Lion in the Cellar
Will be published approx. on 28. July 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
978-1-63194-372-0 (ISBN)
Description
You might call it killingly funny...
Sukie's family does have a certain notoriety. Mama, for example, is locked up with the loonies after some experiments with arson, while Grandmama is immortalized in wax as part of Madame Tussauds "Chamber of Horrors" exhibit-there had been an episode with an axe and some irritating neighbors. Uncle George, by contrast, goes all wobbly at the merest hint of blood, so he tends to opt for strangulation. And so forth... All things considered, Sukie's husband might reasonably be excused for giving her a certain side-eye, when nice Mr. Bentley turns up dead. Sukie, after all, while a lovely person with a charming smile, is known to lie with quite breathtaking regularity.
Sukie's family does have a certain notoriety. Mama, for example, is locked up with the loonies after some experiments with arson, while Grandmama is immortalized in wax as part of Madame Tussauds "Chamber of Horrors" exhibit-there had been an episode with an axe and some irritating neighbors. Uncle George, by contrast, goes all wobbly at the merest hint of blood, so he tends to opt for strangulation. And so forth... All things considered, Sukie's husband might reasonably be excused for giving her a certain side-eye, when nice Mr. Bentley turns up dead. Sukie, after all, while a lovely person with a charming smile, is known to lie with quite breathtaking regularity.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 203 mm
Width: 139 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-63194-372-0 (9781631943720)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Pamela Branch was "the funniest lady you ever knew," according to well-known mystery writer Christianna Brand. Born in 1920 on her father's tea plantation in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), she was educated in England and dabbled in both art and acting before returning to Asia-first to her family in Ceylon and then on to India; for three years her home was a houseboat in Kashmir. She trekked in the Himalayas, trained racehorses, learned falconry, and became fluent in Urdu. Could there be better training for a mystery writer? Back in England for...five minutes(?), she married barrister Newton Branch, and the two moved to Cyprus, where they lived in a 12th-century monastery on the edge of a cliff. He wrote adventure stories, she wrote The Wooden Overcoat (1951), and then they moved on again. She produced her remaining three novels in Ireland, France, and London, respectively. Why, oh why, weren't there more? Branch died of cancer in 1967. Death, it seems, had the last laugh.