Death of a Ghost (1934) by Margery Allingham.
GoodReads meta-data is 224 pages, rated 3.92 by 2,292 litizens.
Genre: Krimi.
Verdict: Smooth.
A painter arranges for an elaborate posthumous deception/joke with his own work(s) without reckoning on the avarice of some later intermediaries. When the deaths begin, Albert Campion is there, but for once his motor-mouth is throttled; a mercy that is.
There is a marvellous characterisation of the villain with an ingenious plot to match the painter’s set-up. Though I did wonder why the young artist’s works were disappearing and I don’t know that was ever explained.
The best episode is the luxury dinner at which Campion is to be murdered! He knows it, the villain knows it, readers know it, but needs must.