Omnibus edition with three unabridged Inspector Alleyn titles, first published between 1974 and 1978.

Black As He’s Painted
Last Ditch
Grave Mistake

Black As He’s Painted
Called in to help with security arrangements for a presidential reception at a London embassy, Chief Superintendent Alleyn ensures the house and grounds are stiff with police. Nevertheless, an assassin strikes, and Alleyn finds no shortage of help, from Special Branch to a tribal court – and a small black cat named Lucy Lockett…

Last Ditch
Young Rickie Alleyn has come to the Channel Islands to write, but village life seems tedious – until he finds the stablehand in a ditch, dead from an unlucky jump. But Rickie notices something strange and his father, Chief Superintendent Roderick Alleyn, is discreetly summoned to the scene, when Rickie disappears…

Grave Mistake
With two husbands dead, a daughter marrying the wrong man and a debilitating disease, it is no wonder that Sybil Foster took her own life. But Chief Superintendent Roderick Alleyn doesn't believe she was the type to kill herself – and he thinks someone else has made a very grave mistake…