Green for Danger

⚖The case for it

A murder under anesthetic in a WWII military hospital, with six equally suspicious witnesses. Brand's finest novel: the fair-play whodunit elevated to its absolute limit of complexity. Agatha Christie praised it lavishly. Every detective fiction fan should read it as a formal achievement.

— the canon

✕The case against

Brand's six suspects exist to be suspected; inner lives extend exactly as far as the puzzle requires. Suspicion rotates mechanically through the closed circle, each nurse and doctor taking a turn as presumptive murderer, and the operating-theater evening gets re-narrated until you could perform the anesthesia yourself. If the form itself doesn't delight you, the clockwork is all there is.

— the honest librarian