Death on a Quiet Day

From a British Golden Age author “in a class by himself among detective story writers,” Scotland Yard Inspector Appleby helps a student solve a murder (The Times Literary Supplement).

On holiday in the English countryside with his fellow university students, young David Henchman sets out alone for a hike across the moor. But instead of finding tranquil solitude, he stumbles upon a dead body. At first, David suspects suicide—until he spots a stranger on the moor. At the sound of gunfire, David flees for his life.

Once Inspector Appleby heads to the moors, it seems as if Scotland Yard’s most respected detective might have the matter in hand. But things go south when Appleby discovers the corpse on the moor has been swapped with another dead body. With the investigation underway, are Appleby and David bound to become victims of some perilous game?

Praise for Michael Innes and the Inspector Appleby series

“Wickedly witty.” —Daily Mail

“As farfetched and literary as Sayers.” —The Cambridge Companion to Crime Fiction

Michael Innes (1906–1994) was the pseudonym of John Innes MacKintosh “J.I.M.” Stewart. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotlandeducated at Oxford, and taught English at universities in the UK and Australia. Writing as J.I.M. Stewart he published a number of scholarly works, mainly critical studies of authors, including Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling, as well as more than twenty works of fiction and a memoir. As Michael Innes, he published numerous mystery novels and short story collections, most featuring the Scotland Yard detective Inspector John Appleby.