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The Boat Race Murder: A Golden Age Mystery
Every year between Putney and Mortlake, teams from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge battle it out in the great Varsity boat race. At Hammersmith, the Cambridge team are training hard, under the guidance of their coach, Major Horace Lampson. Success in rowing depends on a small group of dedicated athletes working closely together to secure their prize. And yet, beneath the surface, resentments and rivalries simmer. When one of the crew is brutally murdered, Inspector MacNair finds that he must probe precisely such dark undercurrents if he is to find the culprit...Originally published in 1933, this is a vintage murder mystery from the golden age of crime fiction.
209 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 15, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 6, 2023
The only mystery by this author who died at the young age of 45 of cancer. The story begins just before a big race between Cambridge and Oxford, and the crew are finishing a practice. Then you follow the crew into the large home where they are staying at this time. There is a lot of banter and pent up anger, and of course a number of the crew are a mystery buffs and there is a great deal of dropping mystery author's names and titles. Later there is a death and the how etc... are quite odd.
Once the local police determine this is not their case, Scotland Yard's detective McNair (who is a fan of mystery fiction as well- I'm figuring so is the writer) enters the scene. Once McNair enters the pacing gets way better and by the end it's much much better- so don't let the start fool you.
Lots of twists and information that changes the perception of the crime. Lots of action at the end.
Also- there was one book that was mentioned and I wondered if it actually existed or if the author listed is a spoofed name- Death in the Dark by Aloysius Adamson. (There is a 1930's book called Death in the Dark but by a different author.) If you read a lot of Golden Age Mysteries the beginning of the book will amuse you.
Once the local police determine this is not their case, Scotland Yard's detective McNair (who is a fan of mystery fiction as well- I'm figuring so is the writer) enters the scene. Once McNair enters the pacing gets way better and by the end it's much much better- so don't let the start fool you.
Lots of twists and information that changes the perception of the crime. Lots of action at the end.
Also- there was one book that was mentioned and I wondered if it actually existed or if the author listed is a spoofed name- Death in the Dark by Aloysius Adamson. (There is a 1930's book called Death in the Dark but by a different author.) If you read a lot of Golden Age Mysteries the beginning of the book will amuse you.
April 29, 2026
The Boat Race Murder was first published in 1933, three years after the American author Robert Swartwout became the first American to cox the Cambridge University Boat Club crew to victory in The Boat Race. That experience is significant to the novel, because it gives the story an authentic insight into the elite and tightly closed world of university rowing, especially the tiny, pressurised circle of the Boat Race crew.
Ten days before the next annual race, the Cambridge crew are in residence near Putney Hill, practising on the River Thames. Final decisions have been made about who has secured a seat in the boat and who must remain reserve. Those arrangements are abruptly shattered when Alan Strayler, the stroke, is found dead in his bath. The bathroom door appears locked from the inside, with no sign anyone escaped through the window. Although he is bound, it remains just possible he took his own life—but the scene looks far more like murder. Scotland Yard detective Angus MacNair arrives to investigate, creating further tension because MacNair and coach Horace Lampson are old adversaries.
This is an enjoyable read that throws light on the behind-the-scenes rivalries and resentments of the crew. I especially liked the recurring references to detective fiction as a hobby: several of the rowers borrow library books to read during downtime at Putney Hill, and this becomes a clever thread running through the plot. Ever-present amid the twists and turns is the crew’s cox, Gawswell. Small in stature, he constantly inserts himself into the investigation with theories and schemes—often to the irritation of MacNair and Lampson. Yet he also provides much of the book’s humour, particularly because he is willing to laugh at himself. It is tempting to wonder how much of Gawswell reflects Swartwout himself.
Although it is not among the very best locked-room mysteries of the period, it is an entertaining 1930s crime novel with charm, wit, and an unusual literary angle.
Ten days before the next annual race, the Cambridge crew are in residence near Putney Hill, practising on the River Thames. Final decisions have been made about who has secured a seat in the boat and who must remain reserve. Those arrangements are abruptly shattered when Alan Strayler, the stroke, is found dead in his bath. The bathroom door appears locked from the inside, with no sign anyone escaped through the window. Although he is bound, it remains just possible he took his own life—but the scene looks far more like murder. Scotland Yard detective Angus MacNair arrives to investigate, creating further tension because MacNair and coach Horace Lampson are old adversaries.
This is an enjoyable read that throws light on the behind-the-scenes rivalries and resentments of the crew. I especially liked the recurring references to detective fiction as a hobby: several of the rowers borrow library books to read during downtime at Putney Hill, and this becomes a clever thread running through the plot. Ever-present amid the twists and turns is the crew’s cox, Gawswell. Small in stature, he constantly inserts himself into the investigation with theories and schemes—often to the irritation of MacNair and Lampson. Yet he also provides much of the book’s humour, particularly because he is willing to laugh at himself. It is tempting to wonder how much of Gawswell reflects Swartwout himself.
Although it is not among the very best locked-room mysteries of the period, it is an entertaining 1930s crime novel with charm, wit, and an unusual literary angle.
August 12, 2024
Una gara di canoe a Cambridge nel 1930 o giù di lì. Abbiamo il nostro gruppo. Una squadra, quella di Cambridge appunto, che si prepara per una gara importante e discute intanto di assassinii e di cosa si proverebbe ad uccidere qualcuno (un po' macabro oserei, ma ognuno si fa i pensieri propri, no?💃🏻) durante la cena.
La mattina dopo, come ogni "vecchio" mystery che si rispetti, trovano ovviamente uno dei loro canoisti morto nel bagno della sua stanza ed in una maniera davvero strana.
Da qui parte la storia vera e propria che a leggerla mi ha fatto sentire un po' sulle montagne russe, devo dire la verità. Una serie di misunderstandings che non sono poi così tanto misunderstandings, un detective che sembra aver preso la licenza dalle patatine a volte e il team dei canoisti che...beh, sono tutto un programma già da soli.
Però mi è piaciuto. Un twist finale che non mi sarei mai e poi mai aspettata e lasciatemelo dire; QUESTI sono veri "crime books". Chiedo venia, ma in alcuni libri che stanno uscendo ultimamente si capisce il colpevole già dopo la prima parola del primo capitolo!
La mattina dopo, come ogni "vecchio" mystery che si rispetti, trovano ovviamente uno dei loro canoisti morto nel bagno della sua stanza ed in una maniera davvero strana.
Da qui parte la storia vera e propria che a leggerla mi ha fatto sentire un po' sulle montagne russe, devo dire la verità. Una serie di misunderstandings che non sono poi così tanto misunderstandings, un detective che sembra aver preso la licenza dalle patatine a volte e il team dei canoisti che...beh, sono tutto un programma già da soli.
Però mi è piaciuto. Un twist finale che non mi sarei mai e poi mai aspettata e lasciatemelo dire; QUESTI sono veri "crime books". Chiedo venia, ma in alcuni libri che stanno uscendo ultimamente si capisce il colpevole già dopo la prima parola del primo capitolo!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews