Heads You Lose

Inspector Cockrill #1

by Christianna Brand

In the English countryside, one of the well-mannered guests at Pigeonsford Estate may be a murderer in this series debut by an Edgar Award–nominated author.
 

As war rages in Europe, the citizens of London flee to the country. At Pigeonsford, a group of guests plays cards, drinks tea, and acts polite—but Grace Morland knows the strong emotions that lurk beneath the placid social surface. She’s painfully in love with Stephen Pendock, the squire of Pigeonsford, but Pendock’s smitten with young beauty Francesca Hart. One afternoon, Fran debuts a new hat, and Grace’s jealousy gets the better of her. She exclaims, “I wouldn’t be seen dead in a ditch in a thing like that!” She will soon be proven wrong.

 

Grace is found dead with the hat on her head—and her head removed from her neck. To the scene comes the incomparable Inspector Cockrill, who finds that far more than petty jealousy lies beneath this hideous murder.

 

 

Genres: Mystery, Audiobook, Crime, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Classics, British Literature

196 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1941

About the author

Christianna Brand (December 17, 1907 - March 11, 1988) was a crime writer and children's author. Brand also wrote under the pseudonyms Mary Ann Ashe, Annabel Jones, Mary Roland, and China Thomson.

She was born Mary Christianna Milne in 1907 in Malaya and spent her early years in India. She had a number of different occupations, including model, dancer, shop assistant and governess.

Her first novel, Death in High Heels, was written while Brand was working as a salesgirl. In 1941, one of her best-loved characters, Inspector Cockrill of the Kent County Police, made his debut in the book Heads You Lose. The character would go on to appear in seven of her novels. Green for Danger is Brand’s most famous novel. The whodunit, set in a World War 2 hospital, was adapted for film by Eagle-Lion Films in 1946, starring Alastair Sim as the Inspector. She dropped the series in the late 1950s and concentrated on various genres as well as short stories. She was nominated three times for Edgar Awards: for the short stories "Poison in the Cup" (EQMM, Feb. 1969) and "Twist for Twist" (EQMM, May 1967) and for a nonfiction work about a Scottish murder case, Heaven Knows Who (1960). She is the author of the children's series Nurse Matilda, which Emma Thompson adapted to film as Nanny McPhee (2005).

Her Inspector Cockrill short stories and a previously unpublished Cockrill stage play were collected as The Spotted Cat and Other Mysteries from inspector Cockrill's Casebook, edited by Tony Medawar (2002).

Series:
* Nurse Matilda
* Inspector Charlesworth
* Inspector Chucky
* Inspector Cockrill

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better than I was expecting!
The character I thought was the murderer was the murderer, but Brand threw in enough red herrings and accused every other character of murder beforehand, so that I was kept guessing till the very end.



Every single person is a suspect at some point, I think. and the other characters do a reveal where they explain how this person or that person "done the murder" - only to pull the rug out from under you over and over again when something comes up to clear the accused.
Even the actual murderer is accused and then gets a reprieve before the big reveal at the end.
I guess what made this one fun is that Brand's characters were full of sass and surprises.
I wouldn't say that I liked them- liked them because it's a lot of upper-class disdain for the rules, and flat-out thinking the rules don't apply to them. Like when the girls insist that their dog be let into the courthouse because the poor thing will just howl and howl and howl if left outside. I think it was supposed to be cute, but I felt much like the other onlookers in that I was annoyed by their behavior.



I also enjoyed that the murder itself was a bit gory. Not that it was described in vivid terms, but this was the first Golden Age detective story I'd run across where the murderer hacked the heads off of his victims. Not gonna lie, it added a bit of excitement.



I would definitely read something by Brand again. I found this after reading The Rum Punch from the Bodies from the Library collection.

Recommended for fans of the genre.

[Carol, She's so Novel ꧁꧂ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5★

I'll start by saying I prefer reading uncensored. If a few offensive words or expressions are edited out, who knows what else could be changed?

But Brand's first anti-Semitic comment (yes, there was more than one) was tossed out so casually. For me this made it all the more shocking. This may explain why Brand's adult books are now so hard to find.

Before the book begins we are given a character list, which finishes with;

Among these very ordinary people were found two victims and a murderer.

