Book excerpt: A night of revelry ends with a perplexing death in the first novel featuring one of the greatest detectives of the Golden Age of Mystery. In the early hours of a wintery morning, Harold Merefield returns home from a festive little party at The Naxos, a popular nightclub in Paddington. But just as he tries to get some much-needed sleep, he is startled by a gruesome discovery on his bed: a corpse. There is no way to identify the dead man or the cause of his death. At the inquest, the jury rules it a “Death from Natural Causes.” But even if they are correct, how did this unfortunate stranger meet his end in Harold’s home? Determined to uncover the whole truth, Harold seeks the help of Dr. Lancelot Priestley. A retired professor of applied mathematics, Dr. Priestley employs a simple but unusual method of logical reasoning to shed light on what proves to be a dark and exceedingly curious affair.