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Robert Macdonald #28
Murderer's Mistake
It's not long after the end of WWII, rationing is still in force in the UK, and Chief Inspector Macdonald of Scotland Yard is hot on the heels of a coupon racketeer, Gordon Ginner. Just then he gets a letter from Lancastrian farmer Giles Hoggett about some odd goings on recently in Lunesdale. Normally he'd pass on the letter to some subordinate, but the possibility that Giles's suspicions might link to the Ginner investigation are just too tantalizing to leave alone, so off to Lancashire goes Chief Inspector Macdonald... soon to discover the murdered body of Gordon Ginner!
Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1946
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About the author
E.C.R. Lorac
74 books178 followersEdith Caroline Rivett (who wrote under the pseudonyms E.C.R. Lorac, Carol Carnac, Carol Rivett, and Mary le Bourne) was a British crime writer. She was born in Hendon, Middlesex (now London). She attended the South Hampstead High School, and the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London.
She was a member of the Detection Club. She was a very prolific writer, having written forty-eight mysteries under her first pen name, and twenty-three under her second. She was an important author of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.
She was a member of the Detection Club. She was a very prolific writer, having written forty-eight mysteries under her first pen name, and twenty-three under her second. She was an important author of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 109 reviews
December 2, 2024
The titular “iron dogs” are two canine-shaped fireplace irons to hold the logs in a fireplace hearth in a Lancaster cottage. With that out of the way, several odd items of not much value are stolen, while more profitable ones are not. That gets bookseller-turned-farmer Giles Hoggett to mail a letter to Chief Inspector Robert Macdonald. Wanting a break, he uses the low-level theft as an excuse to spend a weekend in his beloved Lancashire.
While Macdonald tries to take a vacation, murder does not. While there, Macdonald realizes that the weaselly suspect in his current case in London has made his way to Lunesdale, Lancashire, where Macdonald is staying.
While The Theft of the Iron Dogs is 28th book in the series, these novels can be read in any order, and newbies won’t have any trouble with it. For those who fall in love with the Lune Valley, a real-life valley in North England, as Macdonald does, be assured that he will revisit Lunesdale again and again.
Special thanks to British Library and Poisoned Pen Press for re-releasing another of E.C.R. Lorac’s wonderful Golden Age mysteries.
This book was also published as Murderer's Mistake.
In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley, British Library and Poisoned Pen Press in exchange for an honest review.
While Macdonald tries to take a vacation, murder does not. While there, Macdonald realizes that the weaselly suspect in his current case in London has made his way to Lunesdale, Lancashire, where Macdonald is staying.
While The Theft of the Iron Dogs is 28th book in the series, these novels can be read in any order, and newbies won’t have any trouble with it. For those who fall in love with the Lune Valley, a real-life valley in North England, as Macdonald does, be assured that he will revisit Lunesdale again and again.
Special thanks to British Library and Poisoned Pen Press for re-releasing another of E.C.R. Lorac’s wonderful Golden Age mysteries.
This book was also published as Murderer's Mistake.
In the interest of full disclosure, I received this book from NetGalley, British Library and Poisoned Pen Press in exchange for an honest review.
March 13, 2025
4.5 stars! Another excellent Lorac! Loved being back with my guys Chief Inspector Robert Macdonald and Inspector Peter Reeves. They make such a great team. It’s so fun to see them stay together in Giles Hoggett’s cottage and see Reeves be the cook. 😂 Giles Hoggett and his wife Kate are superb characters! I loved how they brought the case to Macdonald’s attention and both contributed to the case. Macdonald immediately feels like they’re old friends and we get to see them again in Crook o’Lune. It gives this mystery an underlying camaraderie that is perhaps unusual for a book in this genre. (Giles and Reeves wrestling? Priceless!) I think Macdonald laughs the most in this book.
The case was an interesting one and the slow and steady gathering of clues by various characters was especially well plotted by Lorac. There was a bit too much detail for me to keep track of but overall this is one of my favorite entries in this series from the British Library Crime Classics. I love Lorac’s Lunesdale mysteries the most, I think. She has such a feel for the land and for the farmers’ long-held traditions of husbandry. These mysteries are an ode to rural England and this wild and untamed region of the fells.
If you’re new to Lorac, read Fell Murder, then this one, and then Crook o’Lune.
Buddy read with Jess for March Mystery Madness. Our journey through Lorac has been The Best!
The case was an interesting one and the slow and steady gathering of clues by various characters was especially well plotted by Lorac. There was a bit too much detail for me to keep track of but overall this is one of my favorite entries in this series from the British Library Crime Classics. I love Lorac’s Lunesdale mysteries the most, I think. She has such a feel for the land and for the farmers’ long-held traditions of husbandry. These mysteries are an ode to rural England and this wild and untamed region of the fells.
If you’re new to Lorac, read Fell Murder, then this one, and then Crook o’Lune.
Buddy read with Jess for March Mystery Madness. Our journey through Lorac has been The Best!
March 31, 2025
I really like the sense of place the reader gets when she sets her mysteries in Lancashire.
September 12, 2016
This book is in fact called The Theft of the Iron Dogs (a much better title), as first published in the UK in 1946; the title Murderer's Mistake came along later, when the US edition appeared the following year. It's a bit depressing that Goodreads opts for the reprint title -- because it's American! -- rather than the real one.
A central character is Farmer (Giles) Hoggett, which is a major reason why for the past couple of days I've been stuck with the theme from the 1995 movie Babe as an earworm, sometimes just the orchestral version, sometimes as sung by the mice; on the other hand, Babe is a favorite guilty pleasure and there are plenty of worse tunes to have as earworms than its theme tune.
It's not long after the end of WWII, rationing is still in force in the UK, and Chief Inspector Macdonald of Scotland Yard is hot on the heels of a coupon racketeer, Gordon Ginner. Just then he gets a letter from Lancastrian farmer Giles Hoggett about some odd goings on recently in Lunesdale. Normally he'd pass on the letter to some subordinate, but the possibility that Giles's suspicions might link to the Ginner investigation are just too tantalizing to leave alone, so off to Lancashire goes Chief Inspector Macdonald . . . soon to discover the murdered body of Gordon Ginner!
