From dust jacket notes: "'I try to import an authentic legal atmosphere into my books, and my practice being largely at the criminal bar, I hope to avoid the grosser errors in law and procedure....I spent some busy years in the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, where I gained a knowledge of English police organization and method which has proved useful.' -Cyril Hare, 1949 Here, in this exclusive edition from Book-of-the-Month Club, are three of Cyril Hare's best novels, featuring the world-weary solicitor Francis Pettigrew....Cyril Hare, the pseudonym of Alfred Alexander Gordon Clark [1900-1958], was born in Mickleham, England, and educated at New College, Oxford. In 1924 he began a career as a lawyer, first practicing in the criminal courts and later becoming a county circuit court judge presiding over civil cases. Clark's career, numerous outside activities - including a busy schedule of public speaking - an inability to type, and a 'constitutional and incurable indolence' limited his output to nine novels and a group of short stories."