Book description
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. 'One of the most original -
and entertaining - mysteries I have ever read… A brilliant tour de force
that the most jaded fans will relish.' R. A. J. Walters
'A reminder of the genial heyday of the genre when the KGB other
ingredients of the esurient modern thriller were barely a gleam in
Stalin's eye.' Christopher Wordsworth, The Observer
'A must for all connoisseurs of detective fiction.' James Harris,
Literary Review
'This year's most welcome reissue.' Francis Goff, Sunday Telegraph
'A book of irresistible charm for students of the detective story.'
Ruth Dudley Edwards, Times Literary Supplement “The Detection Club is
a private association of writers of detective fiction in Great Britain,
existing chiefly for the purpose of eating dinners together at suitable
intervals and of talking illimitable shop … Its membership is confined
to those who have written genuine detective stories (not adventure tales
or 'thrillers') and election is secured by a vote of the club on
recommendation by two or more members, and involves the undertaking of
an oath.” Dorothy L. Sayers
