A tiny Sussex village harbours a motley collection of inhabitants. Millerscroft, the big house, is now an expensive school, run by the flamboyant and promiscuous Raymond Montague. Hooky Hefferman is introduced into the community supposedly as a temporary teacher at Millerscroft, but in reality to investigate the theft of £500 from one of the students. It doesn't take Hooky long to discover that underneath the outwardly tranquil veneer of the village there's a tangle of adultery, debt and venomous hatred. But before Hooky can identify the thief a body is found in a stream. Did he fall or was he pushed?
When does a man reach breaking point? Eric Winlatter is near it. For years he has been tormented by his hidden past, suffering the acute loneliness of being unable to confide in anyone, even his wife, whose life is also being made unbearable. One irrevocable, decisive step could free him from his doubts and fears. Can he take the step? Will the future really hold a fresh start for a man whose guilty past is branded for ever upon his memory?
When Lady Darley asks for Hooky Hefferman's help, he wonders what sort of trouble she can be in. She doesn't look the sort to have a very grisly skeleton in her cupboard, but you never can tell ... Hooky's insatiable curiosity is soon aroused by her story, and he is easily persuaded to go down to Monkhamblin Hall, the old family mansion. Once there, a corpse and the odd behaviour of the present owner are quite enough to keep his famous nose glued to the trail.
Oliver Seaton was an up-and-coming Labour MP when his mother committed suicide by gassing herself. Oliver had lived at his mother's house and the inquest judge was keen to know what time he got home to find his mother dying. He had called an ambulance at 9.26pm. Among the crowd at the inquest is Alan Strang. Oliver and Strang have had a private relationship in the past, a relationship that, if it came to light, could ruin the fast-developing career of the MP, not to mention his marriage. When a muck-raking journalist elicits from Strang that he saw Oliver reach his mother's house at 8.55pm on the night she died there is a missing half hour to account for, and the danger for Seaton starts growing ...
When local beauty queen Virginia Vance goes to London, she becomes the mistress of the Hon. Charles Lasting, who runs a particularly venomous daily gossip column. Lasting is a callous, cynical brute, but Virginia has a real weakness for him. It is this weakness that leads her to help him get hold of the scandalous memoirs of Princess Lucy Mettioff, the publication of which will make him a lot of money. But Virginia is about to run into Hooky Hefferman, who, by chance, has become the Princess's literary agent ... 'More comedy than crime is Mr Meynell's new formula and it is working well' Yorkshire Post
When Bunny, disguised as Major Beresford, fails to con a lady out of £500, his partner and bedmate becomes extremely discontented. Dolly was after a bigger game, and she sets out to enliven their partnership with a far more ambitious plan. She is going to use her feminine wiles to persuade a young peer to cough up £20,000 of investment in a non-existent company. For the extortion to happen Bunny and Dolly have to separate. But the separation has unforeseen consequences, and soon it's apparent that the master plan is doomed to go hopelessly awry. 'His best yet' The Times 'Well written, thoroughly enjoyable' Sunday Telegraph
Stella Brendan was accustomed to a comfortable unearned income and she was fifty-two years old when it vanished. How could she survive? She could survive by marrying Sir Loder Cholerton, tycoon and ageing bachelor. But Stella has skeletons in her past, skeletons that would not appeal to Sir Loder should they come out. When that threat occurs Stella calls Hooky Hefferman, who finds himself trying to protect Stella's interests. Then there's a murder. A man has been shot and there are several people who could have fired the fatal bullet ... 'Thoroughly civilised writing, managing to up-date the easy, humorous, engaging mood of pre-war days, floods this pleasant country house mystery with a sunny glow' Glasgow Herald
Hooky Hefferman, private detective, is, as they say in the theatrical profession, 'resting'. So when the thin little man in the shabby blue suit calls to ask for professional advice, though he looks by no means promising as a provider of much-needed funds, Hooky is at least prepared to listen - and finds his interest at once held. Edward Rider wants to stay alive until the following Friday, and asks Hooky to help him achieve this modest ambition. On that day, he is anxious to meet a certain person arriving from Berlin, and it is becoming increasingly obvious that someone is determined to prevent this.