Kind of fun having clearly defined parameters, but the story goes off the boil at the end, because the author decides to give everyone a turn at being Chief Suspect. This manages to become both tortuous and boring for this reader. & I was disappointed that Fran wasn't one of the victims. Even though this book was written in 1941, both Fran & her slightly less annoying sister Venetia were written as Bright Young Things & Fran came across more as a Spoilt Brat - in particular her behaviour at the inquest. Were we meant to find that appealing? Or even understandable?Seriously???

An easy quick read and interesting as a depiction of life in wartime Britain. I enjoyed enough to search out Brand's best known adult book, Green for Danger

Edit; 18/8/17 Just to clarify (after discussion with other members of the Reading the Detectives Group )Brand has her characters think or say racist things. This doesn't mean Brand herself is racist. I guess this has parallels with the recent The Black Witch controversy.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any Christianna Brand re-issue will be welcomed by me and it is wonderful to see her books appearing on kindle. Best known for her series of Nurse Matilda childrens books, she also wrote many excellent crime novels. This is the first Inspector Cockrill book and, as so often in Golden Age Detective stories, we are in the familiar territory of the house party. Set during WWII, Stephen Pendock is the Squire of the local village. Staying with him are Lady Hart, a friend of the family, her granddaughters Francesca and Venetia, Henry Gold (Venetia's husband) and James Nicholl (Fran's suitor). Their neighbour, Grace Morland, also has a visitor - Pippi Le May - and two servants also enter the plot: faithful Trotty, Grace's maid, and Bunsen, Pendock's butler.

At the very beginning we are told that from amongst these people will be found two victims and a murderer. Indeed, shortly after the story begins, one of the members of the party are found horribly decapitated and it seems that someone from among the group must be the murderer. Suspicion and jealousy follow this outrage, as Cockrill finds his task hampered by the bonds which tie his alleged suspects. Other books featuring Inspector Cockrill are:

Heads You Lose (1941)
Green for Danger (1944)
Suddenly at His Residence (1946) (aka The Crooked Wreath)
Death of Jezebel (1948)
London Particular (1952) (aka Fog of Doubt)
Tour De Force (1955)
The Three Cornered Halo (1957)
The Spotted Cat and Other Mysteries from Inspector Cockrill's Casebook (2002)

Green for Danger is probably the most famous of Brand's crime novels, made into a movie featuring Alistair Sim. However, if, like me, you prefer to read a series in order then you will want to read this first. It is fair to say that some of Brand's work has not aged well and there is a distinct lack of political correctness there that will jar with modern readers. However, if you enjoy Golden Age Detective fiction, you will undoubtedly be able to overlook these modern sensibilities and enjoy the story for what it is and when it was written.

[Anissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Before this I'd only read a couple short stories by Christianna Brand which I really enjoyed (thanks British Library Classic Crime reissues!) so I came across this on Kindle Unlimited and decided to give it a read. The blurb was promising. A country house murder with a small group and someone's been found with their head cut off. This is set in the winter and usually, something I'd wait to read when the season synchs but you never know how long something will be in KU so I jumped in. I will give Brand credit for a great set up and her writing is exceedingly readable. Vivid descriptions of the murder(s) and the characters were appreciated.

Sadly the women in this story were some of the dippiest, silliest specimens I've come across in a long while. Sisters Fran and Venetia were awful and I don't mean I needed to like them, simply that they were so ridiculous I didn't care about Fran's plight or her love life, which the story clearly wanted me to. The first victim was so off-putting that their being dispatched was just fine as it was one less pain to bear. There's a copious amount of anti-Semitism and while it was on brand for the time and type of characters featured here, it really wore on my pace of reading. It sometimes reminded me of Bats in the Belfry: A London Mystery by E.C.R. Lorac which I loved. That had one character in particular slinging her slurs so I got to focus my ire and there were plenty of other characters who didn't go in for that nonsense. There was no way to sequester it in Heads You Lose. Even the dog, Aziz got on my nerves but I honestly think it was more his owners that I couldn't actually stand. Inspector Cockrill wasn't in this as much as I'd hoped or expected but when he was, I liked him. The solution in the end was a wild one and was also difficult to squint into something that worked for me. So. I don't recommend this one. Not even free on Kindle Unlimited.

