Anthony Berkeley

Malice Aforethought is a murder mystery novel written by Anthony Berkeley Cox, using the pen name Francis Iles. It is an early and prominent example of the "inverted detective story", invented by R. Austin Freeman some years earlier. The murderer's identity is revealed in the first line of the novel, which gives the …

The Poisoned Chocolates Case is a detective novel by Anthony Berkeley set in 1920s London in which a group of armchair detectives, who have founded the "Crimes Circle", formulate theories on a recent murder case Scotland Yard has been unable to solve. Each of the six members, including their president, Berkeley's …

Before the Fact is a novel by Anthony Berkeley writing under the pen name "Francis Iles". Iles' novel is experimental in that it is not a whodunit: It does not take long to determine the identity of the villain and his motives. According to Colin Dexter, Before the Fact is a "crime novel" rather than a "detective …