Murder In The Night Musaicum Vintage Mysteries

Peter Wacks was an unimpressive and weak man until he came across a mysterious "red paste." Suddenly, from a harmless being, he turned into a ruthless and cold-blooded killer! Like Jekyll and Hyde, he goes on a murder rampage in the night and during daytime becomes a detective to find the so-called murderer. Will Peter be able to outwit himself and stop his descent into chaos and madness? Or will he succumb under his negative self? Excerpt: "I shall never know what dreadful impulse compels me to write it all down. My life is so many, many times forfeit to the State that were my hideous secret to become known, even now, after all these years, within an hour infuriated crowds would gather at my gate and I should be torn limb from limb without the slightest hope of mercy or reprieve. I shall never be forgiven. My crimes were too brutal. I spared neither young nor old, and every deed of violence that could bring pain and horror it was fiendish joy to do..."

Will you forgive yourself if under an influence of a weird substance you turn into a ruthless murderer? What if you are a detective yourself and in-charge of the murder investigations? Will you surrender yourself or will you hide yourself from the law? Peter Wacks will soon learn it the hard way… Excerpt: "I shall never know what dreadful impulse compels me to write it all down. My life is so many, many times forfeit to the State that were my hideous secret to become known, even now, after all these years, within an hour infuriated crowds would gather at my gate and I should be torn limb from limb without the slightest hope of mercy or reprieve. I shall never be forgiven. My crimes were too brutal. I spared neither young nor old, and every deed of violence that could bring pain and horror it was fiendish joy to do..."

Richard is set to join a new law firm owned by his friend's (Eleanor's) father. Inevitably he is dragged into the murder mystery of Eleanor's fiancé Henry. With detective Burton in tow, Richard must find the clue that is hidden in plain sight as a "dead letter" in the post office! Excerpt: "I paused suddenly in my work. Over a year's experience in the Dead Letter office had given a mechanical rapidity to my movements in opening, noting and classifying the contents of the bundles before me; and, so far from there being any thing exciting to the curiosity, or interesting to the mind, in the employment, it was of the most monotonous character.Young ladies whose love letters have gone astray, evil men whose plans have been confided in writing to their confederates, may feel but little apprehension of the prying eyes of the Department; nothing attracts it but objects of material value—sentiment is below par; it gives attention only to such tangible interests as are represented by bank-bills, gold-pieces, checks, jewelry, miniatures, et cetera..."

During Christmas dinner, Robert Warbeck, the only son and heir of the old Lord, dies in front of the other guests. Because of heavy snowfall Warbeck Hall is cut off the outer world, and the phone line is broken. Detective Rogers takes upon himself the task of investigating the murder. Soon after the old Lord Warbeck, already being on his last legs, dies. A silent panic strikes the guests, who try to keep together. Still, another guest dies, this time it is Mrs. Carstairs. Both Robert Warbeck and Mrs. Carstairs seem to have been poisoned. Doctor Bottwink, who was originally invited to study centuries-old documents in the family library, turns into an amateur detective trying to solve murder cases.

When the dead body of Sir William Ponson is found in a nearby river, he is presumed to have died due to drowning. But then the clues start pointing towards a gruesome murder. Now it is up to Inspector Tanner to find the owner of the mysterious footprints and prevent the estate from falling into the hands of Sir William's murderers.

The "unfortunate" and "coincidental" deaths of Rev. John Avery and a local village fellow do not excite any suspicion in locals until Inspector Pointer gets involved in the case! Excerpt: "The rector got up from his writing table and laying his pipe down, stood a moment as though collecting his thoughts. A distinguished-looking man of around forty was John Avery, with his tall spare figure, his clever, scholarly face. He was frowning as he absent-mindedly straightened a yellow china jar on the corner of the mantelshelf. Then he returned to his knee-hole table, and, taking an apple from a plate which always stood on the corner, began slowly to eat it, still with a look of abstraction on his face, still with some inner discomfort marking a frown on his fine forehead. The apple automatically disposed of, he drew out his watch and looked at it. Four o'clock. His sister-in-law would probably be in her own sitting-room."

A suspicious cask arrives in London dock which when unloading slips and cracks open to reveal gold sovereigns. While the bystanders scramble to pick up the gold, the dock inspector finds a hand of a dead woman buried underneath. To his absolute bewilderment, the next day, the cask has disappeared! Now it is up to Inspector Burnley of Scotland Yard to solve the mystery of the cask as well as the murder of the woman.

Rose Charteris' dead body at the bottom of a sand pit let the onlookers believe that probably she died due to a freak accident… But Chief Inspector Pointer is deeply suspicious as there are many people who will directly benefit from her murder! Excerpt: "Cockburn thought that the colonel looked vexed. An old scar on his forehead blazed a bar of crimson. A sign of anger. Yet he could hardly be annoyed with the girls for knowing where the professor was. But already the colonel had puzzled him on the courts. Generally a fine player—to-day! Cockburn eyed him as he cut a cigar unevenly, and decided that something was up. It was not Colonel Scarlett's habit to chip a Corona like that. Nor to hold it so tightly that it leaked. Nor to smoke it at a pace which would turn it into an overheated cabbage stalk."