A professionally curious narrator pursues the life of a shadowy criminal figure across interwar European settings, following clues from travel and chance encounters to reconstruct motive and method.

Told from the viewpoint of a returning World War II veteran, the novel follows his arrival in Los Angeles and the tense relationships he forms there while an external string of murders and police investigation encircle him.

Set in ancient Thebes during the 11th dynasty, the novel places a household under scrutiny after a series of deaths.

An ostensibly ordinary man becomes entangled in international intrigue and must flee to survive after learning of a conspiracy. The setup focuses on pursuit, mistaken identity (or forced suspicion), and a race to uncover key information before hostile agents can stop him.

A country solicitor is drawn into defending a mother and daughter accused of abducting and assaulting a visiting young woman. The plot hinges on assembling testimony, scrutinizing inconsistent claims, and testing how community suspicion and newspaper pressure shape culpability.

An unnamed young woman marries a wealthy widower and moves to his grand West Country estate, where she finds the household dominated by the presence and legend of his late first wife.