This is a good mystery tale, albeit one that tends to focus a tad more on instincts and the 1946 equivalent of spreadsheets ("But if Bugs was there on August 25th at 11.30am he couldn't possibly have been shot at by Elmer, who was undergoing his second vasectomy at the time") than on masterful ratiocination. There's a refreshing upside to this, though, in that much of the intellectual effort to unravel the crime comes from Macdonald's lay friends in the Lancashire dales -- the rangy Farmer Hoggett, his wife Kate, his brother George, etc., though no signs of a certain small pig -- rather than from the professional supersleuth. That the narrative unfolds at a fairly leisurely pace seems perfectly in keeping with the fact that the tale is set in a farming community among people who pride themselves upon always thinking things through before they jump to conclusions (although jump to conclusions some of them nonetheless do).
I enjoyed reading this, my introduction to Lorac's work, while at the same time not really being excited by it. Had I been confined to bed for the day with a cold or enduring a long train/bus journey, I'm sure I'd've found The Theft of the Iron Dogs excellent fodder, and to be sure there are lots of nice observations and writerly flourish, with a great sense of place among the Lancastrian small farmers; even though I was up and about, with other things to occupy my mind, this was a more than adequate way to pass the time.
A central character is Farmer (Giles) Hoggett, which is a major reason why for the past couple of days I've been stuck with the theme from the 1995 movie Babe as an earworm, sometimes just the orchestral version, sometimes as sung by the mice; on the other hand, Babe is a favorite guilty pleasure and there are plenty of worse tunes to have as earworms than its theme tune.
It's not long after the end of WWII, rationing is still in force in the UK, and Chief Inspector Macdonald of Scotland Yard is hot on the heels of a coupon racketeer, Gordon Ginner. Just then he gets a letter from Lancastrian farmer Giles Hoggett about some odd goings on recently in Lunesdale. Normally he'd pass on the letter to some subordinate, but the possibility that Giles's suspicions might link to the Ginner investigation are just too tantalizing to leave alone, so off to Lancashire goes Chief Inspector Macdonald . . . soon to discover the murdered body of Gordon Ginner!
This is a good mystery tale, albeit one that tends to focus a tad more on instincts and the 1946 equivalent of spreadsheets ("But if Bugs was there on August 25th at 11.30am he couldn't possibly have been shot at by Elmer, who was undergoing his second vasectomy at the time") than on masterful ratiocination. There's a refreshing upside to this, though, in that much of the intellectual effort to unravel the crime comes from Macdonald's lay friends in the Lancashire dales -- the rangy Farmer Hoggett, his wife Kate, his brother George, etc., though no signs of a certain small pig -- rather than from the professional supersleuth. That the narrative unfolds at a fairly leisurely pace seems perfectly in keeping with the fact that the tale is set in a farming community among people who pride themselves upon always thinking things through before they jump to conclusions (although jump to conclusions some of them nonetheless do).
I enjoyed reading this, my introduction to Lorac's work, while at the same time not really being excited by it. Had I been confined to bed for the day with a cold or enduring a long train/bus journey, I'm sure I'd've found The Theft of the Iron Dogs excellent fodder, and to be sure there are lots of nice observations and writerly flourish, with a great sense of place among the Lancastrian small farmers; even though I was up and about, with other things to occupy my mind, this was a more than adequate way to pass the time.
September 14, 2023
I enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed the other two Lunesdale books by Lorac.
It's a gentle read with lots of description about farming in the dales but also a very intriguing murder mystery as to motive.
Don't read the introduction first (I never do, I read them afterwards) - I felt this one gave too many hints.
There's a fourth Lunedale Mystery - Still Waters - and I really hope the British Library will republish this one next year.
It's a gentle read with lots of description about farming in the dales but also a very intriguing murder mystery as to motive.
Don't read the introduction first (I never do, I read them afterwards) - I felt this one gave too many hints.
There's a fourth Lunedale Mystery - Still Waters - and I really hope the British Library will republish this one next year.
October 7, 2025
A good read. I look forward to trying more of E. C. R. Lorac.
March 12, 2024
This Golden Age Crime Novel can only be described as perfection!
Set in the Lunesdale and filled with local farmers who may or may not know what happened to that War Profiteer who seems to have disappeared.
Beautiful descriptions of the countryside, this is again (like Fell Murder) is a social history of farming and its hardships in the 1940's.
Another cracking Macdonald story.
Set in the Lunesdale and filled with local farmers who may or may not know what happened to that War Profiteer who seems to have disappeared.
Beautiful descriptions of the countryside, this is again (like Fell Murder) is a social history of farming and its hardships in the 1940's.
Another cracking Macdonald story.
November 28, 2023
The man in the coat…
When Lunesdale farmer Giles Hoggett notices that a cottage on his land has been broken into and some odd things have gone missing, he decides to write to Inspector Macdonald of Scotland Yard, whom the local community had got to know while he was investigating another crime in the area a year or two earlier. Hoggett is really only hoping for advice, but coincidentally Macdonald is working on another case that seems to be leading him in the direction of Lunesdale. A rations-coupon racketeer, Gordon Ginner, has discovered the police are on his tracks and has fled, and it looks like he has connections with the Lunesdale area. So Macdonald decides to kill two birds with one stone and head up there himself, especially since the idea of a trip to his beloved fell country is very appealing. And he can’t help wondering if the two cases might turn out to be connected…
Well, it had to happen eventually – an ECR Lorac I didn’t much enjoy. To be fair, there are even two or three Agatha Christies I’ll probably never read again! As always, Lorac’s main strength is in her settings and here she’s back among the hilly farm country that she loves. The descriptions of the landscape and the lives of those who inhabit it are as good as ever, and we spend a lot of time among the various farmers and hear about how farming practices changed during the war, and how some of these changes will never be reversed. First published in 1946, the war is now over but shortages and rationing remain – Ginner’s racket is about black-market clothing coupons, worth their weight in gold in a society desperate to get back to some kind of normality. However, life in farming country has some benefits over town-dwelling – both Macdonald and later Reeves, when he joins his boss in Lunesdale, are thrilled by the availability of real fresh eggs and cream, and simply the general availability of food after years of city deprivation. All of this is at Lorac’s usual excellent standard.
