First published in 1936, Six Against the Yard was an ingenious, and perhaps unique, variation on the conventional detective fiction anthology. The book contains half a dozen stories by members of the Club featuring potentially foolproof murders, but each is followed by an analysis undertaken by former Superintendent Cornish of Scotland Yard, in which the flaws in the criminal scheme are exposed.
Margery Allingham – It Didn’t Work Out
Ex-Superintendent Cornish – Should the Murderess Tell?
Ronald Knox – The Fallen Idol
Ex-Superintendent Cornish – Murder in Uniform
Anthony Berkeley – The Policeman Only Taps Once
Ex-Superintendent Cornish – …And Then Come the Handcuffs!
Russell Thorndike – Strange Death of Mr Scallion
Ex-Superintendent Cornish – Detectives Sometimes Read
Dorothy L. Sayers – Blood Sacrifice
Ex-Superintendent Cornish – They Wouldn’t Believe Him!
Freeman Wills Crofts – The Parcel
Ex-Superintendent Cornish – The Motive Shows the Man