The Murder on the Bus, first published in 1930, is a 'golden-age' mystery featuring Inspector Higgins of Scotland Yard. Higgins is called to investigate first the murder of a man atop a London double-decker bus, followed by another man's suicide – or was it murder?
From the dustjacket: A man is found murdered on the top of a London bus and another man writes to Scotland Yard that he is about to commit suicide by gas. How was the first man shot? Did the second man really commit suicide or was he murdered?
These are the problems which Inspector Higgins, the ace detective of the Yard, sets about to solve. Soon he discovers that the two dead men were connected in underworld doings, and as the mystery deepens, the action intensifies. In fact, there is enough action and enough mystery for half a dozen detective stories. Higgins in the end gets his man, in one of the most surprising and unexpected climaxes ever devised in detective fiction.
A New York literary critic recently called Inspector Higgins “the most human and likable detective since Sherlock Holmes,” and those who read “The Murder on the Bus” will agree with this verdict.
Cecil Freeman Gregg (1898-1960) was the author of more than 30 detective novels, most featuring Inspector Higgins or Harry Prince, a talented thief.