“The Hollywood-cum-Santa Fe artists, both screwy and sensible, in the desert are all neatly caught in the lively style given to Mrs. Pat to narrate. Grade: A”—The Saturday Review “Plenty of excitement.”—Kirkus From the jacket: “Time was,” said the sheriff of Santa Maria, “when murder was murder in this country. ... But now we got artists and writers and therefore psychology. It's enough to ruin the country.” It was lucky for Sheriff Trask that Pat Abbott and his lively wife, Jeanie, were vacationing in the little New Mexican artists’ colony the day a psychotic war veteran and a gangster's widow arrived on the Plaza. By an unlikely coincidence they were the former spouses of friends of the Abbotts who had just announced their engagement. Gilbert Mason, a Hollywood writer with a penchant for seeing the worst, pointed out to Jeanie that it looked as if there would be no marriage, for the widow packed a gun. The first day of tension exploded into murder and kidnapping, both crimes committed almost simultaneously, as if they had been masterminded to confuse pursuit. Immediately everyone began to act out of character. Competent Vanessa Wells, a writer who had lived alone and liked it for years, turned nervous and absent-minded. Gilbert Mason, a confirmed gossip, acted as if he knew more than he told. The gangster's widow and her apelike retainer became good Samaritans. And the handsome war veteran, who'd always looked after himself, began to plot his own downfall. Through the exciting adventure Mrs. Crane conveys the many aspects of the New Mexican landscape, using the charm of Spanish-Indian culture, the backbiting of bohemia, and the terrifying, cruel loneliness of the desert to enhance the suspense.

The Polka Dot File on the Robert F. Kennedy Killing describes the day-to-day chase for the mystery woman in the polka-dot dress. The book comments on but does not dwell on the police investigation, and reads like a detective thriller instead of an academic analysis of the investigation. It incorporates actual tapes made by an important witness, and introduces the testimony of witnesses not covered in other books and it is a new take on the assassination and the motives for it introduces a new theory for the reasons behind the assassination. Original and highly personal, it reaches a startling and different conclusion not exposed by other books.

In exotic Tangier, the well-known husband and wife team of Pat and Jean Abbott discover that international drug trafficking, plus greed and intrigue, invariably spell catastrophe for those involved therein. And very bad luck for a number of free-loading beachcombers and expatriates who’d just about convinced themselves that they never had it so good.

In the early morning hours of June 5, 1968, The Girl in the Polka-Dot Dress ran down a fire escape, exclaiming, “We shot him! We shot him!” “Who?” asked a witness. “We’ve shot Senator Kennedy.” 2018 – Fifty Years Later. Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Frank Caron is enjoying a highpoint in his career and the excitement of his new relationship with Sasha Frye. An amateur hypnotist, Sasha convinces him to let her treat his mother’s dementia with hypnotherapy. It’s supposed to do wonders for dementia-sufferers, but it backfires. Horribly. Under hypnosis, his mother makes a most unusual comment. “I don’t like this dress,” she says. “But I have to wear it for him to die. And Robert Kennedy must die.” Frank is stunned. So is Sasha. What are they supposed to make of a comment like that? Can their new relationship handle the burden of learning such a shocking revelation? One thing is for certain: neither can ignore it. What they do separately ignites the fire of ambition in Frank’s over-zealous boss, the District Attorney. It upends the California legal system. And it reawakens an evil that didn’t stop then – and won’t stop now – to keep its secrets hidden. Through it all, there’s one burning question Frank must have answered: was his mother a conspirator in the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy? What he learns is far more than a simple yes or no.

“The murders are most ingeniously planned and executed, and even Dr. Priestley is put to a severe test before the story is ended.” —The New York Times Constable Frean had an unpleasant sensation that he was not, as he seemed to be, patrolling a respectable London suburb, but was back at the Front in the year 1918, enduring a particularly vicious bombardment. Crash! With a roar like a bursting shell the roof of a nearby house blew off. Heading a rescue party, the constable found part of the house in ruins, and the owner, Sir Andrew Wiggenhall, missing. Eventually, his remains, or part of them, were discovered in the garden. Thus passed the Chairman of the Board of Porslin Ltd. Some months later another member of the same board of directors died in mysterious circumstances. Still another followed shortly. The reason for these apparently unrelated mysteries puzzled the police and intrigued Dr. Priestley. After a series of clever deductions, and as a result of clues which led far back into the past, he unearthed the secret of the Death that sat on the Board of Directors.

An investigation of the assassination of Robert Kennedy details the events of June 5, 1968, and discusses evidence suggesting that convicted assassin Sirhan Sirhan did not act alone and may have been part of a conspiracy.

“One always embarks on a John Rhode book with a great sense of security. One knows that there will be a sound plot, well-knit process of reasoning, and a solidly satisfying solution with no loose ends or careless errors of fact.”—Dorothy Sayers From the Jacket: Fair blew the wind from France, and the Channel steamer Isle of Jethou rolled a bit in the stiff south-westerly breeze. But the rough crossing didn’t upset the mysterious passenger who had locked himself into his cabin as soon as he boarded the boat at Guernsey. The same desire for seclusion had manifested itself on the boat-train to Waterloo, for the guard had been presented with a pound-note to reserve a compartment for Mr. Mystery. But did he travel alone? For at Waterloo the gentleman from Guernsey was a pretty genuine corpse. Death on the Boat-Train is a first-rate detective story, once again featuring the coldly clever scientific mind of Dr. Priestley, John Rhode’s brilliant creation.