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Superintendent William Meredith #1
The Lake District Murder
When a body is found at an isolated garage, Inspector Meredith is drawn into a complex investigation where every clue leads to another puzzle. Was this a suicide, or something more sinister? Why was the dead man planning to flee the country? And how is this connected to the shady business dealings of the garage?
This classic mystery is set amongst the stunning scenery of a small village in the Lake District. It is now republished for the first time since the 1930s with an introduction by the award-winning crime writer Martin Edwards.
This classic mystery is set amongst the stunning scenery of a small village in the Lake District. It is now republished for the first time since the 1930s with an introduction by the award-winning crime writer Martin Edwards.
237 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1935
143 people are currently reading
1530 people want to read
About the author
John Bude
56 books79 followersJohn Bude was a pseudonym used by Ernest Carpenter Elmore who was a British born writer.
He was born in 1901 and, as a boarder, he attended Mill Hill School, leaving in 1919 and moving on to Cheltenham where he attended a secretarial college and where he learned to type. After that he spent several years as games master at St Christopher School in Letchworth where he also led the school's dramatic activities.
This keen interest in the theatre led him to join the Lena Ashwell Players as stage manager and he took their productions around the country. He also acted in plays produced at the Everyman Theatre in Hampstead, where he lived for a time. He honed his writing skills, whenever he had a moment to spare, in the various dressing rooms that he found himself in.
He eventually returned to Maidstone, the town of his birth, and during the Second World War he ran his local Home Guard unit as he had been deemed unfit to serve in the forces.
He later lived in Loose, Kent, and after that near Rye, East Sussex, and enjoyed golf and painting but never learned to drive although that did not stop him apparently offering advice to his wife when she was driving! He had met his wife, Betty, when producing plays back in Maidstone and they married in 1933.
After becoming a full-time writer, he wrote some 30 crime fiction novels, many featuring his two main series characters Superintendent Meredith and Inspector Sherwood. He began with 'The Cornish Coast Murder' in 1935 and his final two crime novels, 'A Twist of the Rope' and 'The Night the Fog Came Down' were published posthumously in 1958.
He was a founder member of the Norfolk-based Crime Writers Association (CWA) in 1953 and was a co-organiser of the Crime Book Exhibition that was one of the CWA's early publicity initiatives. He was a popular and hard-working member of the CWA's committee from its inception through to May 1957.
Under his own name he also wrote a number of fantasy novels, the most well-known of which is 'The Lumpton Gobbelings' (1954). In addition he wrote a children's book, 'The Snuffly Snorty Dog' (1946).
He was admitted to hospital in Hastings on 6 November 1957, having just delivered his what turned out to be his final manuscript to his publisher, for a routine operation but he died two days later.
Fellow British crime writer Martin Edwards comments, "Bude writes both readably and entertainingly. His work may not have been stunning enough to belong with the greats, but there is a smoothness and accomplishment about even his first mystery, 'The Cornish Coast Murder', which you don't find in many début mysteries."
Interestingly he was the dedicatee of 'The Case of the Running Mouse' (1944) by his friend Christopher Bush. The dedication stated, 'May his stature, and his circulation, increase.'
NB: He was not born on 1 January but the system does not allow a date of birth without a month and date so it defaults to 1 January.
He was born in 1901 and, as a boarder, he attended Mill Hill School, leaving in 1919 and moving on to Cheltenham where he attended a secretarial college and where he learned to type. After that he spent several years as games master at St Christopher School in Letchworth where he also led the school's dramatic activities.
This keen interest in the theatre led him to join the Lena Ashwell Players as stage manager and he took their productions around the country. He also acted in plays produced at the Everyman Theatre in Hampstead, where he lived for a time. He honed his writing skills, whenever he had a moment to spare, in the various dressing rooms that he found himself in.
He eventually returned to Maidstone, the town of his birth, and during the Second World War he ran his local Home Guard unit as he had been deemed unfit to serve in the forces.
He later lived in Loose, Kent, and after that near Rye, East Sussex, and enjoyed golf and painting but never learned to drive although that did not stop him apparently offering advice to his wife when she was driving! He had met his wife, Betty, when producing plays back in Maidstone and they married in 1933.
After becoming a full-time writer, he wrote some 30 crime fiction novels, many featuring his two main series characters Superintendent Meredith and Inspector Sherwood. He began with 'The Cornish Coast Murder' in 1935 and his final two crime novels, 'A Twist of the Rope' and 'The Night the Fog Came Down' were published posthumously in 1958.
He was a founder member of the Norfolk-based Crime Writers Association (CWA) in 1953 and was a co-organiser of the Crime Book Exhibition that was one of the CWA's early publicity initiatives. He was a popular and hard-working member of the CWA's committee from its inception through to May 1957.
Under his own name he also wrote a number of fantasy novels, the most well-known of which is 'The Lumpton Gobbelings' (1954). In addition he wrote a children's book, 'The Snuffly Snorty Dog' (1946).
He was admitted to hospital in Hastings on 6 November 1957, having just delivered his what turned out to be his final manuscript to his publisher, for a routine operation but he died two days later.
Fellow British crime writer Martin Edwards comments, "Bude writes both readably and entertainingly. His work may not have been stunning enough to belong with the greats, but there is a smoothness and accomplishment about even his first mystery, 'The Cornish Coast Murder', which you don't find in many début mysteries."
Interestingly he was the dedicatee of 'The Case of the Running Mouse' (1944) by his friend Christopher Bush. The dedication stated, 'May his stature, and his circulation, increase.'
NB: He was not born on 1 January but the system does not allow a date of birth without a month and date so it defaults to 1 January.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 297 reviews
April 15, 2021
A book from an age when time moved more slowly, when there were no mobile phones, no internet, no way of being in touch with other people every moment in the day. Policing worked very differently in those days and this book makes that very clear.
