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Detection Unlimited
456 pages
A delightfully gossipy village mystery where the suspects are as charming as they are deceitful.
What it feels like
Reading this classic mystery feels like eavesdropping on the most scandalous, entertaining garden party in 1950s England. The mood is delightfully gossipy and sun-drenched, masking the darker undercurrents of blackmail and hidden resentments beneath a veneer of perfect manners. Driven almost entirely by sparkling, razor-sharp dialogue rather than action, the narrative unfolds at a steady, conversational pace that allows the reader to savor every arched eyebrow and passive-aggressive cup of tea. The prose is laced with a dry, satirical wit that pokes gentle fun at village politics and social climbers. It is a perfect match for readers who love the cozy, puzzle-box structure of Golden Age detective fiction but stay for the brilliant character studies and arch social comedy.
- Mood
- gossipy
- cozy
- sun-drenched
- quintessentially English
- Tone
- wry
- arch
- observant
- satirical
- lighthearted
- Pace
- steady
- Themes
- village politics · the facade of respectability · hidden resentments · social climbing
- The writing
- Sparkling, dialogue-driven, and laced with a dry, distinctly British wit that elevates the classic whodunit structure.
- The arc
- Moves from the shock of a disrupted summer idyll through a maze of delightful suspicion, culminating in a satisfying restoration of village order.
- Who it's for
- Fans of classic Golden Age mysteries who prefer their murders served with a side of sharp social comedy and endless cups of tea.
Content notes
- murder
- blackmail
About the book
Inspectors Hannasyde & Hemingway #9
On a hot June evening in the village of Thornden, the Hasells celebrate a tennis party at the Cedars, their mansion. The young Haswell had just motored the lovely Abby Dearham back from social event of the week. Nearly everyone of the village uppercrust had come to the party--the Squire, the Vicar, the sharp-tongued heir to five centuries of local real estate. But the unpopular solicitor Sampson Warrenby had declined, and no one was sorry. Why this charmless social-climber was invited was beyond Abby. Had he some sinister hold on the social leaders of Thornden? All joking was cut short when a wild-eyed girl came running down the lane. For it was Mavis, Warrenby's niece, announcing he was dead.
Slumped on a seat under an oak tree is old Sampson Warrenby, with a bullet through his brain. When the upstart solicitor is killed and everyone -- who at one time or another wanted him out of the way -- feels panic stricken. His body is discovered by his anxious niece, who is just one of ten people in the village in the running for chief suspect, having cause to dislike Warrenby intensely. Everybody in the village is ready to tell Chief Inspector Hemingway who did it. Could the murderer have been the dead man's niece? Or perhaps it was the other town solicitor? The couple at the farm had a guilty secret--what was it? And why is it someone else actually wants to be the prime suspect? Add to this the fact that Warrenby was blackmailing someone. Only Hemingway can uncover which of the ten has turned hatred into murder, but has his work cut out for him.
Description from Open Library.
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