Through A Glass, Darkly
By (Author) Helen McCloy
Penguin Books Ltd
Penguin Books Ltd
6th January 2026
11th September 2025
United Kingdom
General
Fiction
Crime and mystery: private investigator / amateur detectives
Paperback
224
Width 129mm, Height 198mm, Spine 15mm
200g
Celebrating 90 Years of Penguin Michael Joseph publishing with the Mermaid collection- Helen McCloy's Through A Glass, Darkly with a foreword by Gillian McAllister 'They watch me all the time. In and out of the classroom, their eyes are always following me . . .' Quiet, gentle, young Faustina Crayle is dismissed from her teaching position at Brereton School for Girls after just a few weeks. She is given no explanation, but it's clear certain staff and pupils fear her. Her friend and fellow teacher Gisela contacts psychologist and sleuth Dr Basil Willing who offers to investigate these outlandish claims. But this only confirms two damning facts - first, that this happened at a previous school and, second, people believe there are two sides to enigmatic Faustina. When a body is found at the school and Faustina is implicated in the death, it is clear that darkness swirls around this young woman. But is she the perpetrator or victim
McCloy has always resembled the best writers of the Sayers-Blake-Allingham school * New York Times *
In the very top rank * Sunday Times *
Helen McCloy was born in New York City in 1904, daughter of a writer and a newspaper editor. Having read Sherlock Holmes as a young girl, McCloy retained an interest in mysteries and began to write them in the 1930s, after a career in journalism. Her first novel, Dance of Death, was published in 1938 and featured psychologist sleuth Dr Basil Willing, who appeared in twelve of her novels and several short stories. In 1950 she became the first woman to serve as president of Mystery Writers of America. In 1953 she received an Edgar from the same organization for her critiques. Her last book - featuring Dr Basil Willing - was published in 1980 and she died in 1994.