The Lake District Murder opens with a death which looks like suicide but is it? Superintendent Meredith spots some clues which make him think it is murder and sets out to prove it. The book moves slowly and gently as he interviews possible suspects and waits on different findings. He goes home for his lunch each day. There is a wife there to make it for him but we hardly meet her. Alcohol or sex never enter into the book at all. It is a very pleasant, comforting change to the frenetic stuff we usually come across in crime books today. (although I like them too!)
I enjoyed it very much and will look out for more in the series.
The Lake District Murder opens with a death which looks like suicide but is it? Superintendent Meredith spots some clues which make him think it is murder and sets out to prove it. The book moves slowly and gently as he interviews possible suspects and waits on different findings. He goes home for his lunch each day. There is a wife there to make it for him but we hardly meet her. Alcohol or sex never enter into the book at all. It is a very pleasant, comforting change to the frenetic stuff we usually come across in crime books today. (although I like them too!)
I enjoyed it very much and will look out for more in the series.
December 13, 2016
I have to say that I was slightly disappointed in The Lake district Murder by John Bude in more ways than one.
It started out well, but soon became bogged down in repetitious detail of police procedure and the methods taken to work out how the criminals were doing what it was they were doing.
I was also somewhat disappointed that little was made of the scenery in this area, especially as some mention of the location was made in the introduction to the book, regarding the setting being one of the attractions.
There were a couple of times I was tempted to abandon the book, which would have been a pity as I am a great fan of the British Classic Mysteries. The pace picked up again towards the end, but then ending itself was, I thought, somewhat contrived.
Definitely not my favourite work from John Bude, an author I usually look forward to reading.
Thank you to NetGalley and Poison Pen Press for providing a digital ARC for review.
All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
It started out well, but soon became bogged down in repetitious detail of police procedure and the methods taken to work out how the criminals were doing what it was they were doing.
I was also somewhat disappointed that little was made of the scenery in this area, especially as some mention of the location was made in the introduction to the book, regarding the setting being one of the attractions.
There were a couple of times I was tempted to abandon the book, which would have been a pity as I am a great fan of the British Classic Mysteries. The pace picked up again towards the end, but then ending itself was, I thought, somewhat contrived.
Definitely not my favourite work from John Bude, an author I usually look forward to reading.
Thank you to NetGalley and Poison Pen Press for providing a digital ARC for review.
All opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
August 3, 2014
Well it started well but felt so long and tedious by two thirds in that completing felt like torment! Over long, repetitive when little is actually revealed and an overly detailed police procedural. Sorry to say this as I do like my old crime classics and can normally forgive them the quirks that have changed over time.
June 12, 2023
An English Mysteries Club group read for May that I couldn't read until June, as I was traveling in Europe during that time, and actually spent a few days in the Lake District! The book didn't focus much on the setting, somewhat disappointing for me, but I did enjoy reading it. I liked this first book featuring Inspector Meredith, who was dogged in his investigation of the murder/fraud. I intend to read more of John Bude, the Cornish Coast Murder as well as more of Inspector Meredith (hopefully with more insight to his personal life).
October 19, 2019
When, “The Sussex Downs Murder,” won the vote in one of my Goodreads groups, and hating to read a series out of order, I decided to read the first in the series – “The Lake District Murder,” before embarking on the second. Goodness, though, this was dull…
A farmer, driving back from a dinner, runs out of petrol on an isolated road. Walking to the nearest garage, he finds a body, dead in a car. It is Jack Clayton, co-owner of the Derwent Garage (along with the highly suspicious Mark Higgins). It seems, at first appearance, to be suicide, but things do not add up. Clayton was engaged to be married and was intending to secretly leave for Canada, after his wedding. He also had a good deal of money in his bank account.
Inspector Meredith begins to, painstakingly, reconstruct events. The word painstaking is really relevant here, as we hear every detail of the investigation – from weights and measures, to every interview, as Meredith plods his way around a realistic, non tourist, version of the Lake District. Frankly, I could have done with some views to admire. I lost interest by the first third of the novel but, like Meredith, plodded to the end. I hope the second in the series is more interesting….
A farmer, driving back from a dinner, runs out of petrol on an isolated road. Walking to the nearest garage, he finds a body, dead in a car. It is Jack Clayton, co-owner of the Derwent Garage (along with the highly suspicious Mark Higgins). It seems, at first appearance, to be suicide, but things do not add up. Clayton was engaged to be married and was intending to secretly leave for Canada, after his wedding. He also had a good deal of money in his bank account.
Inspector Meredith begins to, painstakingly, reconstruct events. The word painstaking is really relevant here, as we hear every detail of the investigation – from weights and measures, to every interview, as Meredith plods his way around a realistic, non tourist, version of the Lake District. Frankly, I could have done with some views to admire. I lost interest by the first third of the novel but, like Meredith, plodded to the end. I hope the second in the series is more interesting….
February 17, 2015
I simply adore Golden Age British cozies: Dame Agatha Christie, of course; Gladys Mitchell’s Mrs. Bradley; Dorothy L. Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey; Patricia Wentworth’s Miss Silver; Anthony Berkeley’s Roger Sheringham; Margery Allingham’s Albert Campion; Josephine Tey’s Alan Grant; Ngaio Marsh’s Roderick Allen.
Now I can add John Bude’s Inspector William Meredith to the list.
I’m ashamed to say that I had never heard of Bude nor his dogged, insightful creation, but Inspector Meredith of the Cumberland County Constabulary comes up trumps in this tale of murder disguised as suicide. Jack Clayton, co-owner of the Derwent garage, may appear to have committed suicide using a hosepipe and carbon monoxide from the tailpipe of a car, but Meredith almost immediately realizes that too many discrepancies undermine such a verdict.
