Fountain Inn

(Paperback)

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Description

What's going on behind the doors of Fountain Inn

When her employer suddenly disappears, young Grace Kirkstall finds herself accepting a new job at a new company in the same building - an oasis of tranquillity off the streets of London.

Ben and Helen Brown's startup company's pitch is that, for a small consideration, they will help people out of their major and minor fixes. Their first big commission initiates Ben into the gentle art of house-breaking, and Helen into the mysteries of the Society for Progressive Rehabilitation...

But for Grace, it will plunge her into more danger than she could ever have imagined.

This leisurely, beautifully observed thriller marked Victor Canning's entree into crime fiction, and rewards with a thrilling finale - sure to delight fans of Agatha Christie's Tommy and Tuppence.

Reviews

Praise for Victor Canning:

Quite delightful with an atmosphere of quiet contentment and humour thatcannot fail to charmDaily Telegraph

There issuch a gentle humourin the bookDaily Sketch

What counts for most in the story is hismounting pleasure in vagabondage and the English sceneThe Times

A paean to the beauties of the English countryside andthe lovable oddities of the English characterNew York Times

His delight at the beauties of the countryside and hismild astonishment at the strange ways of men are infectiousDaily Telegraph

A swift-moving novel,joyous, happy and incurably optimisticEvening Standard

His gift of story-telling is obviously innate.Rarely does one come on so satisfyingan amalgam of plot, characterisation and good writingPunch

Author Bio

Victor Canningwas a prolific writer throughout his career, which began young: he had sold several short stories by the age of nineteen and his first novel,Mr Finchley Discovers His England(1934) was published when he was twenty-three. It proved to be a runaway bestseller. Canning also wrote for children: his trilogyThe Runawayswas adapted for US children's television. Canning's later thrillers were darker and more complex than his earlier work and received further critical acclaim.