Alive And Dead

Alive and Dead (1974) by Elizabeth Ferrars — Condition: Good (Crappy Old Books)

Elizabeth Ferrars—sometimes called the “Queen of the modern whodunit”—had a gift for taking seemingly ordinary domestic settings and filling them with suspicion, secrets, and the occasional corpse. Alive and Dead (Book Club Associates, 1974) is classic Ferrars territory: a carefully plotted, cleverly misleading mystery where appearances deceive, motives multiply, and the reader is invited to play detective right alongside her characters. Ferrars specialised in the genteel but lethal world of middle-class Britain, where tea might be served promptly at four but murder always managed to turn up uninvited.

Her writing is taut and economical, relying less on blood and thunder and more on sharp observation, psychological tension, and that peculiarly British knack for making everyday life just a little bit sinister. This is the kind of book where a raised eyebrow might be as dangerous as a dagger, and where everyone seems just plausible enough to be guilty.

Now, the copy itself: sold by the ever-candid Crappy Old Books, it’s rated Good. Which means: the dust jacket (if present) may be a touch scuffed, the corners a little softened, and the pages gently aged to a mellow ivory. The spine has been opened and closed enough to suggest it’s been read—perhaps even scrutinised late at night by readers intent on guessing the murderer. But the text is complete, the binding solid, and not a single clue has gone missing. No ominous fingerprints in the margins, no handwritten confessions slipped between the pages, no tea-ring evidence of an Agatha-Christie-style reader’s gathering—just a well-loved, intact mystery novel.

In short: Alive and Dead proves why Ferrars was a stalwart of 20th-century crime fiction: elegant, deceptive, and satisfying to the last page. This copy is in Good condition: lived-in but sturdy, ready to deliver another round of genteel homicide. Another mystery-minded survivor from Crappy Old Books, where even the killers are neatly catalogued.

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