I don’t know if Bude invented the police procedural, but he certainly was a pioneer at a time when the mystery landscape was littered with house-party murders, genteel poisonings, titled blackmailers, and amateur sleuths taking on criminal masterminds. [I’m talking about you, Moriarty (Sir [author:Arthur Conan Doyle|2448]) and Simister (Margery Allingham)!] Not handsome, upper-crust, eccentric, or roguish in the least, Meredith goes about his investigation relying on logic and good, hard police work — in other words, like a meticulous plod — but the novel is never plodding. Despite the arch language common to the 1930s, the tenacious Meredith remains quite likeable to 21st century sensibilities, and, whereas police officers in modern-day novels quite often are at odds with their superiors, the camaraderie between Inspector Meredith and his superiors, Superintendent Thompson and the Deputy Constable, Colonel Hardwick, struck me as quite refreshing.
Lovers of 1920s and 1930s British cozies won’t want to miss the beginning of a beautiful reading love affair with Bude’s Inspector Meredith series. Thank you so much, British Library Publishing, for re-releasing this gem of a mystery novel and its sequel, The Sussex Downs Murder.
Now I can add John Bude’s Inspector William Meredith to the list.
I’m ashamed to say that I had never heard of Bude nor his dogged, insightful creation, but Inspector Meredith of the Cumberland County Constabulary comes up trumps in this tale of murder disguised as suicide. Jack Clayton, co-owner of the Derwent garage, may appear to have committed suicide using a hosepipe and carbon monoxide from the tailpipe of a car, but Meredith almost immediately realizes that too many discrepancies undermine such a verdict.
I don’t know if Bude invented the police procedural, but he certainly was a pioneer at a time when the mystery landscape was littered with house-party murders, genteel poisonings, titled blackmailers, and amateur sleuths taking on criminal masterminds. [I’m talking about you, Moriarty (Sir [author:Arthur Conan Doyle|2448]) and Simister (Margery Allingham)!] Not handsome, upper-crust, eccentric, or roguish in the least, Meredith goes about his investigation relying on logic and good, hard police work — in other words, like a meticulous plod — but the novel is never plodding. Despite the arch language common to the 1930s, the tenacious Meredith remains quite likeable to 21st century sensibilities, and, whereas police officers in modern-day novels quite often are at odds with their superiors, the camaraderie between Inspector Meredith and his superiors, Superintendent Thompson and the Deputy Constable, Colonel Hardwick, struck me as quite refreshing.
Lovers of 1920s and 1930s British cozies won’t want to miss the beginning of a beautiful reading love affair with Bude’s Inspector Meredith series. Thank you so much, British Library Publishing, for re-releasing this gem of a mystery novel and its sequel, The Sussex Downs Murder.
January 20, 2020
A so-so mystery with lots of details and false assmptions. Meredith seems to have lots of flashes of 'intuition' just at the. right moment. One thing that is also very apparent is the things the police do that they would never get away with today. Most of their evidence would be thrown out of court.
January 1, 2019
Reviewed for The Bibliophibian.
For all the praise of the series’ editor in the introduction, I don’t think Bude is that great a writer. His work is certainly enjoyable, but I found some aspects of this mystery painfully obvious, and he steers clear of having a particular character be front-and-center, totally indispensable in that Great Detective sense. His main character is a working man, and his prose is rather workmanlike to go with it. That’s not necessarily a criticism, and if you want to experience the Golden Age of Crime Fiction there’s no doubt it’s worth a read… but if you were to pick just one of the British Library Crime Classics, or just one Golden Age novel, I wouldn’t recommend one of Bude’s to be it.
This particular novel follows Inspector Meredith as he investigates the apparent suicide of a garage owner. There’s a few telltale hints, though, that the suicide might be staged: for example, the man’s hands are totally clean (when they should have been dirtied in setting up the suicide), and he’d lain the table for dinner, even putting the kettle on. As Meredith investigates, some kind of smuggling case becomes apparent in the background — something the dead man was involved in, and wanted to get out of.
The police spend most of the book stumped and trying various convoluted ways to figure out what’s going on, without figuring out a principle that occurred to me right away. I won’t explain what it is, of course — maybe you want the pleasure of working it out for yourself — but I really found myself rolling my eyes. Also, once the why was apparent in the form of this smuggling ring, the who and even the how were fairly obvious.
There are no sparkling characters who can’t be resisted, and to be honest I didn’t think there were any brilliant set-pieces describing the landscape, or delving into the human psyche. It’s just a mystery, moderately well investigated by a bland policeman, and moderately well-written. Not bad to while away some time with, but I couldn’t possibly describe it as unmissable.
For all the praise of the series’ editor in the introduction, I don’t think Bude is that great a writer. His work is certainly enjoyable, but I found some aspects of this mystery painfully obvious, and he steers clear of having a particular character be front-and-center, totally indispensable in that Great Detective sense. His main character is a working man, and his prose is rather workmanlike to go with it. That’s not necessarily a criticism, and if you want to experience the Golden Age of Crime Fiction there’s no doubt it’s worth a read… but if you were to pick just one of the British Library Crime Classics, or just one Golden Age novel, I wouldn’t recommend one of Bude’s to be it.
This particular novel follows Inspector Meredith as he investigates the apparent suicide of a garage owner. There’s a few telltale hints, though, that the suicide might be staged: for example, the man’s hands are totally clean (when they should have been dirtied in setting up the suicide), and he’d lain the table for dinner, even putting the kettle on. As Meredith investigates, some kind of smuggling case becomes apparent in the background — something the dead man was involved in, and wanted to get out of.
The police spend most of the book stumped and trying various convoluted ways to figure out what’s going on, without figuring out a principle that occurred to me right away. I won’t explain what it is, of course — maybe you want the pleasure of working it out for yourself — but I really found myself rolling my eyes. Also, once the why was apparent in the form of this smuggling ring, the who and even the how were fairly obvious.
There are no sparkling characters who can’t be resisted, and to be honest I didn’t think there were any brilliant set-pieces describing the landscape, or delving into the human psyche. It’s just a mystery, moderately well investigated by a bland policeman, and moderately well-written. Not bad to while away some time with, but I couldn’t possibly describe it as unmissable.
