'You wouldn't have thought she'd die as easily as that, would you?'

Volume Two contains a novel, a novelette and a short story:

Murder In the Family Stephen Osborne has lost his job and is worried about providing for his large family. He asks his wealthy sister for assistance, but Octavia Osborne is a most unpleasant person. She not only refuses to help but informs the family that she is writing them out of her will. Bad timing on her part; for while sitting in their drawing room awaiting her train home, someone strangles her. The police are convinced the murderer is a member of the Osborne household, and soon the whole town is in uproar. Murder in the Family was made into a 1938 film starring Jessica Tandy.

The Monocled Man. Chicago gangster Pete Carponi and his partner 'Cincinnati Sadie' are transported to London in pursuit of a stolen diamond. A fast-moving, tongue-in-cheek mystery

The Second Bottle This short story takes place in a US diner during a cold hard winter.

JAMES JACK RONALD (1905-1972) was a prolific writer of pulp fiction, mystery stories and dramatic novels. Raised in Glasgow, Ronald moved to Chicago aged 17 to 'earn his fortune', later returning to the UK to pursue a writing career. His early works were serializations and short stories syndicated in newspapers and magazines around the world. Ronald wrote under a number of pseudonyms, including Michael Crombie, Kirk Wales, Peter Gale, Mark Ellison and Kenneth Streeter among others. Several books were adapted into films, including Murder in the Family (1938), The Witness Vanishes (1939), and The Suspect (1944).