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of the plot, or rather the investigation. The underlying mystery is actually quite good, although it is a pretty heavy coincidence that the two cases do indeed connect. But the investigation seems to consist almost entirely of people talking about possible sightings of a man in a stolen coat and hat, and interminable discussions as they try to pin down the dates of the sightings, and speculate as to who the man could have been. I swear that by half-way through I’d reached the point of wanting to scream every time the word “coat” appeared. And it appears frequently! To be honest, had it not been Lorac I may have abandoned it. But I stuck with it, and eventually it becomes more interesting, but only in the very late stages when, for me, it was past redemption.
Oh, well! Hopefully it will work better for other Lorac fans. I won’t hold it against her! 😉 2½ stars for me, so rounded up.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, the British Library.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
When Lunesdale farmer Giles Hoggett notices that a cottage on his land has been broken into and some odd things have gone missing, he decides to write to Inspector Macdonald of Scotland Yard, whom the local community had got to know while he was investigating another crime in the area a year or two earlier. Hoggett is really only hoping for advice, but coincidentally Macdonald is working on another case that seems to be leading him in the direction of Lunesdale. A rations-coupon racketeer, Gordon Ginner, has discovered the police are on his tracks and has fled, and it looks like he has connections with the Lunesdale area. So Macdonald decides to kill two birds with one stone and head up there himself, especially since the idea of a trip to his beloved fell country is very appealing. And he can’t help wondering if the two cases might turn out to be connected…
Well, it had to happen eventually – an ECR Lorac I didn’t much enjoy. To be fair, there are even two or three Agatha Christies I’ll probably never read again! As always, Lorac’s main strength is in her settings and here she’s back among the hilly farm country that she loves. The descriptions of the landscape and the lives of those who inhabit it are as good as ever, and we spend a lot of time among the various farmers and hear about how farming practices changed during the war, and how some of these changes will never be reversed. First published in 1946, the war is now over but shortages and rationing remain – Ginner’s racket is about black-market clothing coupons, worth their weight in gold in a society desperate to get back to some kind of normality. However, life in farming country has some benefits over town-dwelling – both Macdonald and later Reeves, when he joins his boss in Lunesdale, are thrilled by the availability of real fresh eggs and cream, and simply the general availability of food after years of city deprivation. All of this is at Lorac’s usual excellent standard.
Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of the plot, or rather the investigation. The underlying mystery is actually quite good, although it is a pretty heavy coincidence that the two cases do indeed connect. But the investigation seems to consist almost entirely of people talking about possible sightings of a man in a stolen coat and hat, and interminable discussions as they try to pin down the dates of the sightings, and speculate as to who the man could have been. I swear that by half-way through I’d reached the point of wanting to scream every time the word “coat” appeared. And it appears frequently! To be honest, had it not been Lorac I may have abandoned it. But I stuck with it, and eventually it becomes more interesting, but only in the very late stages when, for me, it was past redemption.
Oh, well! Hopefully it will work better for other Lorac fans. I won’t hold it against her! 😉 2½ stars for me, so rounded up.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, the British Library.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
February 6, 2024
Sadly some Americanisation and typos in the Kindle edition but wonderful book - great description of the setting and the charaters. Better read the version that´s called The Theft of the Iron Dogs: A Lancashire Mystery in the British Library Crime Classics series.
October 22, 2023
My favourite of the Lorac novels I’ve read so far. It showcases her excellent ability to convey sense of place in her description of Lunesdale and its inhabitants. She cleverly makes the mystery itself and its solution arise from the character of the people who live and work in the area. Very satisfying read.
January 13, 2024
This book is set in the 1940's, and although the war was over, there was still rationing. Macdonald is looking for a man who has been illegally dealing in ration vouchers, and was last reported as in the Dales, Yorkshire. He receives a letter from a farmer living there, about a robbery of his riverside summer house. Macdonald who has investigated a crime in the vicinity of this man, and likes the place, and it does look as if the criminal he is seeking could be close. He therefore responds to the letter and heads up there. It is while he is there that he finds the body of a man who has been hidden in the river.
I liked Hoggett and his wife and most of the farmers there, but it is the descriptions of the landscape that was most appealing.
I liked Hoggett and his wife and most of the farmers there, but it is the descriptions of the landscape that was most appealing.
May 22, 2021
4.5 stars. A really good read!
Totally as you expect from Lorac - a cosy little mystery set in the Lancashire Dales. Absolutely packed with descriptions of the dales and fells, very atmospheric and with a good balance of detection.
All I wanted to know at the end is what happened to the donkey and Belinda the goat? After being half starved I hope the rest of their life was good…
Totally as you expect from Lorac - a cosy little mystery set in the Lancashire Dales. Absolutely packed with descriptions of the dales and fells, very atmospheric and with a good balance of detection.
All I wanted to know at the end is what happened to the donkey and Belinda the goat? After being half starved I hope the rest of their life was good…
July 9, 2025
I feel as though I just visited rural Lancashire, though I'll still be "from away" at least for 120 years or so. That's okay, because I enjoyed the scenery and local folks so much that I wasn't worrying about whodunnit. And for those who aren't familiar with animal husbandry (what a scary phrase), a "stirk" is a yearling bullock or heifer. Now I have to look those up ... .
July 30, 2025
Great setting, charming rural characters and deep knowledge of a region. Good plot and head fake.
