Roderick Alleyn Mystery series book 11
Read by James Saxon

Everyone has his secret fear of which even his closest friends know or suspect
nothing. Jonathan Royal's private hell was the fear of boredom. He was elderly,
unmarried, well-off, secure in his fine house and large estate. But he was
bored; he must devise new means of distraction. He had his interests, of course,
such as supporting surrealist plays; indeed he had done much to establish the
reputation of young Aubrey Mandrake, the poetic dramatist. And it was to Aubrey
that he explained his latest idea. This was his invitation to seven friends
whom he knew were each hateful to one another. That is to say, not everyone
hated everyone else, but no single member of this party would be on good terms
with all the rest only Aubrey himself; who knew none of them, would be an
`outsider', so to speak. The seven friends would arrive the following day at
Jonathan's home to spend the week-end. None of them knew of the impending
presence of the others, and once assembled it would be very difficult to
separate. The winter was severe; they would have to stay indoors, remote from
other diversions. Jonathan himself would blandly act as host, assiduously
keeping the party in being. It would be the greatest fun to watch their
reactions, to see how they would have to settle down to the enforced communal
isolation. It might well give Aubrey an idea for a play. It would, in fact,
be a play in itself, as Jonathan delightedly pointed out, with Aubrey as
audience. And a play it was to be, with the 'curtain' coming down on the
miserable exit of a murderer. But that last act was not to be written
by Jonathan, but by Inspector Alleyn, who had been called in to unravel
the `plot'.

Download File Size:150.12 MB

---