November 13, 2018
More of a howdunnit than a whodunnit as Detective Inspector Meredith attempts to solve the murder of a small garage owner. There is far too much concentration on the minutiae of the investigation which slowed the progress of the book . It reminded me of the books of Freeman Wills Croft with the meticulous attention to detail as to how the crime was committed.
January 27, 2024
I wanted to like this more than I did. Gordon Griffin is a great narrator but this mystery seemed to get bogged down.
Perhaps I'll try more John Bude. I adore the book cover.
Perhaps I'll try more John Bude. I adore the book cover.
March 4, 2024
Murder, fraud, dangerous driving it's all happening here in this quick-paced classic crime story.
Wonderfully descriptive of the countryside and its characters plus a witty policeman as the hero.
I'm not sure why it took me so long to discover Meredith as a detective but I'm glad I have.
Also helps I'm in the Lake District whilst reading this book 👍
Wonderfully descriptive of the countryside and its characters plus a witty policeman as the hero.
I'm not sure why it took me so long to discover Meredith as a detective but I'm glad I have.
Also helps I'm in the Lake District whilst reading this book 👍
March 13, 2017
3.5 stars for this very engaging British mystery from the 1930s.
Inspector Meredith is a delight. Very methodical, thoughtful. The reader gets to follow along as he works his way through two related crimes. The first is the murder of a young garage/gas station owner. The second is possible fraud by the oil company that supplies a number of Lake District locations. Young Clayton's death is first considered to be suicide, but Inspector. Meredith notices a few things that point against that verdict. Now we are all off on a hunt for answers--but the questions keep changing as one theory after another is investigated and discarded.
There was so much I enjoyed about the book. The author's style is rather buoyant. He is willing to use exclamations points as mood indicators, giving the whole a rather more light-hearted feel than the subject matter would suggest. There is no witty banter, but the various conversations between Meredith and his superiors are full of good will and the cooperative spirit.
It was delightful to be away from London, watching local police handle a tricky case. Meredith gets around on a motorcycle (with side car--how cool is that?) or by train.
We do get a peek into his home life. This is a time and place where almost everyone (school children through working adults) goes home for the midday meal, so we do encounter Mrs Meredith a time or two. Alas, about all we learn of her is that she's very against their 17 year old son following in his father's footsteps. We also meet Toby, said 17 year old, who is thrilled beyond belief when he has a chance to help in the investigations (of course).
By the end of the book I was very happy: The Inspector was a fine fellow, the solutions to the murder and the connected fraud case were clever and logical. The writer's voice was pleasant. Not a bad way to spend a few hours.
I see that several more of the Inspector Meredith books have been reprinted. I look forward to reading them.
Inspector Meredith is a delight. Very methodical, thoughtful. The reader gets to follow along as he works his way through two related crimes. The first is the murder of a young garage/gas station owner. The second is possible fraud by the oil company that supplies a number of Lake District locations. Young Clayton's death is first considered to be suicide, but Inspector. Meredith notices a few things that point against that verdict. Now we are all off on a hunt for answers--but the questions keep changing as one theory after another is investigated and discarded.
There was so much I enjoyed about the book. The author's style is rather buoyant. He is willing to use exclamations points as mood indicators, giving the whole a rather more light-hearted feel than the subject matter would suggest. There is no witty banter, but the various conversations between Meredith and his superiors are full of good will and the cooperative spirit.
It was delightful to be away from London, watching local police handle a tricky case. Meredith gets around on a motorcycle (with side car--how cool is that?) or by train.
We do get a peek into his home life. This is a time and place where almost everyone (school children through working adults) goes home for the midday meal, so we do encounter Mrs Meredith a time or two. Alas, about all we learn of her is that she's very against their 17 year old son following in his father's footsteps. We also meet Toby, said 17 year old, who is thrilled beyond belief when he has a chance to help in the investigations (of course).
By the end of the book I was very happy: The Inspector was a fine fellow, the solutions to the murder and the connected fraud case were clever and logical. The writer's voice was pleasant. Not a bad way to spend a few hours.
I see that several more of the Inspector Meredith books have been reprinted. I look forward to reading them.
April 1, 2014
A nice bit of escapism by a Golden Age of British Detective writer now republished after 80 years .
I bought it on the strength of the cover a 1930's Lake District travel poster and the fact that it was in Waterstones on a table marked " Dignified Detection " along with Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie . It also had a map inside . I am not sure what undignified detection is but I suppose it includes hard drinking divorced cops , gritty urban settings , sexual abuse ie : Ian Rankin
After the discovery of the body the story moves in a painstaking police procedural manner but with the nostalgic setting and involving step by step detection I was totally involved . The crime was all part of a fraudulent plan to sell fake whisky . Very dignified .
I have bought its companion " The Cornish Coast Murder "
I bought it on the strength of the cover a 1930's Lake District travel poster and the fact that it was in Waterstones on a table marked " Dignified Detection " along with Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie . It also had a map inside . I am not sure what undignified detection is but I suppose it includes hard drinking divorced cops , gritty urban settings , sexual abuse ie : Ian Rankin
After the discovery of the body the story moves in a painstaking police procedural manner but with the nostalgic setting and involving step by step detection I was totally involved . The crime was all part of a fraudulent plan to sell fake whisky . Very dignified .
I have bought its companion " The Cornish Coast Murder "
June 21, 2017
Moving in a slow, heavy lumber, the pace of this book is weighed down by masses of detail which hold back any sense of anticipation or excitement as Inspector Meredith labours his way to the end.
It's really 1.5. No more Lake District murders for me.
It's really 1.5. No more Lake District murders for me.
October 29, 2019
This was a chore to get through, but I finished it. I may not complete the series if the next ones are this wordy and boring.
Meredith was puzzled. It was curious that Clayton should have laid the meal, put tea into the teapot, the kettle on the range and then abruptly left the cottage with the idea of taking his own life. The method he had employed argued premeditation—the mackintosh, the string, the hose-pipe—these objects suggested a carefully planned and cleverly executed suicide...One thing obtruded in Meredith’s mind—the complete absence of motive. Not only for the murder, if such it was, but for the suicide. Clayton was enjoying perfect health. He was free from money worries, as far as the Inspector had been able to ascertain, and about to marry the girl of his choice. Why then had he put an end to his life?
