'In the front rank of detective story writers' Times Literary Supplement
When Pickford's body was found hanging from a beam in his garage, Inspector Loxton was sure that it was a case of suicide following a series of financial and domestic worries.
Then came the criminologist with his slogan, 'Common sense is all you need', and in ten minutes he upset the inspector's hypothesis. Further evidence pointed so clearly in one direction that the arrest and the conviction of the criminal seemed almost a matter of form.
But both the Inspector and the expert are way off course, and it is left to the Chief Constable to clear up the mystery ...
'Mr Connington has the art of writing delightful detective novels' Baltimore Evening Sun
Alfred Walter Stewart (1880-1947), who wrote under the pen name J. J. Connington, was born in Glasgow, the youngest of three sons of Reverend Dr Stewart. He graduated from Glasgow University and pursued an academic career as a chemistry professor, working for the Admiralty during the First World War. Known for his ingenious and carefully worked-out puzzles and in-depth character development, he was admired by a host of his better-known contemporaries, including Dorothy L. Sayers and John Dickson Carr, who both paid tribute to his influence on their work. He married Jessie Lily Courts in 1916 and they had one daughter.