Malice Aforethought is a murder mystery novel written by Anthony Berkeley Cox

Anthony Berkeley Cox

Anthony Berkeley Cox was an English crime writer. He wrote under several pen-names, including Francis Iles, Anthony Berkeley and A. Monmouth Platts.- Life :...

, using the pen name

Pen name

A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...

 Francis Iles. It involves a Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

 physician who slowly poisons his domineering wife so that he may be with the woman he loves. It is an early and prominent example of the "inverted detective story

Inverted detective story

An inverted detective story, also known as a "howdhecatchem", is a murder mystery fiction structure in which the commission of the crime is shown or described at the beginning, usually including the identity of the perpetrator. The story then describes the detective's attempt to solve the mystery...

", invented by R. Austin Freeman some years earlier. The murderer's identity is revealed in the first line of the novel, which gives the reader insight into the workings of his mind as his plans progress. It also shows how the crime is investigated and how a case is developed by the police to the point of prosecution.

The novel was adapted as a four-part television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 mini-series by the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 in 1979, starring Hywel Bennett

Hywel Bennett

Hywel Thomas Bennett is a Welsh film and television actor. Bennett is best known for his recurring title role as James Shelley in the television sitcom Shelley from 1979 to 1984 and its sequel The Return of Shelley from 1988 to 1992....

. This version was later featured in the U.S. PBS series, Mystery!

Mystery!

Mystery! is an episodic television series that debuted in 1980 in the USA. It airs on PBS and is produced by WGBH...

, introduced by Vincent Price

Vincent Price

Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...

. Another adaptation

Malice Aforethought (TV)

Malice Aforethought is an ITV drama based on Anthony Berkeley Cox’s 1931 novel of the same name.-Synopsis:Set in a 1920's Devonshire village, the plot concerns the complicated love life of the Dr...

 was produced by Granada Television

Granada Television

Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....

 and broadcast on ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

in 2005. It, too, has been shown on Mystery!.