I have more Brand books to read and this in no way deters me from looking forward to those. Until I find otherwise, I'll assume this was one of her worst as all works can't be winners.

[Jan C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally read my first Inspector Cockrill story. (********** this computer)

I've long loved the movie of Green for Danger (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038577/?...) and had that book on my shelf for several years. But was having trouble getting into it. Then the books started coming out on Kindle.

Finally got pushed into reading this one (a buddy read) and I really enjoyed it. The murders were a little grisly. Love the part where they are at the inquest and the coroner is going over the injuries and various members of the jury have to excuse themselves to go lose their lunch.

Pendock has several people visiting, an old lady, her two granddaughters, a husband of one of them and another friend, and a lady from across the way finagles her way into the house to paint a picture that she has only painted like a thousand times already. And she stays so long that they just have to invite her to tea. One of the girls gets a new hat, which is apparently on the silly side and Pendock gets a kiss from him. The painter is a bit of a spinster and has dreams of wedding Pendock (almost everyone seems to) and gets all bent out of shape. She makes a snide comment that she would rather be caught dead in a ditch than wear a hat like that. Guess where she spends the night?

Can't wait to read the other books in the series. There are eight of them.

[Nancy · Rating 1 out of 5]

The anti-Semitism was bad, the classism worse, but both were of the period. It was the mystery itself, trite and overwrought, with red herrings screaming "Look at me!", that was unforgivable.

[Nancy · Rating 1 out of 5]

another bad one. spoiler alert: This one asks us to believe that a man can commit really gruesome murders (like beheadings) without knowing it. Then it asks us to believe that he realizes that he is a serial murderer while he's commiting a murder and manages to shoot himself "to save the victim" AND that everybody is GRATEFUL to him and remembers him kindly after that! Sheesh!!!!

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 3 out of 5]

I owe Martin Edwards, solicitor, writer and editor, a debt of gratitude. Without his anthology, The Long Arm of the Law: Classic Police Stories, I should never have heard of British author Christianna Brand or of her clever creation, Inspector Cockerill. He so charmed me with his mocking deflation of a retired police blowhard in “After the Event” that I simply had to have more Cockerill.

Heads You Lose’s release in 1941 marked the first appearance of Inspector Cockerill. The gruff but clever and fair policeman is a fine addition to the cozy cop genre; however, the casual anti-Semitism (so widespread at the time) and the utterly ridiculous ending will put off quite a few readers. Yet, due to such an attractive main character, I’ll be trying the second novel in the series, Green for Danger, though, before I give up for good.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read. I first heard of Brand when reading the wartime diaries of Nella Last, who read her books with great pleasure. Last had to keep such books from her husband Will, or read them aloud "editing" as she went, as anything violent or unpleasant upset him. It's a safe bet, then, that she kept this one to herself.

What appears at first to be the classic house-party murder is rather darker than the run of Christie and Sayers and co., as two women are beheaded in the most grisly manner. We aren't treated to the murder scenes (well, I say "treated")--the body finding is enough for me, and for most of the characters. The tale twists and turns; just about time I'd think I had the murderer taped, some new facts would come to light that made me have to think again. The war with its blackouts and home leave is part of their world, though rationing is not mentioned. The wealthy are still wealthy, and spend their time playing cards and dancing to the gramophone; there's still a very 1920s-30s feel about the story.

It surprises me that Brand is so little known in the world of mystery fans--I have been an avid reader of whodunnits since about age 10 and this is the first of her works that I've come across. I don't even remember seeing them in my hometown library, where the mystery section took up a fairish chunk of the main room. She can certainly give Agatha and Ngaio a run for their money.

[Otto Penzler · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book featuring Inspector Cockrill, this Golden Age mystery was first published in 1941. Against the backdrop of WWII, a group of friends have gathered in a country manor house, the Pideonsford Estate. But perhaps some friendships aren’t all that close, and soon heads begin to roll. Literally. When a neighbor is found dead, it quickly becomes apparent that the killer is one of the party guests, even though, of course, theyall maintain their innocence. When Cockrill arrives to investigate, secrets begin to surface and motives appear. Heads You Lose is a classic Golden Age mystery by one of the greatest of all writers of fair play detective stories—perfect for fans of Agatha Christie.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5*

I enjoyed this first Inspector Cockrill mystery, which was a quick read. It wasn't as good as the only other one I have read, Green For Danger; I think Cockrill being friends with the suspects hampered things a bit.

