate the murder of the hated Lord Haverford, apparently slain by the terrifying sound of the Laughing Grave, which frightened him to death. But it is not long before the wily Ironsides comes to the conclusion that he is facing no super-natural enemy, but a clever, cunning and dangerous murderer. The Laughing Grave of the Haverfords has been known in the village for hundreds of years, and the cold-blooded criminal at the back of this new mani-festation is making use of the old story to further certain ingenious ends. This latest exploit of Iron-sides Cromwell will carry the reader through a series of singular incidents to a dramatic and startling climax . . . and one that will come as a complete surprise.

British Printing History:
1st Collins, Mar-55, 192pp, 9s/6d
Large Print, Ulverscroft, 1972, 362pp, 1.50

25     The Painted Dog

IN his new novel, Victor Gunn sets his scene in a lonely old inn on Dartmoor. Young Reggie Laker, on a sketching holiday, finds a bizarre and frightening situation when he calls at the Painted Dog Inn for his morning milk ; it becomes even more frightening when Charley Widden, the owner of the tavern, an eccentric old man, is found shot through the head in a locked room. Suicide or murder ? There are puzzling questions for " Ironsides " Cromwell to solve. Why did somebody smother paint on the inn's friendly collie ? Why did the two hikers seek rooms at the inn on that particular evening? A grim disclosure puts Cromwell hot-foot on the trail of a cold-blooded and ingenious murderer.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Sep-55, 192pp, 9s/6d
2nd         Collins, Apr-58, 192pp, 6s
Large Print, Ulverscroft, 1970, 355pp, 25s

26     Dead Men’s Bells

EIGHT prominent townsmen of Westonbury are seated round the Chief Constable's table, six of them waiting for their host to name a vicious criminal ; a dramatic situation which quickly turns to tragedy. In due course, owing to the alertness of Jacqueline Graham, what was thought to be natural death is revealed as murder. This brings Chief Inspector " Ironsides " Cromwell on to the scene, with his lively young assistant, Sergeant Johnny Lister. The lean, dour Scotland Yard man finds himself investigating, not only a murder mystery, but a particularly nasty poison pen racket ; the more he questions the victims of this sordid enterprise, the more suspects he gathers, until the most innocent people seem to be involved. Which of those men who sat at Colonel Graham's table is the guilty one ? Once again Mr. Victor Gunn has rung the changes, and here gives you a mystery novel which is quite different from anything he has previously written. And what are the Dead Men's Bells ?

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, May-56, 192pp, 10s/6d
2nd         Collins, Jun-58, 192pp, 6s
Lythway Press, Mar-74, 192pp, £1.60

27     The Golden Monkey

MURDER on the stage of the Olympus Theatre, before the eyes of a packed and horrified audience. In this new novel, Mr. Victor Gunn takes his famous Scotland Yard pair, Chief Inspector Bill Cromwell and Sergeant Johnny Lister, into the heart of London's West End, where they are called upon to investigate a strange killing. Rex Dillon, the Australian knife-thrower, has two thousand witnesses ready to state that he deliberately aimed to kill—or was there a calculating murderer in the theatre ? And what is the mystery of the Thirteenth Knife ? The Golden Monkey—in other words, the cleverly trained chimpanzee used as a " live " dummy by Valentine, the ventriloquist—plays an important part in this intriguing mystery. And is Valentine the prowler in the misty darkness who throws a deadly knife at the beautiful Kit Barlowe on her very doorstep ? It is this attempt at a second murder which gives the wily Cromwell his first hint regarding the killer's identity. There may be nothing new in people putting their heads into gas ovens, but Mr. Gunn deals with this situation from an entirely new angle—and this, indeed, is only one of the many exciting situations in this tense, fast-moving detective story.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Jan-57, 192pp, 10s/6d
2nd         Collins, Jun-59, 192pp, 6s

28     Castle Dangerous

WHAT are the true relations of the people of Gleniston Castle, perched on its little island at the lower end of Gleniston Water in Westmorland ? What secret stresses and emotions affect them this blistering hot August Bank Holiday week-end, when young Bruce Campbell arrives and " feels " strange cross-currents and pent-up passions ? Not that he is particularly interested, for he has just met lovely Carol Gray. Bruce finds himself pitchforked almost at once into a grim mystery when murder takes place under this ancient roof. The result is that Scotland Yard is called-in—bringing Chief Inspector Bill Cromwell and Sergeant Johnny Lister upon the scene. The long-legged, forbidding-featured man known as Ironsides plunges into one of his most difficult cases. He and Johnny Lister have good reason, indeed, to think of this rambling old pile as Castle Dangerous, for death stalks grimly within its walls. A Victor Gunn special.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Jul-57, 192pp, 10s/6d
2nd         Collins, Sep-59, 192pp, 6s

