Unholy Dying

the long version

> The inimitable amateur sleuth Professor John Stubbs is a blustering old botanist from Scotland whose only vice, besides being a bit gruff with incompetent inspectors, is a tendency to drink a trifle too many pints of English bitter. The old bachelor's confessed love for a good "pub crawl" is almost as well known as his incredible, though unorthodox, methods of detection. >In this, one of Stubbs's first adventures, cyanide kills an infamous fraud, Dr. Ian Porter, at a formal congress of geneticists. Any one of a dozen vindictive former assistants or humiliated colleagues could have committed the gruesome deed. Of course, the village police are completely befuddled, and even the professor, who never makes a secret of his likes and dislikes, becomes a prime suspect. Eager to solve the crime before an innocent scientist hangs, Professor Stubbs launches his own unofficial investigation. >His deductive powers meet a formidable challenge in the diverse collection of colorful suspects. The brash American, Dr. Swartz; the victim's snivelling colleague, Professor Silver; and the lovely young genetics student, Miss Mary Lewis, are just three possibilities - not to mention the professor's own nephew, a reporter covering the genetics congress. A brisk pace and witty dialogue make this an exciting and amusing page-turner right up to the dramatic finale when the professor cleverly traps the murderer with a dangerous but ingenious ploy.