The Witness on the Roof

Auteur

Annie Haynes was born in 1865, the daughter of an ironmonger. By the first decade of the twentieth century she lived in London and moved in literary and early feminist circles. Her first crime novel, The Bungalow Mystery, appeared in 1923, and another nine mysteries were published before her untimely death in 1929. Who Killed Charmian Karslake? appeared posthumously, and a further partially-finished work, The Crystal Beads Murder, was completed with the assistance of an unknown fellow writer, and published in 1930.

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"Who knows if he didn't make away with her here? Those things found in the Home Coppice show that she was made away with plain enough, I say." Jim Gregory, under-gardener at Hargreave Manor, finds something unexpected when climbing Lover's Oak but won't say what. Instead he's all ears regarding the legendary 'Luck of the Hargreaves' diamonds, destined for the future bride of Sir Arthur, the new squire. Sir Arthur himself then discovers a beautiful stranger, lost in the woods near the manor. She cannot recall a thing-not even her name. She is given shelter and Mary Marston, a private nurse, recognizes her-and abruptly goes missing. Nurse Marston must still be in the house, it is initially agreed-but if so, where? Who got rid of Nurse Marston? To whom does the tobacco pouch with the floral design belong? And why was a blood-stained cuff found in the woods? These mysteries, and more, Superintendent Stokes is determined to solve. The Blue Diamond (1925) is a classic of early golden crime fiction. This new edition, the first in over eighty years, features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans. "Tired men, trotting home at the end of an imperfect day, pop into the library and ask for an Annie Haynes. They have not made a mistake in the street number. It is not a cocktail they are asking for…" Sketch