October 7, 2023
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
My @bl_publishing #crimeclassics for September was The Theft of the Iron Dogs by ECR Lorac. What a treat to read this was. Retired bookseller turned farmer, Giles Hoggert, has moved from London back to the Lancashire dales where one morning he discovers that a woodpile has been disturbed at a cottage on his land and on further investigation there has been a theft from the cottage. Amongst items taken are two iron dogs which rest on the hearth to hold the large logs. In itself the theft of the iron dogs is not particularly important but the fact that they have been taken leads to the discovery of a murder of a person, Gordon Ginner, a con-man from London whose disappearance is being investigated by Chief Inspector MacDonald of Scotland Yard CID. MacDonald travels to Lancashire to continue his investigation. The mystery of who killed Ginner and why is beautifully crafted with all the clues laid before the reader but with enough red herrings and misdirection that the revelation came while I still had several people under suspicion. Lorac also has an ability to create characters that are so deep and broken by life and poverty at the time when there was no social safety net of the welfare state that you can feel their despair and desperation. While this might be considered to be “cosy” crime Lorac addresses aspects of life which then as now are no so cosy: the prejudice against those who are itinerant or not native to certain place, domestic violence, the destruction of lives by alcoholism, the abuse of those who are vulnerable and can be manipulated which then as now are still part of our society.
A huge part of the misdirection and distraction from the crime was the beauty of the writing that creates such an incredible depiction of the Lancashire dales at the end of the war years that you can’t help but feel you are walking those sodden fields with MacDonald. The overall sense for me was that I was reading nature writing where a murder had happened rather than the other way round. Gentle, descriptive and
full of understanding of the natural world.
#britishlibrarycrimeclassics
#classiccrime
My @bl_publishing #crimeclassics for September was The Theft of the Iron Dogs by ECR Lorac. What a treat to read this was. Retired bookseller turned farmer, Giles Hoggert, has moved from London back to the Lancashire dales where one morning he discovers that a woodpile has been disturbed at a cottage on his land and on further investigation there has been a theft from the cottage. Amongst items taken are two iron dogs which rest on the hearth to hold the large logs. In itself the theft of the iron dogs is not particularly important but the fact that they have been taken leads to the discovery of a murder of a person, Gordon Ginner, a con-man from London whose disappearance is being investigated by Chief Inspector MacDonald of Scotland Yard CID. MacDonald travels to Lancashire to continue his investigation. The mystery of who killed Ginner and why is beautifully crafted with all the clues laid before the reader but with enough red herrings and misdirection that the revelation came while I still had several people under suspicion. Lorac also has an ability to create characters that are so deep and broken by life and poverty at the time when there was no social safety net of the welfare state that you can feel their despair and desperation. While this might be considered to be “cosy” crime Lorac addresses aspects of life which then as now are no so cosy: the prejudice against those who are itinerant or not native to certain place, domestic violence, the destruction of lives by alcoholism, the abuse of those who are vulnerable and can be manipulated which then as now are still part of our society.
A huge part of the misdirection and distraction from the crime was the beauty of the writing that creates such an incredible depiction of the Lancashire dales at the end of the war years that you can’t help but feel you are walking those sodden fields with MacDonald. The overall sense for me was that I was reading nature writing where a murder had happened rather than the other way round. Gentle, descriptive and
full of understanding of the natural world.
#britishlibrarycrimeclassics
#classiccrime
July 6, 2020
This was the first book by this author I did not like. The tale was drawn out and I became disinterested. I began neither to care who the murderer was. I skipped over many pages. Normally I find Lorac's mysterys engaging and difficult to put down. This was a poor read.
January 18, 2024
I really enjoyed this rural mystery by one of my favorite GA authors, which sees her CID detective come from London to rural Lunesdale in pursuit of a con man.
World War II is recently over, but rationing still in force; Gordon Ginner is an unsavory character, known to be involved, among other shady pursuits, in coupon swindling. He's disappeared from his London digs, and Macdonald and his team are trying to trace him when he receives a letter from farmer Giles Hoggett in Lancashire. He’s noticed some things missing from his family’s summer cottage, and suspects a break in; he consults a neighboring farmer who had met Macdonald in a previous investigation. He recommends Hoggett write the CID man with his suspicions.
Macdonald decides to pursue the investigation in Lunesdale, and is helped mightily by Hoggett, his wife, Kate, and other farmers in the area with local knowledge. A body is found in the nearby river, trussed up and weighted down with the stolen iron dogs of the original title (“The Theft of the Iron Dogs”), and it’s the missing rationing cheat. But who killed him, and why?
I’ve always appreciated that about Macdonald, he respects and appreciates the local people, and the valuable information they can provide. The author lived in Lunesdale, and her love for that part of England comes through her descriptions of the landscape and the people. Indeed, this seemed more like an adventure story as Hoggett joins in with Macdonald and his sergeant, Reeves, pumping locals for clues.
It got a little bogged down for me as the questioning wore on, I wasn’t always sure of the importance of some of the obscure details Macdonald and his team (both professional and amateur) were trying to trace.
I was also a bit disoriented because I read the ebook while listening to the British Library Crime Classics audiobook, which had extra text - nothing important about clues, but descriptions of scenery or characters. It was a bit confusing when the audio didn’t sync with the text.
Otherwise, an enjoyable mystery, and I look forward to reading further Lorac mysteries as they are reissued. I also own Crook o' Lune, in which Macdonald revisits the Hoggetts and Lunesdale to look for a retirement home, and gets involved in a case. I look forward to meeting these characters again!
World War II is recently over, but rationing still in force; Gordon Ginner is an unsavory character, known to be involved, among other shady pursuits, in coupon swindling. He's disappeared from his London digs, and Macdonald and his team are trying to trace him when he receives a letter from farmer Giles Hoggett in Lancashire. He’s noticed some things missing from his family’s summer cottage, and suspects a break in; he consults a neighboring farmer who had met Macdonald in a previous investigation. He recommends Hoggett write the CID man with his suspicions.
Macdonald decides to pursue the investigation in Lunesdale, and is helped mightily by Hoggett, his wife, Kate, and other farmers in the area with local knowledge. A body is found in the nearby river, trussed up and weighted down with the stolen iron dogs of the original title (“The Theft of the Iron Dogs”), and it’s the missing rationing cheat. But who killed him, and why?
I’ve always appreciated that about Macdonald, he respects and appreciates the local people, and the valuable information they can provide. The author lived in Lunesdale, and her love for that part of England comes through her descriptions of the landscape and the people. Indeed, this seemed more like an adventure story as Hoggett joins in with Macdonald and his sergeant, Reeves, pumping locals for clues.
