Скачать книгу - A Coffin for Charley

Harold Hoffman is a head of funeral home. Hoffman and his comical colleagues decide that it is necessary to increase the number of orders for coffins and a funeral. They want to increase death rate in the city. The journalist Julia Shweetner understands – this group of psychopaths threatens her city and fight against them.

The discovery of a pile of infant skulls and a grisly triple murder are just the start of Chief Commander Coffin’s worries in this gripping crime novel from one of the most universally admired English mystery writers.London’s Second City has been the scene of many a terrifying crime, but the discovery of a pile of infant skulls unearthed near police headquarters is particularly horrifying. Another major worry for John Coffin, Chief Commander, is a triple murder on his patch, that of a midwife and her two daughters. The obvious suspect is her son, Black Jack Jackson, a local villain, but both Coffin and DI Phoebe Astley are reluctant to accept his guilt.Two further murders add renewed urgency to both investigations: one of a doctor, discovered in a hospital laboratory surrounded by grisly trophies, might well be connected to the disinterring of the children’s skulls; the other, of a notorious Second City criminal, with the brutal midwife killings. Coffin is able to take all this in his stride, however, until the growing violence comes closer to home – directly threatening the safety of his wife, the actress Stella Pinero.

A man from John Coffin’s past is looking for his identical twin brother – a dangerous man, capable of murder. But are their identities one and the same? From one of the most appraised English crime writers, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie.Sad, savage and bitter is what Stella Pinero says to her husband John Coffin, Commander of London's Second City, of the murder case which cuts into both their lives.Coffin is at the height of his powers when he is surprised by a visit from the past: Inspector Harry Trent, with whom Coffin had worked years ago, is looking for his identical twin brother- a dangerous man; a man who might already have killed a woman; a man Trent fears might threaten violence to the Macintoshes, the couple who fostered the twins as children.When Joe and Josie Macintosh are found stabbed to death, Coffin has to discover not only their killer, but their true identities. And even more important is the question hanging over all of them: who is this man called Harry Trent and what is he capable of? The answer lies in the past- bizarre, terrifyingly and horribly real…

John Coffin is left reeling after the former Prime Minister makes a shocking confession. A dark and gripping crime novel from one of the most appraised English mystery writers, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie.A visit to the riverside apartment of the long retired former prime minister, Richard Lavender, is to have startling consequences for John Coffin. For it transpires that the old man, nearing the end of his life, has a confession to make: he is the son of a serial killer. He tells Coffin how, as a boy, he helped to bury one of his father’s victims. Feeling death is near, he wants to repair and reclaim the past – with Coffin’s help.Unsure whether Lavender is caught up in fantasy or telling the truth, Coffin agrees to investigate and appoints Chief Inspector Phoebe Astley to the task. But then a young woman is found murdered on a foggy November night, and all too soon the sins of the past and present come together in a terrifying denouement.

The Second City is gripped by the tragic murder of four boys, each connected to the police force in some way. Commander John Coffin investigates, simultaneously dealing with a different horror closer to home. From one of the most highly appraised English mystery writers, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie.The discovery of the mutilated body of Harry Seton shouldn’t have concerned John Coffin, Commander of London’s Second City. But the victim, a detective doing undercover work on the sale of illegal pharmaceuticals, had left a note amongst his papers: ‘Ask Coffin’. What he meant by this no one seems to know, including his superior, but it appears that Seton had been secretly investigating internal corruption just before his brutal murder. Coffin, acting on private instructions from above, directly involves himself in following up on Seton’s work only to find that someone is ahead of the game, muddying tracks and destroying evidence.But the Second City is bracing itself for a far greater tragedy. Four boys, each connected to the police in some way, have gone missing, and just as Coffin starts off in Seton’s footsteps a child’s body turns up – buried in a shallow grave in common land. That the children have been specifically targeted by someone with a grudge against the police seems obvious; that the perpetrator is deranged is now clear. The only witnesses to the abductions are a gang of rollerbladers, but fear and something else is keeping them quiet.The Second City is gripped by the horror of these events, and horror too comes stalking directly to Coffin’s door, threatening both him and Stella. But is it Harry Seton’s nemesis who is seeking out Coffin, or the child-killer still out there in the night?