The pursuit of fashion is a matter of life and death in the debut novel from Christianna Brand, one of the Queens of Golden Age crime fiction. First published in 1941, this mystery brims with Brand's signature wit and ruthless twists, and features an introduction by Diamond Dagger Award-winning author and series editor Martin Edwards. Life for the staff of the West End boutique Christophe et Cie is hard enough with all the pressures of delivering the ambitious Mr. Bevan's vision—and then comes murder, a poisoning via the toxic crystals of hat-cleaner, pitching haute couture into heinous crime. Faced with a fashionable collection of overwrought designers, buttoned-up models, downtrodden sales girls and tyrannical middle-managers, the dashing Inspector Charlesworth of Scotland Yard must disentangle workplace grudges from deadly motives before the killer can make a trend of murder.