When Hooky Hefferman, playboy and private detective, does a chance favour for wealthy Waveney Rolffe, he is rewarded with a lucrative position as Rolffe's personal bodyguard. The job is easy: entertain Rolffe and live harmoniously with the other members of the household - pleasant Mrs Fitzroy, who directs Rolffe's future with her crystal ball; Dempster Childers, Rolffe's aloof private secretary; and Cooper, the gardener. Hooky's luck has never been better. But when ex-con Barney Phillips shows up in the local tavern and becomes friendly with Cooper, Hooky begins to suspect that trouble is brewing. After all, Rolffe's vast financial empire and the curiosities of his daily routine provide tempting possibilities - like illegal personal gain and international thievery - and a motive for murder.
Edward Rigby's sudden death in South America provides Hooky Hefferman, private investigator, with his first case. Rigby's employers, the San Lucca Railway Concession, have hinted that he committed suicide, which is enough to prevent his insurance company paying up. His wife, Hilda, thinks the story needs investigation, and Hooky is the man she chooses to do it. The San Luccans are notoriously hot-blooded, and Hooky, with his genius for getting into scrapes, soon finds plenty of trouble. In fact, his first case nearly becomes his last.
Major Weller plays bridge and plays it very well. He isn't a major, and his name isn't Weller, but Hooky Hefferman doesn't know this. In fact, so impressed is he with the self-possessed major that he is completely unaware of the crime being committed under his nose. The potential victim is Hooky's formidable aunt, the Hon. Mrs Page-Foley, but she doesn't seem to be the 'victim' type, and from most people's point of view, including Hooky's, she appears more than capable of looking after herself. But the crime goes wrong, and Hooky soon finds himself in the midst of an impending disaster. A disaster he must prevent if anyone - including his aunt and his latest love interest - is to take him seriously as a private detective again.
Roddy Stanhope Elworthy earns a modest income but yearns for the Dolce Vita. A win on the Premium Bonds gives him the chance to pose as Captain Ellerson at the grandest local hotel, where there is also a roulette room and a gaming table. After one or two weekends in true 'Ellerson' style, Roddy runs short of cash, but 'Ellerson' must be kept in the manner he's rapidly becoming accustomed to. A simple burglary is all it will take ... 'An amusing, neat and unpretentious novel - a thoroughly professional piece of work' TLS 'Sheer good humour shines out of Mr Meynell's books' Scotsman
Hooky Hefferman is ordered by his dominating aunt in Hove to visit the Cotswold village of Barwold, where the young daughter of an old friend is thought to be keeping bad company. Meanwhile, one of the newsagents in a nearby town is going dangerously mad and is trying to rid the neighbourhood of local whores. Hooky quickly finds the local pub, where he takes note of the town's inhabitants' curious behaviour, and soon finds himself at odds with the police ...
Hooky Hefferman is commissioned by his formidable aunt to convey a 'brilliantly coloured, exquisitely detailed painting of young soldier blowing a trumpet' to Southern Italy, to her old admirer Sir Lucian Bryers-Fane. Two others are heading in the same direction: a beautiful young academic who has been sent to read a commemorative scroll to Sir Lucian on the occasion of his eightieth birthday; and another party with entirely less admirable objectives.
The man in the dock up on an arson charge considers that Sebastian Wrighton, who owned the building, is responsible for his daughter committing suicide. What he's done, he says, is an act of justice. Sebastian next turns up as an antiques dealer in the Cotswold village of Bardbury. Once again he has a young woman in tow and therefore (some think) in danger. Spurred on by his terrifying aunt, Hooky Hefferman finds himself in Bardbury too, and soon he is investigating another case of arson ...