It got a little bogged down for me as the questioning wore on, I wasn’t always sure of the importance of some of the obscure details Macdonald and his team (both professional and amateur) were trying to trace.
I was also a bit disoriented because I read the ebook while listening to the British Library Crime Classics audiobook, which had extra text - nothing important about clues, but descriptions of scenery or characters. It was a bit confusing when the audio didn’t sync with the text.
Otherwise, an enjoyable mystery, and I look forward to reading further Lorac mysteries as they are reissued. I also own Crook o' Lune, in which Macdonald revisits the Hoggetts and Lunesdale to look for a retirement home, and gets involved in a case. I look forward to meeting these characters again!
August 28, 2025
3.5 stars. This is the book that needs to be read before Crook o'Lune, so that all the inside baseball stuff discussed that late in the series makes sense.
As always, it is a pleasure to tag along with Inspector Macdonald, especially when he is in Lancashire, a part of the country he steadily falls in love with more each time he visits. By the end of the series, he's ready to settle down among friends; here, we see him meeting those friends in a case that twists and turns as much as the Lune river.
Macdonald is on the case of a fraudster who is running a scam with post WWII clothing coupons; to his surprise, this intersects with a raft of thefts of fishing cottages in the north country. When Macdonald finds his suspect dead and buried in a deep pool under the roots of a willow tree, he knows something is amiss. However, being that the dead man is a criminal, there's no shortage of people who want him dead. The mystery is to discover who in this out-of-the-way village would be that person.
I enjoyed the characters a lot here (especially when Det Reeves shows up in the second half!). They are interesting people with a lot of common sense, which can be a trait thin on the ground in mysteries. The author's love of this part of the country is also very, very obvious and she waxes almost poetic in several spots.
There were lots of red herrings, too, as the solution to the murder is just a tad too convoluted. Still, the more I read of Ms Lorac's work, the more I like it, and I am beyond pleased that she's enjoying a resurgence of popularity as more of her books are released by the British Library.
As always, it is a pleasure to tag along with Inspector Macdonald, especially when he is in Lancashire, a part of the country he steadily falls in love with more each time he visits. By the end of the series, he's ready to settle down among friends; here, we see him meeting those friends in a case that twists and turns as much as the Lune river.
Macdonald is on the case of a fraudster who is running a scam with post WWII clothing coupons; to his surprise, this intersects with a raft of thefts of fishing cottages in the north country. When Macdonald finds his suspect dead and buried in a deep pool under the roots of a willow tree, he knows something is amiss. However, being that the dead man is a criminal, there's no shortage of people who want him dead. The mystery is to discover who in this out-of-the-way village would be that person.
I enjoyed the characters a lot here (especially when Det Reeves shows up in the second half!). They are interesting people with a lot of common sense, which can be a trait thin on the ground in mysteries. The author's love of this part of the country is also very, very obvious and she waxes almost poetic in several spots.
There were lots of red herrings, too, as the solution to the murder is just a tad too convoluted. Still, the more I read of Ms Lorac's work, the more I like it, and I am beyond pleased that she's enjoying a resurgence of popularity as more of her books are released by the British Library.
September 27, 2025
This...was less like a murder mystery and more like a hilarious adventure in the high-country! I chuckled aloud over several juicy bits of pithy or out-right humor as Inspector MacDonald navigates the famous North Men and their farms.
Reeves was in it again, to my satisfaction. And I loved meeting Giles!! Also, including details of an afternoon tea should be illegal. I'm hungry and unsatisfied!
Then there are the diseased chickens, the "fairy" suspect that leads Giles and MacDonald on a foot-race in the field, and a Ju-Jitsu match between a Cockney and Northman... it was really too good, and I quite forgot we had a suspect at large on more than one occasion.
Shelving this as a Favorite of Loracs!
Reeves was in it again, to my satisfaction. And I loved meeting Giles!! Also, including details of an afternoon tea should be illegal. I'm hungry and unsatisfied!
Then there are the diseased chickens, the "fairy" suspect that leads Giles and MacDonald on a foot-race in the field, and a Ju-Jitsu match between a Cockney and Northman... it was really too good, and I quite forgot we had a suspect at large on more than one occasion.
Shelving this as a Favorite of Loracs!
December 1, 2024
Lunesdale. Farmer Gile Hoggett contacts DCI MacDonald at Scotland Yard about thefts at a cottage on his lands. On arrival he finds more thefts have occurred, and a sighting of a man missing from London, a racketeer. But soon a body is discovered.
An entertaining and well-written historical mystery with its likeable main character supported by a cast of varied personalities. It can easily be read as a standalone story. Another good addition to this enjoyable series.
An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Originally published in 1946
An entertaining and well-written historical mystery with its likeable main character supported by a cast of varied personalities. It can easily be read as a standalone story. Another good addition to this enjoyable series.
An ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Originally published in 1946
December 7, 2024
ARC | Good characterization and setting, but a little too roundabout | I've read quite a few Lorac novels by now, and she really did make the scene come to life on the page. I always enjoy an outing with MacDonald, and here he's so pleased with the company he keeps that it's even better. However, I never found myself particularly caring about the actual mystery, and the reason behind it was confused and not much bothered with until the end. Admittedly I read this much more in fits and starts than usual, as I was in and out of hospital, but I don't think the author particularly cared about the murder aspect when she wrote it. It was an excuse to write about a place and people she loved.
Advanced Reader Copy provided free of charge, which did not impact my review.
Advanced Reader Copy provided free of charge, which did not impact my review.
September 27, 2023
A very atmospheric mystery set up in Lancashire with a couple of very likeable characters!
September 2, 2025
I’m addicted to this series, the British Crime Classics Library, particularly the Yorkshire stories with CID Macdonald. Everything about Lunesdale feeds my soul.
