''Hare Sitting Up'' is a 1959

mystery Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters *Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange'' *Mystery, a seahorse that SpongeBob SquarePants adopts in the episode " My Pre ...

thriller novel Thriller is a genre of fiction with numerous, often overlapping, subgenres, including crime, horror, and detective fiction. Thrillers are characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving their audiences heightened feelings of suspe ...

by the British writer

Michael Innes John Innes Mackintosh Stewart (30 September 1906 – 12 November 1994) was a Scottish novelist and academic. He is equally well known for the works of literary criticism and contemporary novels published under his real name and for the crim ...

. It is the sixteenth entry in his series featuring John Appleby, a

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads the ...

with the Metropolitan Police. It is set against the backdrop of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

.Scheper p.78 The title is taken from a quote from D.H. Lawrence's novel ''

Women in Love ''Women in Love'' is a 1920 novel by English author D. H. Lawrence. It is a sequel to his earlier novel, '' The Rainbow'' (1915), and follows the continuing loves and lives of the Brangwen sisters, Gudrun and Ursula. Gudrun Brangwen, an arti ...

''. Reference is also made to the 1950 British film ''

Seven Days to Noon ''Seven Days to Noon'' (also known as ''Ultimatum'') is a 1950 British political thriller film directed and produced by John and Roy Boulting and starring Barry Jones, Olive Sloane and André Morell. It was written by Frank Harvey and Roy Bou ...

''.

Synopsis

Professor Howard Juniper, a top British research scientist working on developing a response to

biological warfare Biological warfare, also known as germ warfare, is the use of biological toxins or Pathogen, infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, insects, and Fungus, fungi with the intent to kill, harm or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an ...

has vanished and, even more alarmingly may have taken a

vial A vial (also known as a phial or flacon) is a small glass or plastic vessel or bottle, often used to store medication in the form of liquids, powders, or capsules. They can also be used as scientific sample vessels; for instance, in autosam ...

of some deadly disease. Juniper would be a top target for kidnapping from a foreign power, or equally may be suffering from a nervous breakdown. In order to buy time, Appleby persuades his identical twin brother Miles, a schoolmaster, to take his place for a few days. Appleby's investigations take him to the neglected country estate of a

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

-obsessed

earl Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the Peerages in the United Kingdom, peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of ''earl'' never developed; instead, ...

and a top secret rocket base on an island off the northern coast of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Things are further complicated when the second brother also disappears.

References

Bibliography

* Carter, Ian. ''Ancient Cultures of Conceit: British University Fiction in the Post-War Years''. Routledge, 2019. * Hubin, Allen J. ''Crime Fiction, 1749-1980: A Comprehensive Bibliography''. Garland Publishing, 1984. * Reilly, John M. ''Twentieth Century Crime & Mystery Writers''. Springer, 2015. * Scheper, George L. ''Michael Innes''. Ungar, 1986. 1959 British novels British mystery novels British crime novels British thriller novels Novels by Michael Innes Novels set in London Novels set in Scotland British detective novels Victor Gollancz Ltd books {{1950s-mystery-novel-stub