Appleby's End
Detective Inspector John Appleby finds himself at a remote station called Appleby's End, a coincidence that quickly leads him into a bizarre mystery. Everything he encounters seems to mirror the works of a Victorian novelist, Ranulph Raven, from marble animal effigies to a servant found dead in the snow. Appleby must uncover why Raven's descendants have invited him to their home and what connection these strange events have to the author's stories.
This novel is one of many featuring Inspector John Appleby, but it can be read as a standalone mystery without needing prior knowledge of the other books in the series.
Appleby's End is considered one of Innes's more overtly literary and allusive works, often drawing comparisons to G. K. Chesterton for its intellectual puzzles and whimsical, almost surreal atmosphere, distinguishing it from some of his more straightforward detective stories.