Hooky arrives in the Sussex village of Sweeting by accident, the consequence of winning a bizarre bet and being nearly killed by a speeding limousine. Herbert Aston arrives there on purpose and in disguise, seeking revenge for a wrong done years ago to his dead brother - a wrong that has led indirectly to the suicide of Herbert's young niece. The ruthless tycoon who had made himself squire of Sweeting village soon becomes the quarry they are both looking for. Others have been looking for him too, and someone's killed him. And now it's up to Hooky to solve the crime. 'Booze, gusto and humour again as the roguish adventurer Hooky Hefferman wins a bet and stumbles across murder' Yorkshire Post
Hooky Hefferman, amiable old Etonian, womaniser, layabout and occasional private eye is despatched by his formidable aunt to discover what a not-so-young woman, Monica, in Buckingham has been up to. When Hooky arrives at Cropover Farm he finds eccentrics are three-a-penny, including Monica herself. Then there's Jill Dawson, a woman on a quest for money. This young gold-digger is using her sexual magnetism to gain some. And when a violent death occurs and money goes missing, Hooky is on the case.
Diana Gael, aged twenty-two, is the youngest cub reporter on the Barling Gazette. She's met Hooky Hefferman previously at a cricket match, so when she comes to Sayle Place she is able to recommend him as a player in the village's annual cricket game. The squire of Sayle - Sir Colyn Collingford - is a miser and an unscrupulous womaniser. On the day of the great match Hooky's dual role is to make runs for the squire's team and guard the treasures of Sayle against burglars. Soon, though, Hooky has far more than would-be burglars on his hands ...
When Arthur meets the lovely but evil Valerie Stockley, after he and his new wife move into the house his wife has inherited, he soon becomes possessed by a force he cannot fight. Alongside Valerie, lust, greed and weakness led him deeper into depravity until he is finally committed to murder. But the house is strangely haunted - things move of their own accord, curtains draw themselves, and bells ring. As the murder plot thickens, Arthur is forced to face the power which occupies the house - and by now there is no going back ...
Len, this old man has got lots of lovely cash and I thought you would like to get hold of some of it. And I think we might be able to do it,' Virginia Chanderley tells her lover, Len Carron. Virginia, the radical younger daughter of wealthy Sir Leo Chanderley, dreams up an elaborate plot to steal (and then return for ransom) one of the prize paintings in Julius Bern's collection. But while Virginia and Len are putting their perfect plot into action, Private Investigator Hooky Hefferman has other ideas ... 'You feel instantly at home from page 1 and it's a true world, too' The Times
Lou Steel is the owner of a pin-table saloon, frequented by questionable characters and kept under constant police surveillance. Barbara Gale is the neglected wife of heavy gambler Gerald Gale, and a woman Lou finds irresistible. When a body is found in Lou's apartment, Lou asks his friend Limpy to help him hide it. When the pair are picked up by the police, Lou escapes and sets out to prove his innocence while running from the law.
A demented millionaire is convinced his awful son will be kidnapped for ransom, and Hooky Hefferman finds himself acting as companion and guard to the boy in a remote house on Exmoor. It looks like a cushy number, even if the youth is pretty intolerable. Hooky is drawn, as always, to the local inn, where he makes his usual acquaintances. But who are the real villains and what confusion will reign until they are finally unmasked? 'Don't Stop for Hooky Hefferman is in Mr Meynell's best vein, and that's as good a vein as they come' Eastern Daily Press
Hooky Hefferman is commanded to spend his forty-first birthday with his aunt, the formidable Theresa Page-Foley. While there, the occasional private eye is directed to look into the affairs of the devastatingly beautiful Lois Girling, who appears to have walked off with a piece of his aunt's jewellery, given to her by a maharajah in the days of the Raj. Never averse to investigating a female, Hooky arranges to meet Lois, and quickly realises that she is embroiled in greater crimes than theft. Soon he unveils a web of fraud and deception that threatens the standing of a major public company ...
Roger Fenton has achieved a lot since he left jail. At last he has a good job, a new name and he is beginning to overcome the ex-con's bitterness which has threatened to ruin him. But his new existence had the seeds of disaster in it, and on the day the pale man shuffles up to him and murmurs 'one six seven', Roger knows his past has caught up with him. As manager and prospective partner in a thriving business Roger knows he can deal with difficult clients and delicate business deals. But this new situation permits no half measures. He has to decide on one of two ruthless courses: to fight or to run ...
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