February 16, 2026
Unfortunately, I came to this book by way of its sequel - "Still Waters", so reading this was a little like time travel In "Still Waters" the relationships between the protagonists was quite well developed, whereas here Macdonald - her series detective - and the Hoggetts are strangers to one another. However, Macdonald is no stranger to the area, having been called in to investigate in the even earlier "Fell Murder". I am saying this for those for whom even mild continuity and internal chronology matter. However, each novel is quite capable of standing alone and for me it was like having a conversation with long-established friends and discovering how they first met.
This is one of Lorac's best stories and it is full of local detail, both geographical and cultural. Even though she is writing fiction and creating fictional locations she embeds the narrative as much as possible in real locations. So there are references to real places correctly placed in relation to one another which help to give a sense of place to her people. Events are located in time both in terms of Macdonald's prior visit and in terms of the post-war context and the ongoing rationing. Where some golden age mysteries could take place in almost any location and in almost any year or even decade, this story and the ones that surround it exist in a very specific time and place. It is probable that rural farmers everywhere might have similar characteristics and might hold to similar social attitudes, but these people exist here in this place and their basic views and attitude to authority have been especially shaped by their experience of officialdom as it was during the war and its immediate aftermath.
The story begins because a local farmer, Giles Hoggett, notices something relatively minor but out of place, which leads him to notice other things which are out of place because stolen. A letter to Scotland Yard happens to come to Macdonald who is travelling north in pursuit of another case. Apparently disparate minor instances begin to show unexpected connections, connections arising from Giles Hoggett's "detecting skills" and vivid imagination as much as from Macdonald's trained mind and careful enquiries.
Lorac does not go in for heavy exposition but sketches each character and over time adds a few more lines and extra shading to their portraits. This allows the reader to develop their own sense of these people in a way which parallels their growing knowledge of each other. This works really well and is quite effective. The physical description of objects, such as Giles' disreputable hat, act as windows on their characters. The image of Giles as a bookseller and a university graduate is offset by his happiness as a farmer and by that hat. In other words, although her portraits are sketches and not fully colour portraits they are not mere caricatures. Also, the personality and character of these people matter more than their appearance. They are not "types" but distinct individuals. This is true, also, of minor characters. One farmer is not a mere clone of another.
The author includes a lot of detail but the reader never gets the feeling that she is simply producing filler. The details either work to further the plot or to emphasise the reality of the setting. If, at some points, it is clear that she is allowing her love of the locality to show through for its own sake it never feels indulgent or unnecessary. The only slight criticism I would say is that the farmers I have met don't really spend much time on the beauty of the landscape, even a farmer who leased out their original farmhouse as a holiday let said "you can't eat the view". To him the farm was a working space and not first and foremost an aesthetic experience.
Somewhat unusually for this author, the murder victim's body is not found immediately and is hidden in quite an unusual way. But, unlike a locked room mystery, this is not some piece of hyper clever trickery but a logical use of the locality to dispose of an unwanted body. The story revolves around "who" and "why" as much as the "how" but the revelation of how these three aspects are connected develops over time in a way which makes the conclusion seem believable and logical. The book works as a detective novel but there are enough details that provide clues for the attentive reader. I guessed the killer but wholly missed some of these clues despite their being quite obvious in hindsight.
The author or, possibly, the publisher did produce some typos and I think that the author did make one or two very minor factual errors - unfortunately I didn't note them down and can't recall them here. They are not major and are the kind of thing that might happen if relying solely on one's memory in a time before google.
One aspect which I did find annoying is the author's use of "jiu-jitsu" as a kind of magic maguffin whereby a smaller policeman can use his "tricks" to overcome a larger individual, even though that larger man can overcome the policeman when they are practising Westmoreland wrestling. Now, the public perception of jujutsu and judo as arts that enable a smaller man to overcome a larger man was common at the time and is, at least, partially correct. But that correct perception is based on a trained man engaging an untrained and unprepared individual. The fact that the individuals were sparring and as such were both alert and prepared means that a skilled wrestler could have a reasonable chance against the smaller man just as a trained exponent of Japanese martial arts might have a good chance against a wrestler. Strictly speaking, this is a criticism of a whole swathe of Golden Age fiction but it is appropriate here because the author is usually a master of circumstantial detail - in the sequel she has a detailed description of someone moving over the ground whilst trying to remain hidden. When she lacks detail it often seems to reveal a lack of detailed knowledge. This is reinforced by the fact that she is quite straightforward about the violence involved in murder. She isn't voyeuristic about violence and doesn't dwell on it but she doesn't seem to be prudish, so such gaps may indicate a lack of real knowledge. On the other hand, she avoids any direct description of a main character's suicide in another novel, leaving it to be mentioned after the fact and with minimal detail.
To conclude, despite my few concerns, the main joy of this book is how Macdonald works with the local civilians to unearth information. He does what he does best and allows his colleague to work with Giles Hoggett in unearthing local information that might be hidden from the police and relying on Kate Hoggett to keep her husband's wilder excesses of imagination in check. Meanwhile the author does an excellent job of showing how preconceptions and downright bias can colour and distort both perceptions and judgements. I do not wish to say much more because there is a risk of giving away the identity of the murderer and spoiling the book. But it is a point in the author's favour that no one is perfect or infallible, not even Macdonald and there are no supervillains. The entire cast is human and, as such, quite believable. The rural inhabitants of the area are, perhaps, just a little too idealised but this is not overdone and the book works because of its basic realism, except that nearly every character smokes frequent cigarettes and yet they have no problem walking long distances or on one occasion, outrunning a younger and much lighter person.
This is one of Lorac's best stories and it is full of local detail, both geographical and cultural. Even though she is writing fiction and creating fictional locations she embeds the narrative as much as possible in real locations. So there are references to real places correctly placed in relation to one another which help to give a sense of place to her people. Events are located in time both in terms of Macdonald's prior visit and in terms of the post-war context and the ongoing rationing. Where some golden age mysteries could take place in almost any location and in almost any year or even decade, this story and the ones that surround it exist in a very specific time and place. It is probable that rural farmers everywhere might have similar characteristics and might hold to similar social attitudes, but these people exist here in this place and their basic views and attitude to authority have been especially shaped by their experience of officialdom as it was during the war and its immediate aftermath.
