The first in the acclaimed ‘A Staircase in Surrey’ quintet opens in Oxford at the eponymous annual dinner laid on by Fellows. Patullo finds himself embroiled in the problems faced by a Cabinet Minister and also Mogridge - famous for an account of his adventures in South America. But it doesn’t stop there, as Pattullo acquires problems of his own.

Offers a humorous, colorful account of an Oxford academic's coexistence with his alter ego, the author of detective novels, and provides an intimate look at his circle of Oxford-bred literary figures and friends

Inspector Appleby is called to St Anthony's College, where the President has been murdered in his Lodging. Scandal abounds when it becomes clear that the only people with any motive to murder him are the only people who had the opportunity.

Appleby's End was where Detective Inspector John Appleby got off the train from Scotland Yard. But that was not the only coincidence. Why did Ranulph Raven's mysterious descendants make such a point of inviting Appleby to spend the night at their house?

When Inspector Appleby's car breaks down on a deserted road one dark night, he happens upon an imposing mansion, whose windows are all illuminated. His sense of curiosity gets the better of him when he discovers that the front door is wide open, and he gets a funny feeling of being watched as he wanders round this splendid house, looking for signs of life. When he finds an elaborate feast laid out, he wonders who is expected?

Over a period of twenty years, a series of highly elaborate art hoaxes have been perpetrated, and in each case the victim has a very good reason for keeping quiet. Inspector Appleby's interest is kindled by an amusing dinner-party anecdote.

A gruelling night of shrouded motives and confused identities develops when the last of the Dromios is found murdered, with both of his hands burnt off. Inspector Appleby wrenches the facts from a melodrama in which the final solution is written in fire.