A Taste for Honey

Horror strikes when killer bees swarm amok in the seemingly idyllic hamlet of Ashton Clearwater. Even more sinister is the discovery that the angry swarms were programmed to kill by a mad, ingenious apiarist named Heregrove. Leave it to one of the village's honey addicts—the hapless, reclusive Sydney Silchester—to stumble unwittingly onto Heregrove's diabolical scheme. Silchester's sweet tooth leads him to the indomitable Mr. Mycroft, a retired beekeeper possessing an encyclopedic knowledge of bees and a Holmesian penchant for sleuthing. By matching wits and strategies, the persnickety Silchester and the determined Mycroft seek to thwart Heregrove and his stinging minions before they strike again. "We may know whodunit, but the question of 'why' is altogether more disturbing," writes Stacy Gillis, Ph.D., who contributes a new foreword to this reissue of the 1941 detective-fiction classic, A Taste for Honey. Listed among the Haycraft-Queen Cornerstones of essential mystery fiction, H. F. Heard's masterpiece became a runaway bestseller, provoking Baker Street Irregulars founder Christopher Morley to declare it "the most original and enchanting crime story of the year." Loosely adapted into the 1967 movie, "The Deadly Bees," A Taste for Honey is required reading for all Sherlockian aficionados. "More than 30 years before Nicholas Meyer's The Seven Percent Solution opened the floodgates of Sherlockian imitation, H. F. Heard's A Taste for Honey was the first significant book-length Sherlock Holmes pastiche, and it remains one of the very best. This new edition should be welcomed by all lovers of classic detective fiction." —Jon L. Breen, noted mystery writer "H. F. Heard's ... Mr. Mycroft tales ... encompass the style of the 'old-fashioned' mystery. A delightful read.!" —Paul D. Herbert, member Baker Street Irregulars H.F. Heard (1889-1971) lived several fascinating lives. Using the name Gerald Heard, this remarkable polymath published a number of ground-breaking books that infl uenced thinkers of his generation. When writing under the name of H. F. Heard, his fertile mind produced several imaginative and well-received mysteries, including a huge bestseller, A Taste for Honey, now reprinted in this commemorative Blue Dolphin edition. Acclaimed by Boris Karloff , Christopher Morley, and Rex Stout, A Taste for Honey is sure to produce spine-tingling moments of terror for a new generation of mystery lovers.