'But Pierre could never know that in death Fame was his, for his was
the second corpse.'
When a well-known local vagrant nicknamed "Peter the Hermit" dies of
seemingly natural causes, the police uncover an old Bulgarian newspaper
and a beautiful bejewelled comb worth substantial money in his
ramshackle hut in the Kent woods. Not long afterwards, bookseller
Theodore Terhune begins receiving bizarre anonymous short stories, each
subtitled 'Ten Trails to Tyburn'. Fictional and old-fashioned narratives
set in France, the tales at first seem nonsensical, but Terhune discerns
a pattern that suggests old Peter had led a far more interesting life
than anyone guessed, and that his death might not be so natural after
all.
A 1944 vintage crime novel back in print; the fifth book in the Theodore
Terhune bibliomystery series.