The Wintringham Mystery — Anthony Berkeley

Originally serialized in 1926, this classic English countryside mystery contains a puzzle that even acclaimed crime author Agatha Christie couldn't solve.

A secluded country manor in the dead of winter seems like the perfect place to hold a house party. Even better, one of the guests declares that an after-dinner séance would be so much more entertaining than bridge. And it's all fun and games until a young woman goes missing. Assuming the disappearance is someone's idea of a joke, the well-heeled host Lady Susan doesn't want to ruin a good party by calling the police. So it's up to her footman, a down-on-his-luck young army veteran, along with the lovely lady he once hoped to marry, to solve a mystery that soon turns to murder, with the only suspects being the eccentric party guests . . .

“Detection and crime at its wittiest -- all Berkeley's stories are amusing, intriguing and he is a master of the final twist.” -- Agatha Christie
“Anthony Berkeley is the supreme master not of the ‘twist' but of the ‘double-twist.'” -- The Sunday Times