Emergency Exit

In Emergency Exit, Dr. Hailey is called to the English countrywide to solve the death of Sir Andrew Miles, a financier of international fame. He has been found dead not in his sumptuous manor, but in his air raid shelter.

In his new Dr. Hailey mystery, Anthony Wynne presents an antithesis between evidence and character. The evidence is apparently conclusive, but the character of the person against whom it seems to be directed — a young Air Force Officer who wears the D.F.C. — is certainly not that of a murderer.

The story begins when Sir Andrew Miles is found stabbed in his air raid shelter, with only Tom Brooke, D.F.C. as a witness of his death. A nearby bomb has sealed the shelter. There is snow on the ground and the record of snow is unequivocal. But Dr. Hailey refuses to accept circumstance as his guide and sets to work to vindicate the belief in Brooke's innocence, which he formed at their first meeting.