Meredith was puzzled. It was curious that Clayton should have laid the meal, put tea into the teapot, the kettle on the range and then abruptly left the cottage with the idea of taking his own life. The method he had employed argued premeditation—the mackintosh, the string, the hose-pipe—these objects suggested a carefully planned and cleverly executed suicide...One thing obtruded in Meredith’s mind—the complete absence of motive. Not only for the murder, if such it was, but for the suicide. Clayton was enjoying perfect health. He was free from money worries, as far as the Inspector had been able to ascertain, and about to marry the girl of his choice. Why then had he put an end to his life?
June 13, 2016
So very little goes on it was a struggle to get through.
November 14, 2024
A meticulous procedural. In fact, Inspector Meredith is rather a plodder, accumulating a really impressive heap of red herrings. Just the sort of policeman that Sherlock Holmes affects to despise.
March 2, 2017
The Lake District Murder is a classic procedural mystery from Golden Age mystery writer John Bude. A gas station owner is found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning, an apparent suicide. However, keen-eyed Inspector Meredith notes a few odd discrepancies, enough to request an autopsy that reveals the man was drugged and the suicide was a ruse to cover up a murder.
The investigation reveals no obvious motive and the only person who would make a good suspect has a solid alibi. However, the dead man left far too much money behind, so clearly something was up, but was it blackmail or some larger scheme or conspiracy?
With dogged persistence, Meredith keeps investigating, finding small loose threads that he relentlessly tugs to unravel this complex mystery.
Published in 1935, The Lake District Murder was Bude’s second book and featured Inspector Meredith who would be the primary detective in most of his mysteries for the rest of his career. The Lake District Murder has an old-fashioned feel to it, with its emphasis on the mechanics of the crime and disregard for character development. The criminals are not developed characters, most of the investigation occurs without their knowledge that they are even suspects. We know their movements down to the minute, but we know nothing else about them.
The police, including Inspector Meredith, are equally ciphers. They do their job with professionalism. There are no personalities, no sergeant who likes to tipple and no leering louche detectives. They do their jobs, report their findings and discuss the assembled clues, poking and prodding, looking for flaws, for suggestions for more investigation. This is investigation as ratiocination.
The Lake District Murder is as fair as a mystery novel can be. Every clue is known to us, we are privy to the deductive reasoning and even the inferences that Inspector Meredith and his superiors employ. Nothing is hidden which gives the story a plodding feel from time to time, though you could call it verisimilitude to the actual process of investigation which can be tedious and painstaking. There is overwhelming detail, for example, of the process of investigating shipments and deliveries. Perhaps because readers in 1935 had not seen several hundred hours of television dramas, every single step of the operation was explained.
There are interesting artifacts of the past in the story. When a list of names and addresses needs to transmitted from one location to another, the superintendent and inspector pass their phones to subordinates who are tasked with the tedium, the 1935 version of sending a fax. Meredith is clever at figuring out ways to collect evidence, even creating a sieve to quite literally catch evidence as it’s being disposed of.
The mystery is complex and while there is a bit of whodunnit, The Lake District Murder is much more about the how and why and even more difficult, how to prove it. As a modern mystery reader, I missed the elements of character development that draw us in. Most of the characters could be named x, y, and z for how much we get to know them. Meredith is equally flat. The liveliest character is his wife who has enough personality to discourage their son from pursuing the police as a career. Instead, the characters are their roles and not much more. I did not dislike the mystery, not at all, but I would like it more if it dialed up the character development just a bit and dialed down the specificity of who is going to be watching whom for how long when.
While he was not a member of the famed Detection Club with the greats like Dorothy Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, and Agatha Christie, he was a co-founder of the more egalitarian Crime Writers Association.
The Lake District Murder will be released on December 6th. I was provided an e-galley by NetGalley.
★★★
http://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpres...
The investigation reveals no obvious motive and the only person who would make a good suspect has a solid alibi. However, the dead man left far too much money behind, so clearly something was up, but was it blackmail or some larger scheme or conspiracy?
With dogged persistence, Meredith keeps investigating, finding small loose threads that he relentlessly tugs to unravel this complex mystery.
Published in 1935, The Lake District Murder was Bude’s second book and featured Inspector Meredith who would be the primary detective in most of his mysteries for the rest of his career. The Lake District Murder has an old-fashioned feel to it, with its emphasis on the mechanics of the crime and disregard for character development. The criminals are not developed characters, most of the investigation occurs without their knowledge that they are even suspects. We know their movements down to the minute, but we know nothing else about them.
The police, including Inspector Meredith, are equally ciphers. They do their job with professionalism. There are no personalities, no sergeant who likes to tipple and no leering louche detectives. They do their jobs, report their findings and discuss the assembled clues, poking and prodding, looking for flaws, for suggestions for more investigation. This is investigation as ratiocination.
The Lake District Murder is as fair as a mystery novel can be. Every clue is known to us, we are privy to the deductive reasoning and even the inferences that Inspector Meredith and his superiors employ. Nothing is hidden which gives the story a plodding feel from time to time, though you could call it verisimilitude to the actual process of investigation which can be tedious and painstaking. There is overwhelming detail, for example, of the process of investigating shipments and deliveries. Perhaps because readers in 1935 had not seen several hundred hours of television dramas, every single step of the operation was explained.
There are interesting artifacts of the past in the story. When a list of names and addresses needs to transmitted from one location to another, the superintendent and inspector pass their phones to subordinates who are tasked with the tedium, the 1935 version of sending a fax. Meredith is clever at figuring out ways to collect evidence, even creating a sieve to quite literally catch evidence as it’s being disposed of.
