He was deader than last year's hit-song. At the side of the skull was where the bullet had done its work.

Four detectives? Surely things must have come to quite a pass if the well-tried team of Ludovic Travers and George Wharton has to be doubled in order to crack even the most baffling case. Yet when sudden death comes to the head of a big firm of grocers in the City, our old friends do find both help and hindrance in unexpected quarters.

The Case of the Fourth Detective was originally published in 1951. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.