The story begins because a local farmer, Giles Hoggett, notices something relatively minor but out of place, which leads him to notice other things which are out of place because stolen. A letter to Scotland Yard happens to come to Macdonald who is travelling north in pursuit of another case. Apparently disparate minor instances begin to show unexpected connections, connections arising from Giles Hoggett's "detecting skills" and vivid imagination as much as from Macdonald's trained mind and careful enquiries.
Lorac does not go in for heavy exposition but sketches each character and over time adds a few more lines and extra shading to their portraits. This allows the reader to develop their own sense of these people in a way which parallels their growing knowledge of each other. This works really well and is quite effective. The physical description of objects, such as Giles' disreputable hat, act as windows on their characters. The image of Giles as a bookseller and a university graduate is offset by his happiness as a farmer and by that hat. In other words, although her portraits are sketches and not fully colour portraits they are not mere caricatures. Also, the personality and character of these people matter more than their appearance. They are not "types" but distinct individuals. This is true, also, of minor characters. One farmer is not a mere clone of another.
The author includes a lot of detail but the reader never gets the feeling that she is simply producing filler. The details either work to further the plot or to emphasise the reality of the setting. If, at some points, it is clear that she is allowing her love of the locality to show through for its own sake it never feels indulgent or unnecessary. The only slight criticism I would say is that the farmers I have met don't really spend much time on the beauty of the landscape, even a farmer who leased out their original farmhouse as a holiday let said "you can't eat the view". To him the farm was a working space and not first and foremost an aesthetic experience.
Somewhat unusually for this author, the murder victim's body is not found immediately and is hidden in quite an unusual way. But, unlike a locked room mystery, this is not some piece of hyper clever trickery but a logical use of the locality to dispose of an unwanted body. The story revolves around "who" and "why" as much as the "how" but the revelation of how these three aspects are connected develops over time in a way which makes the conclusion seem believable and logical. The book works as a detective novel but there are enough details that provide clues for the attentive reader. I guessed the killer but wholly missed some of these clues despite their being quite obvious in hindsight.
The author or, possibly, the publisher did produce some typos and I think that the author did make one or two very minor factual errors - unfortunately I didn't note them down and can't recall them here. They are not major and are the kind of thing that might happen if relying solely on one's memory in a time before google.
One aspect which I did find annoying is the author's use of "jiu-jitsu" as a kind of magic maguffin whereby a smaller policeman can use his "tricks" to overcome a larger individual, even though that larger man can overcome the policeman when they are practising Westmoreland wrestling. Now, the public perception of jujutsu and judo as arts that enable a smaller man to overcome a larger man was common at the time and is, at least, partially correct. But that correct perception is based on a trained man engaging an untrained and unprepared individual. The fact that the individuals were sparring and as such were both alert and prepared means that a skilled wrestler could have a reasonable chance against the smaller man just as a trained exponent of Japanese martial arts might have a good chance against a wrestler. Strictly speaking, this is a criticism of a whole swathe of Golden Age fiction but it is appropriate here because the author is usually a master of circumstantial detail - in the sequel she has a detailed description of someone moving over the ground whilst trying to remain hidden. When she lacks detail it often seems to reveal a lack of detailed knowledge. This is reinforced by the fact that she is quite straightforward about the violence involved in murder. She isn't voyeuristic about violence and doesn't dwell on it but she doesn't seem to be prudish, so such gaps may indicate a lack of real knowledge. On the other hand, she avoids any direct description of a main character's suicide in another novel, leaving it to be mentioned after the fact and with minimal detail.
To conclude, despite my few concerns, the main joy of this book is how Macdonald works with the local civilians to unearth information. He does what he does best and allows his colleague to work with Giles Hoggett in unearthing local information that might be hidden from the police and relying on Kate Hoggett to keep her husband's wilder excesses of imagination in check. Meanwhile the author does an excellent job of showing how preconceptions and downright bias can colour and distort both perceptions and judgements. I do not wish to say much more because there is a risk of giving away the identity of the murderer and spoiling the book. But it is a point in the author's favour that no one is perfect or infallible, not even Macdonald and there are no supervillains. The entire cast is human and, as such, quite believable. The rural inhabitants of the area are, perhaps, just a little too idealised but this is not overdone and the book works because of its basic realism, except that nearly every character smokes frequent cigarettes and yet they have no problem walking long distances or on one occasion, outrunning a younger and much lighter person.
June 24, 2020
Another thoroughly enjoyable Lorac tale, the second set in the Lune Valley and with a much better balance between descriptive passages and detection than in "Fell Murder" and "Fire in the Thatch".
My only minor quibble is that, again, the author does not develop a potentially interesting character, this time Katherine Hoggett, and leaves the murder enquiry completely male-dominated.
The original title, "The Theft of the Iron Dogs", probably means something only to people of my generation, but the publishers may have felt it was too much of a give-away. There are lots of other small clues to point to the murderer and much of the fun of the book is is following the detectives, amateur and professional, along several wrong paths.
The pace is leisurely, reflecting the measured approach to life of the locals, and there is a lot of interest in the detail of life in a Lancashire farming community just after WW2.
Recommended.
My only minor quibble is that, again, the author does not develop a potentially interesting character, this time Katherine Hoggett, and leaves the murder enquiry completely male-dominated.
The original title, "The Theft of the Iron Dogs", probably means something only to people of my generation, but the publishers may have felt it was too much of a give-away. There are lots of other small clues to point to the murderer and much of the fun of the book is is following the detectives, amateur and professional, along several wrong paths.
The pace is leisurely, reflecting the measured approach to life of the locals, and there is a lot of interest in the detail of life in a Lancashire farming community just after WW2.
Recommended.
August 15, 2022
Rating 3.5
Another very good novel from ECR Lorac republished after many years.
There is something about her writing style that is so easy to read despite the passage of time since the original publication. The localities are always drawn so well that the reader feels like they have seen them at some point in time, even if just passing through on the way to somewhere else. Her series detective comes over as a very intelligent and experienced officer who always wants to work with the local force, as well as locals.
