Suspicion

by Vernon Loder

The little town of Martley is alive with gossip concerning Julius Hennessy, who has been spending a great deal of time on the golf links with the young and pretty wife of Mr. Holt the solicitor. Mrs. Hennessy, meanwhile, has also been exciting gossip, on account of the amount of time she has been spending on the river fishing in the company of Bill French. Thomas Brown, a man whose interest in criminology has led to a growing friendship with Captain Maylem of the local police, has also attracted curiosity - what could possibly have led Brown to embark on a month's stay in a backwater like Martley?

When Hennessy is found murdered on the bank of the river, however, idle gossip quickly turns into full-blown suspicion...

Originally published in 1933, this is a vintage British murder mystery from the golden age of crime fiction.

183 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 5, 2018

About the author

Vernon Loder was a pseudonym for John Haslette Vahey, an Anglo-Irish writer who also wrote as Henrietta Clandon, John Haslette, Anthony Lang, John Mowbray, Walter Proudfoot and George Varney.

Vahey started his working life as an apprentice architect, then an accountant before finally turning to writing fiction full-time.

extra bio info from a book blurb

Reviews

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very disappointing!
Slow and tedious. Not at all credible.

Lacking a central character - One minute the Chief Constable, then the superintendent, then the inspector, then the interfering amateur etc. No fair play by the author as the reader could not work out who was the culprit. Totally unsatisfactory ending.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most enjoyable English "county" novel with interest for golfers and fly-fishers. Loder is good on the problems of marital and other relationships, and consistently portrays strong women in his books.

Here the reader and the police are led up a few neatly-laid garden paths, and there are some nicely-trailed red herring. Although there is a rather late addition to the suspect list, this is mostly fairly-played. The main suspect, Bill French is very annoying.

One of Loder's better efforts.

3.5 stars.

[Tony Harker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whilst I enjoy all of Loder’s novels (hence the 5 stars) I was slightly put off by this because a new character was suddenly introduced towards the end of the novel. It appears that Loder was unsure of how to conclude the novel and so used an Agatha Christie trick of introducing a new character, thereby enabling him to tie up all loose ends. This obviously detracts from the plot but other than that I found it interesting and learned a bit about fly fishing!