[Jenn Estepp · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought it was mediocre but serviceable until we got to the end and then I hated it so much that if it were a real book instead of a kindle book I would have thrown it across the room in disgust.

[Andrea]

This is one of those books where the 'unacceptable' women (plain, common) are killed off with little in the way of sympathy.

Generally a readable book, but I struggled a lot from the opening chapters, since we're given a relatively sympathetic look at the feelings of a man in his fifties, who has fallen hard for a not-plain, not-common woman in her early twenties (who he has had feelings for since she was in pigtails).

This is never entirely endorsed by the book, but it does give a bit of ick to the start, and the story isn't helped by the subject of these feelings, Francesca, being indulged to an almost intolerable level by everyone around her. I wanted to slap her for her antics with her pet dog at the inquest.

The detective in the story, Cockrill, doesn't cover himself with glory in the solving, but at least isn't as obnoxious as Francesca.

[Content warning for that weird brand of early 1900s anti-Semitism where the Jewish character is loved/cared for by the other characters, but also casually and insultingly stereotyped by them.]

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the characters and the writing, but was really dissatisfied with the ending. It presented a picture of mental illness that I found completely unconvincing. Well, I'll have to read some of her other books and see if I like them better.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

For my full review click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 stars
Read for #buzzword challenge 2023-game words

So much anti-jewish rhetoric I could hardly stand it.

[Leah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Grace Morland is jealous. She is secretly in love with her neighbour, Stephen Pendock, Squire of the village, but while visiting him one evening she becomes aware that he has fallen in love with young Fran Hart, one of a pair of sisters whom he has known since they were children – Pen is much older than them. Fran is a sweet, empty-headed, narcissistic little thing, and she is showing off a silly little hat that makes her look simply adorable. Grace announces she wouldn’t be seen dead in a ditch wearing a hat like that and stomps off. How wrong could she be? Later that night she is indeed found dead in a ditch, with the silly little hat perched comically on her severed head…

This is another first book in a series that reminds me that series are often better not read in order. Had I read this one first, it’s unlikely I’d have gone back for more. Admittedly Cockrill, soon called in to investigate the murder, is quite fun though, as usual, he’s not the most competent of detectives.

But the rest of the cast take unlikeable to new heights. My heart sinks whenever there’s a Jewish character in a vintage mystery novel, and, true to form, the stereotyping of Henry Gold, husband of Fran’s sister Venetia, veers perilously close to anti-Semitism. The suggestion is that Venetia has married down, despite the fact that Henry seems to be a decent, upright, hard-working man – these qualities simply don’t compensate for him being a ‘dreadful little Jew’. I’ve seen justification of this kind of comment on the grounds that it’s Brand’s characters speaking rather than Brand herself. That may be so, but she gives nothing to suggest that she disagrees with her characters. Add in that the delightful sisters call their dog Aziz because it is black – I felt that if heads had to be severed, there were several worthy candidates for the honour.

Which brings me to my second criticism – severed heads are not a suitable means of death in this style of mystery! Poisoning, shooting, a shove over a cliff made to look like an accident, even bludgeoning or strangling – all of these are vintage, classic even. But not women being left all over the place with their heads a few feet away from their gory necks!

Thirdly, the ‘detection’ method is one Brand uses too often – accuse each person in turn and then have some new piece of evidence turn up that disproves that theory and sends Cockrill back to the drawing board, until finally he runs out of suspects and we’re supposed to accept that the last solution is the right one.

Finally, the solution is simply ridiculous. In general, the reader has to be willing to allow for some unlikeliness in mysteries, but this one goes beyond improbable to laughable, and not in a good way. Silly ending, unpleasant people, incompetent detection, inappropriate murder method – I really can’t recommend this one, and would strongly advise people not to make it their first experience of Brand and Cockrill.

www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com

[Gina House · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75🌟 An entertaining and interesting mystery! This is my first introduction to Christianna Brand's writing and I definitely liked it. Although this particular mystery seemed a bit repetitive and monotonous at times, it was fun to follow the story overall. Ms. Brand seems to have a talent for creating interesting and lively characters (both positive and negative). I especially enjoyed the antics of the twins, Francesca and Venetia.

