Counsel for the Defence - Ronald James

'Don't waste your pity on me. I haven't had your training in expensiveness, you know.'

Stories of Crime ' Detection Volume Ten contains two novellas and a short story.

Counsel for the Defence  A London pawnbroker is murdered and the police find a diamond necklace hidden under the floorboards. Morphine addict Arnold Hemingway is implicated, but claims he was meeting an old flame Lucy Hemmerde at the time of the killing. But Lucy has vanished into thin air, and the defence counsel must turn detective to find the real killer.

The Awakening of Theodore WrennThirty-six-year-old Theodore Wrenn leads a quiet existence working for elderly solicitors Gentry, Green and Gentry; but his life changes suddenly when his wealthy flamboyant cousin needs to recover some compromising letters. The ensuing hunt leads the diligent Wrenn on a series of adventures that bring love and danger.

The Baby and the GorillaAfter catching a local thug nicknamed 'the Gorilla', Seargent Kelly is in a reminiscent mood.

JAMES JACK RONALD (1905-1972) was a prolific writer of pulp fiction, mystery stories and dramatic novels. Raised in Glasgow, Ronald moved to Chicago aged seventeen to 'earn his fortune', 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 adapted into films, including Murder in the Family (1938), The Witness Vanishes (1939), and The Suspect (1944).