Snake in the Grass (novel)

Snake in the Grass

First edition (UK)
Author	Anthony Gilbert
Language	English
Series	Arthur Crook
Genre	Mystery thriller
Publisher	Collins Crime Club (UK) Harper & Brothers (US)
Publication date	1954
Publication place	United Kingdom
Media type	Print
Preceded by	Footsteps Behind Me
Followed by	Is She Dead Too?

Snake in the Grass is a 1954 mystery detective novel by Anthony Gilbert, the pen name of British writer Lucy Beatrice Malleson. It is the twenty-eighth in her long-running series featuring the unscrupulous solicitor and detective Arthur Crook. ^[1] It was published in the United States under the alternative title Death Won't Wait. ^[2] Reviewing it in the New York Times Anthony Boucher, described it "one of Gilbert’s duller books", while other reviews were more praiseworthy.

Synopsis

A man is accosted on a London street by an attractive young woman who begs him for the loan of a pound, explaining that she is fleeing from her husband. She promptly disappears, and her husband is found dead. Arthur Crook becomes involved in the case which plays out amidst the black marketeers and bombed-out buildings of the post-war capital.

References

1. Murphy p.120
2. Reilly p.660

Bibliography

• Magill, Frank Northen . Critical Survey of Mystery and Detective Fiction: Authors, Volume 2. Salem Press, 1988.
• Murphy, Bruce F. The Encyclopedia of Murder and Mystery. Springer, 1999.
• Reilly, John M. Twentieth Century Crime & Mystery Writers. Springer, 2015.