29     The 64 Thousand Murder

MILLIONS of people all over the British Isles watch pretty Rosalind Tresham as she answers the 32 Thousand Question on English History ; millions of people admire her poise, her calm confidence. What they don't know is the intense human drama behind the girl's achieve-ment—and her brave determination to go on and win the 64 Thousand Question. When George Wentworth, casually strolling in Trafalgar Square is pitched into one of the fountain pools, he finds himself at the beginning of an experience which turns his whole life upside down. For he soon discovers that evil influences are at work, conspiring to prevent Rosalind Tresham from winning that jackpot. This is only a glimpse of the excitement and mystery in Mr. Victor Gunn's unusual detective novel, in which Chief Inspector Bill Cromwell and Sergeant Johnny Lister play important parts. From the moment of the famous Scotland Yard pair's first appear-ance, the action becomes swift and tense, as Mr. Victor Gunn's many readers will expect.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Feb-58, 192pp, 10s/6d

30     The Treble Chance Murder

WHEN Chief Inspector Bill Cromwell goes down to the of Wootton Mead, in Kent, for a fishing vacation, it turns out to be very much a busman's holiday ; for he has hardly established himself in the comfortable Horseshoe Inn before the village is electrified by the news that Peter Barlowe, of Five Elms, has won over two hundred thousand pounds in Sherwood's Treble Chance. When Barlowe is found dead in the local pond, and the coroner's jury brings in a verdict of " wilful murder," Ironsides, much to his disgust, is instructed to take charge of the investigation. Meanwhile, the immaculate Sergeant Johnny Lister, Cromwell's cheery young assistant, has been holidaying in Italy, where he has picked up a hitch-hiker, David Conway, the son of Wootton Mead's vicar. It is when Conway reads the news of the Treble Chance win in an English paper that he gets wildly excited and dashes back to England by air—arriving in Wootton Mead just in time to be suspected of the Barlowe murder. Even Cromwell has to admit that Conway has a strong motive. But this also applies to Fitch, the farmer, Adams, of the flour mill, and even to Barlowe's own wife. Ironsides sifts the evidence and questions the suspects in turn, hindered by the " help " of Colonel Bascombe, of Wootton Manor. But it is after a second murder, an exact copy of the first, that the wily Crom-well, assisted by two innocent-looking rose-petals and an old tin tray, gets ready for the kill. Johnny Lister and " Ironsides " Cromwell, the famous Scotland Yard pair, set a trap which meets with dramatic success.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Jul-58, 192pp, 10s/6d
2nd         Collins, Jan-61, 192pp, 6s
Large Print, Ulverscroft, Jun-77, 365pp, 6.95

31     The Next One To Die
(Rewritten from “The Black Inquisitor” by Rex Madison)

MURDER in the quiet, dignified precincts of the Inner Temple. Chief Inspector Bill Cromwell, assisted by Sergeant Johnny Lister soon finds himself following a trail which leads him to the ancestral home of the Seventh Earl of Ellsworth where the household is in a state of panic. There was a rumour that the dreaded Executioner had been seen . . . the phantom figure which heralded the death of an Ellsworth heir. " Bunkum," says Ironsides Cromwell contemptuously. But another death, followed by a crafty attempt at a second murder, makes him realise that he is up against a determined and relentless adversary. There are many unexpected twists and turns in this exciting and swift-moving detective novel, and Victor Gunn has once again provided a winner.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Feb-59, 192pp, 10s/6d
2nd         Collins, Feb-61, 192pp, 6s
Large Print, Ulverscroft, 1973, 364pp

32     Dead in a Ditch

WHEN PRETTY Jessie Tregowan is found dead in the ditch of a Cornish country lane, strangled, the local police call in Scotland Yard ; and within a few hours Chief-Inspector Bill Cromwell is on the scene, accom-panied by his immaculate assistant, Sergeant Johnny Lister. "Ironsides" soon concentrates on the exclu-sive Penruth Bay Hotel, where several suspects claim his attention—Henry Greenwood, who is always quarrelling with his frivolous and worthless young wife ; Dr. Thaddeus Wimpole, the nasty old retired medical man who stares so objectionably at every pretty girl in the hotel ; Mrs. Willis, the gaunt, hard-featured aunt of the murdered girl. There are others, too—local characters with bad records. When there is a second murder, almost identical with the first, suspicion fastens on three of these people, and Bill Cromwell is faced with the difficult task of sorting out the real culprit. How he succeeds, by the aid of one of his characteristically daring " short cuts," is told in this exciting, action-packed detective story, which is one of Victor Gunn's best.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Aug-59, 192pp, 10s/6d
2nd         Collins, Jan-62, 192pp, 7s/6d
Lythway Press, Jan-74, 192pp, 1.65
Large Print, Ulverscroft, Mar-76, 367pp, 5.00