The mystery is complex and while there is a bit of whodunnit, The Lake District Murder is much more about the how and why and even more difficult, how to prove it. As a modern mystery reader, I missed the elements of character development that draw us in. Most of the characters could be named x, y, and z for how much we get to know them. Meredith is equally flat. The liveliest character is his wife who has enough personality to discourage their son from pursuing the police as a career. Instead, the characters are their roles and not much more. I did not dislike the mystery, not at all, but I would like it more if it dialed up the character development just a bit and dialed down the specificity of who is going to be watching whom for how long when.
While he was not a member of the famed Detection Club with the greats like Dorothy Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, and Agatha Christie, he was a co-founder of the more egalitarian Crime Writers Association.
The Lake District Murder will be released on December 6th. I was provided an e-galley by NetGalley.
★★★
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January 18, 2018
This review can also be found on my blog
This book comes with a new introduction that proudly proclaims “This book may be a product of the Golden Age of detective fiction, but it is a world away from the unreality of bodies in the library and cunningly contrived killings in trans-continental trains.” And it’s true. Meredith is no Poirot who invites all the suspects in one room at the end and lays open the sins of every single one before explaining who really committed the murder. Neither is he a detective in the vein of the pre-golden age geniuses, who takes one look at the body and exclaims that this can’t have been a suicide because of the way the victim’s fingernails look. The case itself has also no big stakes. No innocent person will hang if the real killer isn’t caught. The fate of the world (or worse: the British Empire) isn’t in danger, either.
In fact, the whole case isn’t what you would expect from a typical Golden Age mystery. There’s no group of suspects and an inspector who has to figure out motive and opportunity. Quite early on Meredith discovers that the victim had more money than he could have made by legal means and he suspects that this lead to his death. So the whole investigation focusses on figuring out in what exactly he was involved. This involves coordinating which sergeant observes which location, in-depth discussion of various theories as to what illegal activities it could have been and a fair number of other things that are, quite frankly, boring. (One chapter is called The Inspector of Weights and Measures. Seriously).
Now, not every crime-novel needs a plot like Murder on the Orient-Express, a sleuth with Poirot’s flair for the dramatic, or Lord Peter Wimsey frantically investigating to save his brother from the gallows. In fact, I have read many mysteries that featured perfectly ordinary characters in perfectly ordinary plots. But The Lake District Murder isn’t just ordinary; it’s bland.
Meredith is an inspector. He’s married and his wife isn’t happy about her husband working for the police and really doesn’t want their teenage-son to also end up as a cop. That doesn’t stop Meredith from sending said son on errands connected to his investigation. That’s as far as his characterisation goes. There’s also a superintendent that gets involved in the case and a sergeant that Meredith usually works with. I couldn’t tell you anything about either of them.
The victim’s fiancee genuinely grieves about him but since she is only around for a few pages I couldn’t feel for her or the murder-victim. And while I do appreciate that the bad guys weren’t cartoonishly evil (as sometimes happens in mysteries), it also meant that I didn’t have that feeling of Finally they get what they deserve once they were caught.
Another thing the writer of the introduction tells us is that the title isn’t just a cheap advertising-ploy. This book is really set in the Lake District. Only it didn’t feel like that to me. Apart from a few mentions of ‘Coastal Towns’ it could as well be set in Midsomer County. No comparison to Inspector Morse’s Oxford that’s always so present it’s almost its own character and that made me want to go to see it for myself. If I ever visit the Lake District it will be because of the charming descriptions of it in one of my mysteries with a body in the library and a detective that invites all the suspects in the salon in the last chapter, not because of Inspector Meredith.
This book comes with a new introduction that proudly proclaims “This book may be a product of the Golden Age of detective fiction, but it is a world away from the unreality of bodies in the library and cunningly contrived killings in trans-continental trains.” And it’s true. Meredith is no Poirot who invites all the suspects in one room at the end and lays open the sins of every single one before explaining who really committed the murder. Neither is he a detective in the vein of the pre-golden age geniuses, who takes one look at the body and exclaims that this can’t have been a suicide because of the way the victim’s fingernails look. The case itself has also no big stakes. No innocent person will hang if the real killer isn’t caught. The fate of the world (or worse: the British Empire) isn’t in danger, either.
In fact, the whole case isn’t what you would expect from a typical Golden Age mystery. There’s no group of suspects and an inspector who has to figure out motive and opportunity. Quite early on Meredith discovers that the victim had more money than he could have made by legal means and he suspects that this lead to his death. So the whole investigation focusses on figuring out in what exactly he was involved. This involves coordinating which sergeant observes which location, in-depth discussion of various theories as to what illegal activities it could have been and a fair number of other things that are, quite frankly, boring. (One chapter is called The Inspector of Weights and Measures. Seriously).
Now, not every crime-novel needs a plot like Murder on the Orient-Express, a sleuth with Poirot’s flair for the dramatic, or Lord Peter Wimsey frantically investigating to save his brother from the gallows. In fact, I have read many mysteries that featured perfectly ordinary characters in perfectly ordinary plots. But The Lake District Murder isn’t just ordinary; it’s bland.
Meredith is an inspector. He’s married and his wife isn’t happy about her husband working for the police and really doesn’t want their teenage-son to also end up as a cop. That doesn’t stop Meredith from sending said son on errands connected to his investigation. That’s as far as his characterisation goes. There’s also a superintendent that gets involved in the case and a sergeant that Meredith usually works with. I couldn’t tell you anything about either of them.
The victim’s fiancee genuinely grieves about him but since she is only around for a few pages I couldn’t feel for her or the murder-victim. And while I do appreciate that the bad guys weren’t cartoonishly evil (as sometimes happens in mysteries), it also meant that I didn’t have that feeling of Finally they get what they deserve once they were caught.
Another thing the writer of the introduction tells us is that the title isn’t just a cheap advertising-ploy. This book is really set in the Lake District. Only it didn’t feel like that to me. Apart from a few mentions of ‘Coastal Towns’ it could as well be set in Midsomer County. No comparison to Inspector Morse’s Oxford that’s always so present it’s almost its own character and that made me want to go to see it for myself. If I ever visit the Lake District it will be because of the charming descriptions of it in one of my mysteries with a body in the library and a detective that invites all the suspects in the salon in the last chapter, not because of Inspector Meredith.