The ending was a surprise for me, but I did have a tiny hunch it might go that way near the end. It wasn't the best ending in my mind, but mostly satisfactory.

After hearing how much readers loved Green for Danger, that will be my next mystery novel choice to see if I'll keep going with this author's books. (I'm a huge fan of Agatha Christie and Moray Dalton, so it's somewhat difficult for me when comparing, rating and reviewing other mysteries.) I'm glad I read this book and I hope the next books I read by this author are even better!

[Mimi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just ok

It wasn't hard to figure out the murderer. The mystery was why his or her close friends didn't notice how creepy that person was. I guess they were just too busy being charming and adorable.

[Allison · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you’ve ever wanted to say “boy that’s a lot of antisemitism from start to finish!” Well, have I ever got the book for you.

[tortoise dreams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heads You Lose, an appallingly apt title, is the first of about eight books featuring Inspector Cockrill by Christianna Brand (1907-88). Cockrill, with the Kent police (in the far southeast of England), is cranky and irascible, though with a (well-hidden) heart of gold as he's affectionately called "my dear Cockie." This is a traditional country house, closed circle mystery. We learn from the first that there's a cast of ten characters among whom will be "found two victims and a murderer," but the reader may ask how any of the characters could have committed the crimes. The story opens well with an intriguing set up that introduces us to some unpleasant and spoiled characters. Cockrill's investigation proceeds apace till the end when it goes out of control as everyone is accused of the murders and the final resolution is just not too credible. Readers may be jarred by some anti-Semitic moments. Although I think Brand was actually trying to be sympathetic to the Jewish character, the casual anti-Semitism is inescapable. Enjoyable despite all. Brand may be as well known for her Nurse Matilda (aka Nanny McPhee) stories. [3★]

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This first mystery in the series is set during WWII in an English country house with a small circle of suspects and is well plotted and written. (My favorite character was definitely the dog). Some of the jokes were too cute for my taste, and while not anti-Semitic, the presentation of a Jewish character is nonetheless stereotyped

[Sammy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasn't too sure about this at first, but it grew on me!

[Lex · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5, rounded down instead of up because I read this one AFTER Green for Danger/Suddenly at His Residence/Death of Jezebel, and so I know Brand's later books are capable of better. (And because I did read those later works first, I can admit I might be biased.)

The mystery side of the plot was "eh". There are some interesting aspects to the solution, but they're really far outweighed by how... cheap the identity and motive turned out to be.

Basically: ugh, so the killer's a MADMAN, and so he didn't KNOW that he, himself, was the killer! But it should really be a red flag to the author when the characters themselves say "How on earth could we have known he was mad?!" How, indeed? Even though the key clue is dangled in your face early on, it's still a leap to go from that single detail to "he's actually secretly insane and has bouts of automatism where he attacks people." And why did he attack FRAN at the end, when his motive for the first two deaths was to defend her?

I didn't enjoy the melodrama either. Brand does great character work, but it's hard for me to really feel invested in a love triangle when I'm DESPERATELY hoping that the older love interest fails, because he's fifty and she's in her twenties, and there's a line about how he's been attracted to the female lead since she was a little girl... (VOMITS) There's a lot of lines in this book that really don't age well. Too many offhand insults and jokes at the single Jewish character's expense. It kept coming up, and it was uncomfortable and unnecessary every time.

All of that ^, combined with the fact that this story isn't satisfying enough to be worth plodding through the dated anti-Semitism for, is why I can't recommend this to anyone in 2021 except for the most dedicated Brand readers.