33     Death on Bodmin Moor

THE scream out of the mist and darkness of the bleak moor chills the blood of Stella Pemberton, who has stopped her car to look at a lonely signpost. But Stella is a plucky girl, as well as being exceedingly pretty, and she hurries on to the moor to give aid—only to find the body of a man who has just been brutally murdered. Suddenly a figure appears out of the mist, and Stella's courage fails her. From that moment she finds herself tangled up in a mystery which calls for the expert talent of Chief Inspector Bill Cromwell and Sergeant Johnny Lister before the dangerous killer is laid by the heels. The famous Scotland Yard pair find themselves confronted by some peculiar facts concerning the dead man. There are several likely suspects ; the ill-tempered Martin Penney, of Tolgesset Farm ; Sir Hugh Blazey, of Polryn Hall, with his fiery temper ; Dr. Huntley Mayhew, the formidable Principal of the exclusive High Tor Clinic—where Stella was going to work. The unexpected arrival on the moor of an alert American woman, Mrs. Caroline Gaynor, gives " Ironsides " Cromwell his first break, and from then on he is in full command, waiting only for the final " kill." Here is Victor Gunn at his best.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Jul-69, 192pp, 10s/6d
2nd         Collins, Feb-63, 192pp, 7s/6d
Large Print, Ulverscroft, Dec-68, 364pp,25s
Lythway Press, May-72, 192pp, £1.85

34     Death at Traitor’s Gate

TRAITORS' GATE . . . a grim sounding spot within the precincts of the Tower of London . . . and a fitting location for a mysterious murder . . . Young rugged-faced Michael Ellison, on vacation in London from Canada, meets a pretty girl in the fog and darkness of the archway under the Bloody Tower, and together they espy the body of Gregory Kent, the murdered man, in the well-space of the Traitors' Gate. It is not long before Chief Inspector Bill Cromwell and Detective Sergeant Johnny Lister arrive on the scene to conduct the investigation. Several suspects appear—Walter Stillwell, close friend of the murdered man—Millicent Viney, betrayed and abandoned by Gregory Kent—old Piet Van Dusen, swindled by Gregory Kent—young Mrs. Kent herself, who had reason to hate her husband, and who is in love with James Derry, a successful television actor. All these people had motive enough to commit the crime. Action follows swiftly after Cromwell has completed his preliminary inquiry ; a grim and horrible death-trap is prepared in the ruins of an old priory near St. Alban's, but springs on the wrong man. The case ends dramatically and unexpectedly after the redoubtable Ironsides has made his arrest—which is a typical " Cromwellian " short-cut to the real killer.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Feb-60, 192pp, 10s/6d
2nd         Collins, Mar-62, 192pp, 7s/6d
Large Print, Ulverscroft, 1970, 359pp, 25s
Paperback: Five Star Paperbacks, 1973, 0.25.

35     Devil in the Maze

WHEN the rich and eccentric Mrs. Matilda Scott invites her family to Yew Lodge, they have no inkling of the terror which will overwhelm them before the day is out. One of them disappears from the yew maze in circumstances mysterious and seemingly impossible. Then comes tragedy ; a death occurs which leads the police to suspect murder. Chief Inspector Bill Cromwell and Sergeant Johnny Lister arrive on the scene, and they are soon embroiled in a case which calls for all their detective talents. Why was that one particular guest murdered ? What was the motive ? Who is the misshapen foreigner whose dead body is found in the Thames not half a mile from Yew Lodge ? What ugly secret is making Mrs. Stokes, the old lady's housekeeper, act so suspiciously ? The famous Scotland Yard pair escape death by a narrow margin when they encounter a ruthless and ingenious killer. The pace is searing hot and not until the killer has struck twice again does Bill Cromwell finally unmask the Devil in the Maze.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Jan-61, 192pp, 10s/6d

