'Art is never sordid,' said Daniel. 'And murder is one of the arts'

Volume One of James Ronald Stories of Crime and Detection contains three pulp fiction novelettes and one novel, featuring Police Surgeon turned amateur sleuth Daniel Britling. The unassuming—but missing nothing—Police Surgeon is cast in the great tradition of Golden Age Detective Fiction sleuths. This is the first ever collection of Daniel Britling stories, originally published between 1930 and 1932.

Included in this collection are:

The Green Ghost Murder Introducing police surgeon Daniel Britling and his twin sister Eunice, who have traveled to Mersey for a recuperative break. When a local legend, the Green Ghost of Heaton Forest, returns to haunt the local inhabitants, Britling must find a murderer before he strikes twice.

Too Many Motives Mark Savile celebrates his 54th birthday by perversely inviting four men to dine at his home who hate him, and goading them until one punches him. An hour later, Savile is found dead. This story is included in Robert Adey's Locked Room Murders and Other Impossible Crimes (1979)

Find The Lady When impulsive Lady Frances Dorian disappears from the Royal Lancaster Hotel in Brighton without being seen leaving, Daniel Britling agrees to do some private sleuthing.

Six Were to Die Seven financiers indulged in illegal practices, and about to be caught by the police, put all the blame on one member of their party, who went to prison for a long term. When he comes out, his plans for revenge are signalled to each man in advance.

Plus

Blind Man’s Bluff (a short story) This was James Ronald's first published crime fiction.

James Jack Ronald (1905-1972) was a prolific writer of pulp fiction, mystery stories and dramatic novels. Born and raised in Glasgow, Ronald left school early and moved to Chicago aged 17, later returning to the UK to pursue a writing career. His early works were serializations and short stories syndicated in newspapers and magazines around the world. Ronald wrote under a number of pseudonyms, including Michael Crombie, Kirk Wales, Peter Gale, Mark Ellison and Kenneth Streeter among others. Several books were the adapted into films, including Murder in the Family (1938), The Witness Vanishes (1939), and The Suspect (1944).