The Case of the Grand Alliance — Christopher Bush

Woman falls from window of flat. Doctor says killed instantly.

Well, thought Ludovic Travers as he set the newspaper aside, that finally put a period to a highly unsuccessful case. The woman, a Mrs. Strand, had seemed a bit deranged when she came to him for help in locating some missing friends, but he quest led to a dead end.

So Travers turns to the infinitely more challenging new mystery of the missing diamonds-£50,000 of them, stolen from an impregnable safe in a distinguished London jeweller's, and perfect, if worthless, replicas substituted. He meets some charming people who may or may not be thieves. And he finds himself up against not only an unholy threesome-the grand alliance-but also a merciless blackmailer and a murderer.

Oddly enough, the unfinished business of Mrs. Strand provides the key to this almost unfathomable mystery-and Christopher Bush's thousands of admirers will find here his hallmarks of fine craftsmanship: believability, ingenuity, real characters. Bush is one of the top purveyors of civilized entertainment, spiced with highly uncivilized mayhem.

The Case of the Grand Alliance was originally published in 1964. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.