Michael Innes: Stop Press (USA 2024)

From the Publisher:
A London detective investigates after a fictional character seems to come to life to harass his creator in this classic British mystery.
Richard Eliot began writing crime novels to fund his son's education. The protagonist, known as "the Spider," started off as a notorious criminal and later transformed into a private investigator. Now, after thirty-eight entries in the series, Eliot is considering putting the Spider to bed.

Someone else, however, has a different idea. At first, Eliot's manuscripts are rewriting themselves overnight. Then neighbors are burglarized, sinister messages appear, and soon someone is recreating storylines that the author never shared with anyone.

With the situation reaching a fever pitch, Eliot calls upon Insp. John Appleby to investigate. Now Scotland Yard's best must determine who is the mastermind behind this puzzling plot before the Spider strikes again...

Michael Innes: Stop Press. An Inspector Appleby Mystery. Open Road Integrated Media, ISBN: 9781504092050 (February, 2024), 464 p., $34.99.

Michael Innes: Stop Press (USA 2023)

From the Publisher:
A London detective investigates after a fictional character seems to come to life to harass his creator in this classic British mystery.
Richard Eliot began writing crime novels to fund his son's education. The protagonist, known as "the Spider," started off as a notorious criminal and later transformed into a private investigator. Now, after thirty-eight entries in the series, Eliot is considering putting the Spider to bed.

Someone else, however, has a different idea. At first, Eliot's manuscripts are rewriting themselves overnight. Then neighbors are burglarized, sinister messages appear, and soon someone is recreating storylines that the author never shared with anyone.

With the situation reaching a fever pitch, Eliot calls upon Insp. John Appleby to investigate. Now Scotland Yard's best must determine who is the mastermind behind this puzzling plot before the Spider strikes again...

Michael Innes: Stop Press. An Inspector Appleby Mystery. Open Road Integrated Media, ISBN: 9781504087933 (May, 2023), eBook, 2 MB (ca. 464 p.), $15.99.

Michael Innes: Stop Press (UK 2017)

From the Publisher:
A fatal moment came when Mr Eliot ought to have stopped - and didn't. After that there was no stopping.
Richard Eliot has written bestselling crime novels for years. Begun as means to fund his son's education at Eton, his protagonist 'the Spider' started out as a cunning criminal and later evolved into an ingenious investigator. Despite the series success, Mr Eliot is tiring of his own invention and is looking forward to retiring. But there's someone out there who doesn't want him to stop...

When Eliot's manuscripts start rewriting themselves overnight, it seems the Spider has stepped right off the page and into real life. He commits a crime only to provide an anonymous tip to solve the case. Things get even more bizarre when the Spider starts enacting plots that only ever existed in the author's mind. Harangued within an inch of his sanity, Eliot calls in Inspector John Appleby to get to the bottom of this twisted game.

With the line between fact and fiction so tangled, will Appleby be able to unravel the mystery before the Spider strikes again?

Michael Innes: Stop Press. Ipso Books, ISBN: 9781912194155 (November, 2017), 512 p., £?.??.

Michael Innes: Stop Press (2001)

From the Publisher:
Famous writer, Richard Eliot, has written numerous detective novels, featuring 'The Spider', a daring, clever criminal in earlier books, and an equally canny private investigator in later ones. But when he comes to life - first to burgle an odd neighbour, then to harass the Eliot family, and finally to attend his own 'birthday party' - Inspector John Appleby is sent to investigate.

Michael Innes: Stop Press. House of Stratus, ISBN: 1842327569 (June, 2001), 438 p., £9.99, $19.95.