October 19, 2019
When, “The Sussex Downs Murder,” won the vote in one of my Goodreads groups, and hating to read a series out of order, I decided to read the first in the series – “The Lake District Murder,” before embarking on the second. Goodness, though, this was dull…
A farmer, driving back from a dinner, runs out of petrol on an isolated road. Walking to the nearest garage, he finds a body, dead in a car. It is Jack Clayton, co-owner of the Derwent Garage (along with the highly suspicious Mark Higgins). It seems, at first appearance, to be suicide, but things do not add up. Clayton was engaged to be married and was intending to secretly leave for Canada, after his wedding. He also had a good deal of money in his bank account.
Inspector Meredith begins to, painstakingly, reconstruct events. The word painstaking is really relevant here, as we hear every detail of the investigation – from weights and measures, to every interview, as Meredith plods his way around a realistic, non tourist, version of the Lake District. Frankly, I could have done with some views to admire. I lost interest by the first third of the novel but, like Meredith, plodded to the end. I hope the second in the series is more interesting….
A farmer, driving back from a dinner, runs out of petrol on an isolated road. Walking to the nearest garage, he finds a body, dead in a car. It is Jack Clayton, co-owner of the Derwent Garage (along with the highly suspicious Mark Higgins). It seems, at first appearance, to be suicide, but things do not add up. Clayton was engaged to be married and was intending to secretly leave for Canada, after his wedding. He also had a good deal of money in his bank account.
Inspector Meredith begins to, painstakingly, reconstruct events. The word painstaking is really relevant here, as we hear every detail of the investigation – from weights and measures, to every interview, as Meredith plods his way around a realistic, non tourist, version of the Lake District. Frankly, I could have done with some views to admire. I lost interest by the first third of the novel but, like Meredith, plodded to the end. I hope the second in the series is more interesting….
October 22, 2017
A young man is found dead at the garage where he works, in a rural village in the Lake District. Inspector Meredith investigates the apparent suicide, and uncovers a number of facts that don't seem to add up. Methodically he begins to follow up every piece of evidence and every statement in order to reveal the truth.
This classic mystery novel is not full of dramatic revelations or shocking twists. It is more a revelation of how painstaking and professional police work can identify a killer. There is a lot of measuring and timing, observations and interviews. So this won't be everyone's cup of tea. However, I found it quite compelling, and enjoyed trying to follow Meredith's logic. A solid 3 stars.
This classic mystery novel is not full of dramatic revelations or shocking twists. It is more a revelation of how painstaking and professional police work can identify a killer. There is a lot of measuring and timing, observations and interviews. So this won't be everyone's cup of tea. However, I found it quite compelling, and enjoyed trying to follow Meredith's logic. A solid 3 stars.
May 21, 2014
This is gentle read that seems very tame in comparison with today's crime novels with its violence and truly nefarious deeds.
But I read it for the setting - but time and place. It was an enjoyable read for that very reason.
It was also a refreshing change to have next to nothing on the detective's personal life. He had a wife who is barely mentioned more than 3 or 4 times. But at least he didn't have the marriage problems that so many men in today's crime novels have- Jackson Brodie, Rebus, Wallander.
I can't say anything more without spoilers. I did enjoy the book and look forward to my upcoming holiday in the Lake District - without any murders hopefully.
But I read it for the setting - but time and place. It was an enjoyable read for that very reason.
It was also a refreshing change to have next to nothing on the detective's personal life. He had a wife who is barely mentioned more than 3 or 4 times. But at least he didn't have the marriage problems that so many men in today's crime novels have- Jackson Brodie, Rebus, Wallander.
I can't say anything more without spoilers. I did enjoy the book and look forward to my upcoming holiday in the Lake District - without any murders hopefully.
July 28, 2017
This was a lovely book. Best way to describe is "very twee". Written in the 1930s I loved the language and the genteel nature, when the Superintendent says "by Jove opt think you are right" how can you resist? If you want gore and nail biting crime this is not the book for you, but sometimes it is good to read a book that is calming and enjoyable.
Read for Pop Sugar Challenge - author with a pseudonym.
Read for Pop Sugar Challenge - author with a pseudonym.
September 18, 2023
I adore old murder mysteries, and the British Crime Classics are favorites. But this was dull and rambling. It was about gas stations and illegal stills, just not my interest, I guess.
August 29, 2020
No, no, no - I have Freeman Wills Crofts for Freeman Wills Crofts novels! Do your own thing, Bude!
This book is like an improved version of Freeman Wills Crofts’ early novel, The Pit-Prop Syndicate. But did we need that? Pit-Prop was back in - what - 1922 or something? I think it was; I should have checked - I was lazy - but yeah, early 1920s. So, Bude gives us the same thing in 1935 - to my mind, a huge step back. Even the other Crofts novel I’m reminded of, The Box Office Murders, was a 1920s effort...which means that two of Crofts’ least interesting novels (IMO) were out of that author’s system by 1930. I love bumping into Golden Age Crime & Mystery fiction that doesn’t just offer the traditional Country House, fair play whodunit - the stuff that was going in bold directions like Nightmare by Lynn Brock or even The Secret of High Eldersham by Miles Burton - but The Lake District Murder seems almost unnecessary to me. A retread...and a retread of the lesser work of an author I tend to enjoy. Of the three novels I’ve lumped together, I would say skip The Pit-Prop Syndicate, skip The Lake District Murder, and read Inspector French and the Box Office Murders (aka The Box Office Murders). These ‘organized crime meets plodding detective’ Mysteries can get dull if ingested over and over again, and at least The Box Office Murders has extra suspense, and the heart goes out to all those young women in danger.
