Appleby at Allington / Michael Innes

Sir John Appleby dines one evening at Allington Park, the Georgian home of his acquaintance Owain Allington, who is new to the area. His curiosity is aroused when Allington mentions his nephew and heir to the estate, Martin Allington, whose name Appleby recognises. The evening comes to an end but just as Appleby is leaving, they find a dead man - electrocuted in the son et lumiere box which had been installed in the grounds.

Michael Innes (pseudonym of John Innes Mackintosh Stewart) wrote a highly successful series of mystery stories. His most famous character is John Appleby, who inspired a penchant for donnish detective fiction that lasts to this day. His other well-known character is Honeybath, the painter and rather reluctant detective, who first appeared in The Mysterious Commission, in 1975. Stewart's last novel, Appleby and the Ospreys, appeared in 1986.