by Fergus Hume
First published 2018
Cicero Gramp calls himself a professor of elocution and eloquence, but others see him as a charming vagabond. He sleeps in the churchyard because it costs nothing. Past midnight, voices wake him. Two shadowy figures stand by the white mausoleum that holds millionaire Richard Marlow's body. They unlock the iron vault door, enter, then emerge carrying what Gramp assumes is Marlow's corpse. When authorities search the tomb, they find Marlow's coffin sealed shut. The body inside is not Marlow but another man who was murdered. Gramp must solve why grave robbers took the wrong corpse and who the dead stranger really is. The mystery deepens as more questions emerge about what happened in that vault and why someone wanted Marlow's body so badly they killed for it.
Genres: 20th-century, mystery, crime, thriller, detective, 19th-century
Vibes: dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: amateur-detective, mystery-to-solve, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Churchyard, Mausoleum
Period: Past Midnight
224 pages · Kindle Edition · Collins Crime Club