The Man in the Brown Suit

When plucky young Anne Beddingfeld comes to London, looking for adventure, she doesn’t have to search for long. While waiting on the platform at Hyde Park Corner tube station, she watches in horror as a man loses his balance and tumbles to his death. The Scotland Yard investigation deems it an accident, but Anne is not convinced. Who was the man in the brown suit who examined the lifeless body? And why did he hurry off, leaving a note with the cryptic message 17.122 Kilmorden Castle? Anne’s zeal to follow the clue leads her aboard a South Africa-bound ocean liner, where she is plunged into a world of diamond thieves and political intrigue. The vessel’s lively nightlife ranges from a torrid romance on the foredeck to the sudden appearance in her cabin of a bleeding man, to outright attempts on her life. Now she is confronted with a ship’s roster of suspects and no way of knowing who she can trust. Praised by The Observer as written with spirit and humour, this sprightly tale from early in Agatha Christie’s career offers a gripping blend of murder mystery and international crime thriller.