An Inspector French Case-The Box Office Murders

A frightened cinema cashier brings Inspector French a story of secret coins, a criminal conspiracy, and a death that may not have been suicide.A mysterious organization has recruited young women working in London cinema box offices to exchange ordinary coins for nearly identical replacements marked with a purple sickle. The work appears harmless, and the payments are generous-but when one of the cashiers dies under suspicious circumstances, another begins to fear that the people behind the scheme are prepared to kill anyone who knows too much. She takes her story to Scotland Yard, only to disappear before French can protect her.Confronted by another death and a conspiracy whose purpose remains baffling, Inspector French begins one of his most demanding investigations. His search leads through London cinemas, hidden financial transactions, false identities, carefully planned journeys, and a trail extending to Southampton Water. Combining a sinister criminal enterprise with Crofts's characteristically methodical detection, The Box Office Murders is the fifth Inspector French mystery and was originally published in the United States as The Purple Sickle Murders.