Alberta Mansbridge was laying out the teacups for a Sunday afternoon – eight cups for almost everybody in her circle of… well, friends might be pushing it, but family, acquaintances and a couple of waifs and strays. When her guests turn up, however, they find themselves locked out. There’s no answer from inside – you’ll never guess what has happened.

With no signs of a break-in, the killer must have been someone Alberta knew, someone she let into the house – most likely one of her guests who arrived early for the tea party. Enter Inspector Corby.

Right, I’ve got so many books to review from my recent holiday and, ideally, read something too, so I’m going to be quick about this one.

This is surprisingly late for the British Library Crime Classics range, coming from 1973, but you couldn’t tell from reading it. Well, I couldn’t, as I didn’t realise this until after I’d finished it.

It’s very much in the vein of a classic detective story and… I’ll be honest, I don’t have a lot to say about it. It’s perfectly fine. Nothing about it makes it stand out from the crowd, either in a good way or a bad way. It’s a perfectly decent entry into the canon, definitely worth a look and… that’s it. Sorry, this is probably the least helpful review ever. I really should have made some notes when I read it.