"The Man in Black includes ghost stories, cozy mysteries, tales of psychological suspense, and poignant vignettes of love and loss. In the title story, Ruth Galloway crosses paths with a mysterious man in a bookstore, setting in motion a rescue mission that hinges on the legends of lore of Norfolk. In "Justice Jones and the Etherphone," a witty girl detective investigates the dire prediction of a fortune teller in dreary postwar London. To celebrate the holidays, Ruth gets her very first Christmas tree, and her beloved cat narrates his own seasonal story in "Flint's Fireside Tale." And readers can armchair travel with stories set on the Amalfi Coast, in Capri, and in Egypt as Ruth and DCI Nelson experience their very own version of Death on the Nile." -- page [4] of cover

Man in black -- Articulation -- Castles in the air -- Max Mephisto and the disappearing act -- Only pebble on the beach -- St Lucy's Day -- Red handkerchief -- Justice Jones and the Etherphone -- Farewell boat -- Harbinger: a Harbinder Kaur story -- One is silver -- Village church -- Turning traitor -- Ruth's first Christmas tree -- Stranger by R.M. Holland -- What I saw from the sky -- Flint's fireside tale: a Christmas story -- Valley of the Queens: a Ruth and Nelson story -- Ruth Galloway and the ghost of Max Mephisto