The Widows of Broome

Detective-Inspector Bonaparte has never been better than in this baffling case of a killer who seemed to be picking off the town widows one by one. Bony arrived in Broome just after two well-to-do widows had been brutally strangled. The local police were short of help and completely stymied by a murderer who carefully left no clues. Bony pressed into service a Mr. Dickenson who combined the qualities of a gentleman, a scholar, and the town drunk. Then another widow was killed. But this time the murderer was just a little bit careless. Bony added two footprints, a beer bottle that hid petrol, a sound made by clicking teeth, three bundles of silk rags, and a passion for tidiness, and came up with a composite picture of the murderer. Then Bony staged a trap with the fourth widow as bait--and the stage was set to nab a vicious killer.

The Widows of Broome was first printed in the United State by the Doubleday Crime Club in 1949. The first British edition was printed by Heinemann in 1951. The Doubleday Crime Club edition is pictured above.