Despite enjoying it very much it didn’t really make it to 4 stars for me, not sure why. Perhaps because the investigation was running along for 2 thirds of the book and then it suddenly finished.
A definite recommendation though
Another very good novel from ECR Lorac republished after many years.
There is something about her writing style that is so easy to read despite the passage of time since the original publication. The localities are always drawn so well that the reader feels like they have seen them at some point in time, even if just passing through on the way to somewhere else. Her series detective comes over as a very intelligent and experienced officer who always wants to work with the local force, as well as locals.
Despite enjoying it very much it didn’t really make it to 4 stars for me, not sure why. Perhaps because the investigation was running along for 2 thirds of the book and then it suddenly finished.
A definite recommendation though
February 7, 2022
Ingenious story hurt by bad OCR
The plot is interesting but the punctuation is terrible, making it uncomfortable to read. I assume the book was scanned and converted to electronic format by OCR, but a human proofreader could have made it much better. With the problems fixed I would have rated it a 4.
The plot is interesting but the punctuation is terrible, making it uncomfortable to read. I assume the book was scanned and converted to electronic format by OCR, but a human proofreader could have made it much better. With the problems fixed I would have rated it a 4.
July 8, 2022
A disturbed woodpile and the search for a nasty character sends MacDonald to deepest Lancaster. A country crime or something else? Very well written with a lot of good rural description - and not too much rural comedy. As always MacDonald is just a bit too good to be true. And it’s a bit too talky…
August 1, 2025
Another nicely paced, enjoyable whodunnit set in the Lune Valley, the period pieces and landscape descriptions adding to the narrative (a few of them have supporting roles in the evidence). A good read on a bleak and windy afternoon.
I envy Chief Inspector MacDonald his walking knees.
I envy Chief Inspector MacDonald his walking knees.
December 22, 2024
‘why the devil do we equate civilisation with cities..[ ..]’
The Theft of the Iron Dogs was written in 1946 and is now being reissued by British Library Classic Crime with a foreword by Mark Edwards.
I have been a golden age mystery and Agatha Christie devotee since my youth and am familiar with Lorac's books, including the novels she wrote under one of her pseudonyms, Carol Carnac. Some of the stories seem somewhat dated to today's readers in terms of views, morals and traditional gender roles.
I am happy to see these classic crimes are coming back into the public domain through the British Library Classic Crime series.
E.R.C. Lorac passed away in 1958. In her novels in Chief Inspector Robert Macdonald, a "London Scot" and an avowed bachelor with a love for walking in the English countryside plays a leading role.
I am a 'daft southerner' who has spent most of my life and time mainly in the South Downs - the Dales have been my go to 'holiday area'.
It is beautifully descriptive, of cows frolicking, of farming the land and the beautiful surroundings, and of people trying to pick up a bit of life after the war; life is simple, food is rationed (which would last until 1954), in this close-knit community where people help each other and know each other.
Giles Hogett, a bookseller turned farmer living in the Dales with his wife Kate, 'who was a wonderful fifty', notices that fishing tackle, waders, a washing line, a tin of sardines and two iron dogs have been stolen from their cottage. He is quick to point out the culprits, but his wife Kate urges him to write a story about it for Scotland Yard. Not long after, MacDonald arrives to investigate.
I really like Lorac's novels and have read a number of them, but this one was still missing from my library, so I am delighted that I was able to read this book via Netgalley.
I regularly buy the British Classic Crime Library series from Amazon, sometimes as an audiobook - unfortunately a subscription to this series was not possible (I'm on the European mainland, so I had to make do with the Kindle version), but fortunately the paperbacks are now available in Dutch bookstores, which is great.
I enjoyed this very much: the language, the period atmosphere, the wonderful descriptions of the Dales and how farmers used to live.
I was a tad sad when the story was finished. Luckily, my paperback edition of Murder as a Fine Art (written as Carol Carnac) is coming my way in January 2025. I can't wait! What a wonderful way to start the New Year!
5+ stars, highly recommended!
The Theft of the Iron Dogs was written in 1946 and is now being reissued by British Library Classic Crime with a foreword by Mark Edwards.
I have been a golden age mystery and Agatha Christie devotee since my youth and am familiar with Lorac's books, including the novels she wrote under one of her pseudonyms, Carol Carnac. Some of the stories seem somewhat dated to today's readers in terms of views, morals and traditional gender roles.
I am happy to see these classic crimes are coming back into the public domain through the British Library Classic Crime series.
E.R.C. Lorac passed away in 1958. In her novels in Chief Inspector Robert Macdonald, a "London Scot" and an avowed bachelor with a love for walking in the English countryside plays a leading role.
I am a 'daft southerner' who has spent most of my life and time mainly in the South Downs - the Dales have been my go to 'holiday area'.
It is beautifully descriptive, of cows frolicking, of farming the land and the beautiful surroundings, and of people trying to pick up a bit of life after the war; life is simple, food is rationed (which would last until 1954), in this close-knit community where people help each other and know each other.
Giles Hogett, a bookseller turned farmer living in the Dales with his wife Kate, 'who was a wonderful fifty', notices that fishing tackle, waders, a washing line, a tin of sardines and two iron dogs have been stolen from their cottage. He is quick to point out the culprits, but his wife Kate urges him to write a story about it for Scotland Yard. Not long after, MacDonald arrives to investigate.
I really like Lorac's novels and have read a number of them, but this one was still missing from my library, so I am delighted that I was able to read this book via Netgalley.
I regularly buy the British Classic Crime Library series from Amazon, sometimes as an audiobook - unfortunately a subscription to this series was not possible (I'm on the European mainland, so I had to make do with the Kindle version), but fortunately the paperbacks are now available in Dutch bookstores, which is great.
I enjoyed this very much: the language, the period atmosphere, the wonderful descriptions of the Dales and how farmers used to live.
I was a tad sad when the story was finished. Luckily, my paperback edition of Murder as a Fine Art (written as Carol Carnac) is coming my way in January 2025. I can't wait! What a wonderful way to start the New Year!
5+ stars, highly recommended!
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