Frank Jennings was a keen murder-mystery fan, but no one was more surprised than he to find himself mixed up in a murder mystery in real life, and that the victim was the wife of one of his own neighbours.

Paul Murray was the sort of man who ought to have hanged for murder. There everybody who knew him was agreed. It was on the question of whether he was responsible for the murder of his wife, Brenda, that they disagreed.

The case is not made any easier for Inspector Knollis because of the attempts of Roy Palmer and Peter Fairfax to incriminate Murray by interference and careful lies. And, of course, there is Jennings, the spare-time criminologist who is a voluble nuisance but with some occasional bright ideas; and the kippers of which Fairfax makes red herrings. A difficult case, but the genial Inspector will not be beaten.

The Sleeping Island was first published in 1951. This new edition includes an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

"Francis Vivian skips all tedious preliminaries and is commendably quick off the mark; we meet his characters with lively pleasure." Observer

"Mr. Vivian neatly fits everything in its place." Times Literary Supplement