36     Sweet Smelling Death

WHEN PETER MARLOWE, taking his annual summer holiday in the peaceful Welsh valley of Llangethy, goes to the aid of pretty Dilys Roberts, who is the victim of a sex-crazed drunkard, he falls for her on the spot. It does not occur to him that this is the beginning of a murder mystery which will soon have the whole valley in the grip of fear and doubt. Chief Inspector Bill Cromwell, with his young assistant, Sergeant Johnny Lister, is sent down from Scotland Yard to take charge of the case. A curious feature of the murder is the emphasis on sweet smelling perfume, and suspicion falls on Mrs. Gladys Spencer, of Llangethy Farm, and her employee, Griffith Hughes; and Cromwell's failure to arrest the pair causes the villagers to regard him with contempt and hostility. Not that this disturbs the imperturbable Ironsides, who is notorious for " hoeing his own row." Then a second murder, having the same ugly features as the first, throws the valley into fresh horror. It is this hastily conceived crime which leads Cromwell straight to the killer—although the two Scotland Yard men come shockingly near to death before Ironsides is able to make his arrest. Surprises and thrills follow each other with the pace for which Victor Gunn is celebrated.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Aug-61, 192pp, 12s/6d

37    All Change For Murder

IN a moment of weakness, Chief Inspector Bill Cromwell allows his assistant, Sergeant Johnny Lister, to talk him into joining a Baker's Tours holiday party for Venice. He regrets this before the outward journey is over, for the famous Scotland Yard pair, even on vacation, find themselves embroiled in mystery and attempted murder. There are some queer people among their fellow passengers including the soft-spoken, retired archaeologist, Madame Viera Kazinczy. Cromwell saves this old lady from being stabbed to death ; and this is only the beginning of a series of startling happenings. Why does Sylvia Greenwood, a young and pretty girl, with apparently nothing to mar her high holiday spirits, collapse in a condition of sheer, stark horror ? Why does Miss Penelope Drake write a cheque for five thousand pounds, and leave it on her dressing-table ? Why does the Soho café owner, Emilio Camelotti, make a clandestine appointment with a girl named Enid Spencer ? These are questions which Bill Cromwell, roped in by the Italian police, is called upon to investigate and answer. It is needless to say that he does so with all his well-known sagacity and brilliance.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Apr-62, 192pp, 12s/6d
2nd         Collins, Jan-64, 192pp, 8s/6d
Large Print, Ulverscroft, 1972, 357pp, 1.25

38     The Body in the Boot

WHEN Peter Conway, the young veterinary surgeon of Tregissy, in Cornwall, finds the dead body of a young girl in the boot of his car, he panics. . . . This leads to serious trouble with the police, and particularly with Chief Inspector Bill Cromwell and Sergeant Johnny Lister, who have been sent down from Scot-land Yard to take charge of the case. Peter Conway's position is all the more dangerous because he has recently quarrelled with the dead Molly Liskern, and there are rumours that he has been more than friendly with the girl. Trouble again—this time with his fiancee, the daughter of Sir Nicholas and Lady Perryn of Tregissy Hall. At first, it appears that Sir Nicholas is connected with the murder, but this lead fizzles out—only to direct the wily Cromwell on to a new track. Then a second murder horrifies the peaceful little Cornish town, and Cromwell prepares for a final showdown—which, in turn, punches its way to a surprising conclusion. This new story is written with the ingenuity and raciness for which Victor Gunn is celebrated.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Jan-63, 192pp, 12s/6d

39     Murder With a Kiss

PETER EARNSHAW is found poisoned in his own car in a select garden village on the outskirts of London. The killer, a slim girl with blonde hair, is actually seen—but not identified. She has left the mark of her vivid red lipstick on her victim's face, and the police discover that Earnshaw had met his death by biting into a chocolate-covered cyanide capsule. This is the grim and dramatic beginning of Victor Gunn's latest crime novel. In a very short time Chief Inspector Bill Cromwell and his assistant, Sergeant Johnny Lister, are on the scene to investigate—and they find themselves up against one of their knottiest problems, with clues which lead them into baffling byways. Suspicions begin to centre around the highly respectable Haversham family, with the wealthy and powerful Arnold Haversham claiming Cromwell's shrewd attention. Is it possible that his mistress, a blonde and impudent call-girl, is the murderess? Or is the Kissing Killer a maniac whose family has no suspicion of her activities? Then comes a second murder, an exact replica of the first; the entire garden village is in a state of apprehension and suspicion until the crafty Ironsides stages a dramatic climax, and claims his innocent-faced and cold-blooded prisoner.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Sep-63, 192pp, 12s/6d

