The Sharp Quillet

The story opens with a confident assertion that Justice Nicholas Flagon was struck by a dart thrown with remarkable accuracy and skill. Those who follow the Bar Point-to-Point at Quiddington St Philip know it as a yearly occasion, and this year bettors are split on Flagon, the race's favourite, with large sums riding on him and others wagering against him. The contest goes awry when the leading jockey drops out before the finish, having been hit in the neck by a poisoned dart.

Anthony Lotherington Bathurst and Chief Inspector McMorran focus less on the race than on the murder itself. They ask who could have prepared darts taken from a local pub with curare, and who had the skill to hit a jockey on a fast-moving horse with one throw. Their inquiry also has to explain how a lawyer came to be killed by the same poison at Flagon's funeral.

First published in 1947, The Sharp Quillet is a detective novel that combines a sporting setting with a poisoning puzzle.