Cockrill's still entertaining to watch, as little as he appears. He's the reason this book gets 2 stars and not 1. And

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Green for Danger is one of my favorite detective films, mainly because of the brilliant Alastair Sims's portrayal of Inspector Cockrill and the WWII setting. I read that book years ago and enjoyed it, but it didn't spur me on to read additional Brands. Now i have read two more, this one Heads You Lose, and Fog of Doubt and I doubt I will read anymore. In both of them, Cockrill is practically a minor character, acting as detective, but the stories are told from the point of view of the various suspects - all of whom are such wonderful people and could not possibly have done it - until at some point, we are told how everyone could have done it. Cockrill does make some deductions along the way, but especially in Heads You Lose, he doesn't share them and hardly does so at the end. In fact, in this book, he doesn't really seem to solve the mystery so much as fall over it. Personally, I found few of the characters very interesting or even likable. They seemed to remain fairly one and a half dimensional: the young ditzy society girl, the solid motherly matron, the oblivious upper middle class clueless male, the charming young man pining for the young woman he can't attain. None of them really come alive, unlike the similar characters in an Agatha Christie story (a writer I've come to admire more over the years).

[Subodh Garg · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5

Ok, so I finished Heads You Lose, written by Chrisitianna Brand. This was a thoroughly average mystery. It has absolutely no strong points whatsoever.

With my general thoughts over, let's review this book as we usually do:

The Detective and the Method of Detection : 2/5
The Criminal : 1/5
The Method of Crime : 2/5

The Detective is Inspector Cockrill. He is a respectable inspector of a small time village. He has an addiction to nicotine. Other than these principal facts, there is nothing of great interest that we find out about the Inspector nor of his methods. There is no superior intellect; no tendency to guess the impossible from the feeble clues present before his eyes; no chance of seeing a member of the police force solve the crime as a law enforcer should. There is absolutely nothing noteworthy about the detective. He seems more of an amateur than if you or I had been put in charge of the investigation. In conclusion, the detective and his methods are not worth remembering.

The Criminal, is even worse. There is no premeditation, no passion. This was the most boring criminal I've ever read. Why did he do it?? Because he is a lunatic. Nothing more. Nothing less. Agh!!

In conclusion, a thoroughly average book. Don't bother with it. You can read far better mysteries.

Can't wait to read more!!!

[Elizabeth (Alaska) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've become a tad more interested in "Golden Age" mysteries so I'm glad to have found this author. I enjoyed this first in the series. As a bonus, it was perfect for a long airplane flight accompanied by extra hours sitting in an airport. The writing style was to my liking and appropriate for the genre. The sentence structure was varied enough so as not to dull the senses, while the vocabulary was not complex.

There were always only six possible suspects in this, something that was repeated by the charactesr themselves more than once. Repeating myself, I'm never much good at guessing the perpetrator. My suspicions rotated between three of the possibles, though it seemed to me that only two of them had any realistic motive. I was even right once, then discarded that train of thought.

The novel is set contemporaneously in wartime. However, the war itself does not intrude. The setting is a house in the country within a short bicycle ride of a village. This setting is nicely presented, but the author doesn't dwell on it so much that it becomes a character.

I'm definitely interested in continuing this series and in fact have already acquired the next one. It is a strong 3-stars, probably sitting toward the top of that group.

[Claudia Sorsby · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid classic English country-house mystery. It is slightly marred by the casual bigotry of the time: One character is Jewish, and it gets mentioned, often, in not so nice terms--but, then again, said character has married into the main family, and there are several mentions of how much his wife loves him, so in fairness, it's not a completely evil caricature.

I was curious about this, because I recently saw an old, WWII-era movie featuring her Inspector Cockrill character. The movie was pretty good (with the always delightful Alastair Sim playing the lead), so I went looking for the books he first appeared in. I'm rather impressed with the casting, actually; Sim fits the bill awfully well.

[P.D.R. Lindsay]

Classic Murder mystery fiction. A lovely glimpse at how these books were once written. An excellent piece of reading for writers doing research into the British Upper middle Classes during WWII.

Clever writing, a tricky plot and a chuckle for those of us 'moderns' who enjoy stock characters being given a new lease of life. If the 'frightfully gay young things' irritate a little the reader can always reflect that those ways were an attempt to hide the effects of the war.

A book for Agatha Christie lovers and for those who like crime written the old fashioned way.

[ShanDizzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! I did not see that ending coming! This was a brilliant mystery! I will definitely finish the whole series if this 1st story is anything to go by.