40     Murder at the Motel

A DEAD man, naked and unidentifiable, is found in a cabin of the Green Valley Motel, in rural Suffolk. This is the mystery which engages the attention of Chief Inspector Bill Cromwell, and his cheery young assistant, Detective Sergeant Johnny Lister. It is, however, only a prelude to the more sinister mystery of a second and more horrifying murder. The celebrated " Ironsides " finds himself vastly interested in the reckless activities of a young farmer who is in the grip of a hopeless jealousy; in the apparently stupid behaviour of a window-cleaner, who lives alone on a derelict house-boat; in the suspicious stranger who shuts himself up in one of the motel's cabins in a state of fear. Johnny Lister's interest in the case is enhanced by the presence of the vivacious and beautiful Gillian Hartley, a girl loved by all—but a girl whose origins and past are unknown. Cromwell's efforts to discover a connection be-tween the two killings lead him into a tricky and dangerous situation—one which nearly results in his own death. It is by laying one of his typically crafty traps that he finally unmasks the ruthless murderer, and brings the case to a triumphant conclusion.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Jun-64, 192pp, 12s/6d
Paperback: Five Star Paperbacks, 1973, 0.25.

41     The Black Cap Murder

A FIREWORK, on Guy Fawkes Day, explodes under the horses of a carriage taking the famous judge, Lord Cloverne, for his morning drive into Hyde Park. This is a deliberate attempt at murder by a criminal who has escaped from prison. Moran has excellent reason for his hatred, for the sentence imposed upon him had been harsh and cruel. But "Spider" Moran is not the only person who has a bitter grudge against the ex-judge. For Lord Cloverne is obsessed by malice in his old age, and after his narrow escape from death he vents his spite upon his granddaughter, Heather Blair. Summoned to his gloomy old house in Blount Square the girl undergoes a frightening ordeal. She finds herself alone with the old man in an atmosphere of evil which seeps up like poison fumes from a sewer. . . . Chief-Inspector Bill Cromwell, of Scotland Yard, is sent to warn Lord Cloverne, and he soon finds himself involved in one of his most bizarre and difficult murder investigations. Heather Blair and her fiance are drawn into the dangerous tangle, for both have a motive. There is a second murder—and this leads Cromwell unerringly to the solution of the first.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Jan-65. 192pp, 13s/6d

42     Murder on Whispering Sands

A QUIET, respectable seaside resort in the height of the summer season—and one of the strangest and cruellest murders Chief Inspector Bill Cromwell has ever encountered. Add to this the eerie whispering which can some-times be heard on the famous Marling Sands, and Ironsides and his assistant, Sergeant Johnny Lister, are soon up to their eyes in mystery. Before the Scotland Yard pair enter the case, however, certain strange events have been taking place at the select bungalow community. Roy Armitage and his girl friend, Nora Jarrell, are the first to hear the ghostly, frightening whispering, and this is but the prelude to quarrels and upsets caused by the arrival of the de-testable Reginald Irby, with his desire to possess any girl who is foolish enough to fall for his handsome, crinkly-haired charm. In a very short time he has antagonised everyone with whom he comes into contact, including the millionaire, Montgomery Budge, who is trying to buy up the whole estate with a view to turning it into a miniature Monte Carlo. Cromwell finds himself up against a veritable forest of snags, with several likely suspects. How he finally tracks down the murderer is graphically told in this, one of Victor Gunn's most thrilling novels.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, Jul-65, 192pp, 13s/6d

43        The Petticoat Lane Murders

LORNA WEST, keen young free-lance journalist, is eager to see life in the raw in London's East End, and she makes arrangements to share a flat with a young woman in Shadwell. Escorted by her disapproving fiancé, she arrives in dense fog to keep her appointment—only to plunge straight into a nightmare of blood and terror and murder. Bill Cromwell, now promoted to the rank of Superintendent, is put in charge of the "Case of the Petticoat Lane Murders," as the newspapers call it. A mysterious killer, known only as the Creeper, is terrorising the Stepney district, and Ironsides Cromwell and Detective Inspector Johnny Lister soon concentrate their attention on the astonishing tenement home of a strange character known as "Uncle Tobias" Carrington. Why should this much-loved man be in danger from the vicious killer? How does his peaceful household fit into the otherwise grim picture? Another mysterious killing gives the far-seeing Ironsides a hint of the truth. How the wily old fox keeps this hint up his sleeve until the moment for decisive action arrives is told with all Victor Gunn's usual racy high-speed action.

British Printing History:
1st           Collins, 1966, 192pp, 13s/6d