So yeah - this was Bude I liked least, after a nice run of wonderful reads by him. I have to say, try later Bude - like The Cheltenham Square Murder, or, for sure Death in White Pyjamas/Death Knows No Calendar. There’s the fine time! This 1935 novel was sooooo 1922. (I think it was 1922.)
This book is like an improved version of Freeman Wills Crofts’ early novel, The Pit-Prop Syndicate. But did we need that? Pit-Prop was back in - what - 1922 or something? I think it was; I should have checked - I was lazy - but yeah, early 1920s. So, Bude gives us the same thing in 1935 - to my mind, a huge step back. Even the other Crofts novel I’m reminded of, The Box Office Murders, was a 1920s effort...which means that two of Crofts’ least interesting novels (IMO) were out of that author’s system by 1930. I love bumping into Golden Age Crime & Mystery fiction that doesn’t just offer the traditional Country House, fair play whodunit - the stuff that was going in bold directions like Nightmare by Lynn Brock or even The Secret of High Eldersham by Miles Burton - but The Lake District Murder seems almost unnecessary to me. A retread...and a retread of the lesser work of an author I tend to enjoy. Of the three novels I’ve lumped together, I would say skip The Pit-Prop Syndicate, skip The Lake District Murder, and read Inspector French and the Box Office Murders (aka The Box Office Murders). These ‘organized crime meets plodding detective’ Mysteries can get dull if ingested over and over again, and at least The Box Office Murders has extra suspense, and the heart goes out to all those young women in danger.
So yeah - this was Bude I liked least, after a nice run of wonderful reads by him. I have to say, try later Bude - like The Cheltenham Square Murder, or, for sure Death in White Pyjamas/Death Knows No Calendar. There’s the fine time! This 1935 novel was sooooo 1922. (I think it was 1922.)
March 28, 2019
I picked up John Bude's 1935 The Lake District Murder from the display of British Library Crime Classics in Waterstones a couple of weeks ago because we were about to go to the Lake District and it seemed like ideal holiday reading, especially when I looked at the map opposite the title page and saw that it was set in Keswick, where we were staying. It's a straightforward murder mystery of the evidence-and-alibis school Dorothy L Sayers was imitating in Five Red Herrings (set just the other side of the Solway Firth); unlike Sayers, Bude's crimesolvers are all police officers, principally Inspector Meredith of the Keswick station, who starts a murder investigation when he suspects that an apparent suicide may not be quite what it appears.
The Lake District Murder is a careful, thorough police procedural (although I was a bit surprised at the amount of subterfuge, covert investigations on private premises and indeed outright breaking and entering employed by Bude's police officers in pursuit of clues - I'm not sure that the modern police force would approve at all). It's an enjoyable enough read though felt a bit plodding in places, and Bude's writing style is a little clunky with a tendency to over-use exclamation points; I suspect that if I hadn't been visiting Keswick at the time I would have enjoyed it rather less than I actually did.
The Lake District Murder is a careful, thorough police procedural (although I was a bit surprised at the amount of subterfuge, covert investigations on private premises and indeed outright breaking and entering employed by Bude's police officers in pursuit of clues - I'm not sure that the modern police force would approve at all). It's an enjoyable enough read though felt a bit plodding in places, and Bude's writing style is a little clunky with a tendency to over-use exclamation points; I suspect that if I hadn't been visiting Keswick at the time I would have enjoyed it rather less than I actually did.
July 28, 2019
Procedural persistence
I enjoy the puzzle of crime detection - and this is entirely focused on the thought processes and procedures of solving the crime in a time when the detective has very few databases at his disposal and must deploy numerous police officers to gather evidence from observation. For the most part I enjoyed it - but even I became a little impatient at times at the somewhat slow pace and detail.
I chose it because of the setting, which is well-established at the beginning and I enjoyed the evocation of roads I have travelled on holiday. Once the setting is established, however, it recedes to provide mostly only the convenience of remote and isolated locations for nefarious activity.
I enjoyed the read - and would try another by the author - but would recommend it only to those for whom the thought processes of pre-electronic crime solving is of interest.
I enjoy the puzzle of crime detection - and this is entirely focused on the thought processes and procedures of solving the crime in a time when the detective has very few databases at his disposal and must deploy numerous police officers to gather evidence from observation. For the most part I enjoyed it - but even I became a little impatient at times at the somewhat slow pace and detail.
I chose it because of the setting, which is well-established at the beginning and I enjoyed the evocation of roads I have travelled on holiday. Once the setting is established, however, it recedes to provide mostly only the convenience of remote and isolated locations for nefarious activity.
I enjoyed the read - and would try another by the author - but would recommend it only to those for whom the thought processes of pre-electronic crime solving is of interest.
April 2, 2019
A better name might have been What-are-these-petrol-lorries-up-to?
This 1930s police procedural wasn't terrible, but having said that, I haven't slept this well since Heart of Darkness. It was really boring, especially for the middle third.
If you like your murder mysteries with colourful characters, shifty suspects, multiple motives... look elsewhere. If you prefer the investigative process, you might still enjoy it. It still has that chirpy, cosy vintage feel to it and it picked up a bit at the end, but for the most part I found it dull and tedious.
This 1930s police procedural wasn't terrible, but having said that, I haven't slept this well since Heart of Darkness. It was really boring, especially for the middle third.
If you like your murder mysteries with colourful characters, shifty suspects, multiple motives... look elsewhere. If you prefer the investigative process, you might still enjoy it. It still has that chirpy, cosy vintage feel to it and it picked up a bit at the end, but for the most part I found it dull and tedious.
April 28, 2023
Heavy going. The hero is police thoroughness, rather than any individual. A kind of CSI of its day. And the author leaves out nothing of the meticulous police investigation. About two-thirds of the way through, the following line appears: "He realised, with a pang of hopelessness, that he still had a long way to go." The reader is apt to empathise.
May 4, 2015
I am afraid I found this a little bit ponderous, too much detail delivered too slowly and repeated too often. Also highly detailed guesswork on the part of the police which turns out to be completely correct, stretches credibility to breaking point. Better editing could have corrected this.
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