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Death of a Poison-Tongue
"Middlecombe buzzes with rumours. Like a wasp's nest," warned her odd train companion. "Slanders rather. Our poison-tongue. None of us is safe."
When undergraduate Althea Swinford moves to sleepy Middlecombe to study, she quickly finds herself embroiled in the town's hotbed of gossip and scandal. Beneath the respectable veneer of the town, dark secrets lurk, and a when a cold-blooded murder threatens to explode the surrounding myths and mysteries, Althea is immersed, over her head.
When undergraduate Althea Swinford moves to sleepy Middlecombe to study, she quickly finds herself embroiled in the town's hotbed of gossip and scandal. Beneath the respectable veneer of the town, dark secrets lurk, and a when a cold-blooded murder threatens to explode the surrounding myths and mysteries, Althea is immersed, over her head.
191 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1972
11 people want to read
About the author
Josephine Bell
88 books17 followersJosephine Bell (the pseudonym of Doris Bell Collier Ball) was born into a medical family, the daughter of a surgeon, in Manchester in 1897.
She attended Godolphin School from 1910 to 1916 and then she trained at Newnham College, Cambridge until 1919. On completing her studies she was assigned to University College Hospital in London where she became M.R.C.S. and L.R.C.P. in 1922 and M.B. B.S. in 1924. She married Dr. Norman Dyer Ball in 1923 and the couple had a son and three daughters.
From 1927 until 1935 the couple practised medicine together in Greenwich and London before her husband retired in 1934 and she carried on the practice on her own until her retirement in 1954.
Her husband died in 1936 and she moved to Guildford, Surrey and she became a member of the management committee of St. Luke's Hospital from 1954 to 1962.
She began writing detective fiction in 1936 using the pen name Josephine Bell and her first published novel in the genre was 'Murder in Hospital' (1937).
Perhaps not surprisingly many of her works had a medical background and the first one introduced one of her enduring characters, Dr David Wintringham who worked at Research Hospital in London as a junior assistant physician. He was to feature in 18 of her novels, ending with 'A Well Known Face' (1960).
Overall she wrote more than 60 books, 45 of them in the detective fiction genre where, as well as medical backgrounds, she used such as archaeology in 'Bones in the Barrow' (1953), music in 'The Summer School Mystery' (1950) and even a wildlife sanctuary as background in 'Death on the Reserve' (1966).
She also wrote on drug addicition and criminology and penned a great number of short stories. In addition she was involved in the foundation of the Crime Writers' Association in 1953, an organisation in which she served as chair person in the 1959–60 season.
She died in 1987.
Gerry Wolstenholme
June 2010
She attended Godolphin School from 1910 to 1916 and then she trained at Newnham College, Cambridge until 1919. On completing her studies she was assigned to University College Hospital in London where she became M.R.C.S. and L.R.C.P. in 1922 and M.B. B.S. in 1924. She married Dr. Norman Dyer Ball in 1923 and the couple had a son and three daughters.
From 1927 until 1935 the couple practised medicine together in Greenwich and London before her husband retired in 1934 and she carried on the practice on her own until her retirement in 1954.
Her husband died in 1936 and she moved to Guildford, Surrey and she became a member of the management committee of St. Luke's Hospital from 1954 to 1962.
She began writing detective fiction in 1936 using the pen name Josephine Bell and her first published novel in the genre was 'Murder in Hospital' (1937).
Perhaps not surprisingly many of her works had a medical background and the first one introduced one of her enduring characters, Dr David Wintringham who worked at Research Hospital in London as a junior assistant physician. He was to feature in 18 of her novels, ending with 'A Well Known Face' (1960).
Overall she wrote more than 60 books, 45 of them in the detective fiction genre where, as well as medical backgrounds, she used such as archaeology in 'Bones in the Barrow' (1953), music in 'The Summer School Mystery' (1950) and even a wildlife sanctuary as background in 'Death on the Reserve' (1966).
She also wrote on drug addicition and criminology and penned a great number of short stories. In addition she was involved in the foundation of the Crime Writers' Association in 1953, an organisation in which she served as chair person in the 1959–60 season.
She died in 1987.
Gerry Wolstenholme
June 2010
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 17, 2013
Althea Swinford moves to Middlecombe to lodge with a cousin of her mother’s while she attends the nearby university to study oriental languages. She is warned by a local inhabitant that the village is a hot bed of gossip and scandal and no one is exempt from the attentions of the ‘poison-tongue’ who spreads all the malicious rumours and scandal. Althea soon finds herself a victim of the rumour mill but she has her own suspicions about what might be going on in the village.
This is an interesting mystery which is made up of many strands some of which become twisted together as what is really going on in the village is finally revealed. I enjoy this author’s writing style though this mystery didn’t quite hold my attention the way many of the author’s other books have done. It is still a good read for anyone who likes mysteries set in small communities.
I thought the characters were well drawn and the murder and the motivations for it were believable the story for some reason just did not hold my attention. Others will probably enjoy it.
This is an interesting mystery which is made up of many strands some of which become twisted together as what is really going on in the village is finally revealed. I enjoy this author’s writing style though this mystery didn’t quite hold my attention the way many of the author’s other books have done. It is still a good read for anyone who likes mysteries set in small communities.
I thought the characters were well drawn and the murder and the motivations for it were believable the story for some reason just did not hold my attention. Others will probably enjoy it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review