These thirty stories, selected and introduced by fellow crime writer and lawyer Michael Gilbert, are a terrific introduction to Cyril Hare's inventive and clever Golden Age detective fiction, which often turns on an ingenious use of the law.

Born in 1900, Hare was a barrister and judge and only began writing at the age of thirty-six. Some of his first short stories were published in Punch and he went on to write nine novels including his most famous, Tragedy at Law.

Two of the stories in this collection feature Francis Pettigrew, a barrister and amateur detective who appeared in several of Hare's novels and was perhaps his best-loved creation.

'Dazzlingly ingenious.' Sunday Times

'Of Cyril Hare's detective stories my only complaint is, that they are too infrequent.' Tatler

'A master of the short story.' Spectator

'Neat, taut and sufficiently dipped in irony to give a sharp tang to the quirks of love and life.' Glasgow Herald