Black Plumes — Margery Allingham

THE FINE ART OF MURDER
Mrs. Gabrielle Ivory was nearly ninety, but she simply had to be told. Skulduggery was afoot at the renowned Ivory Art Gallery in Sallet Square. A series of malicious mishaps was pushing the family business toward ruin. But with proprietor Meyrick Ivory in China, his bumbling son-in-law Robert was incapable of handling the crisis. The slashing of a valuable painting was the last straw -- or so the Ivory family thought until the night of the murder. That evening someone removed Robert from the picture permanently. But who? Was it his ambitious assistant, Lucar? His neurotic wife, Phillida? The outraged artist, David Field? Meyrick's spinster secretary, Miss Dorset? Or could it have been the indomitable Gabrielle Ivory herself?