Table d'Hote

Masters and Green #8

by Douglas Clark

A cozy dinner party assumes a sinister air when Daphne Bymeres, one of Wanda Mace's house guests, is found dead next morning. What is most awkward is the fact that Daphne's husband, David, and Wanda were lovers. But surely neither David nor Wanda would invite suspicion by attempting to murder Daphne in Wanda's own house? And the intrigue thickens when Superintendent Masters and Inspector Green of Scotland Yard are called in and note that the cause of death was not poison but rather cerebral hemorrhage. So how was Daphne killed -- if, indeed, she was killed? An ingenious puzzle -- with a beautiful solution.

Genres: Mystery

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Douglas Malcolm Jackson Clark was a British author.

He was also known by the pseudonyms James Ditton and Peter Hosier.

Reviews

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am rapidly coming to the end of the Masters & Green mystery series by Douglas Clark. I have just two more left to read on my TBR shelves and seven more titles to hunt for when I'm out and about in the used book shops. I will be sad when I've found and finished the last one. Clark's novels are an interesting take on the police procedural--featuring Superintendent George Masters, Inspector Bill Green, and their specialized team of detectives. Their group gets all the odd, highly technical, and highly sensitive cases. And with Clark's background in the pharmaceutical realm the methods of murder usually focus on obscure medical points or medical conditions that one wouldn't expect to be used to polish off one's enemies.

Table D'Hote (1977) is no different. Wanda Mace has been having an affair with her best friend's husband, Dr. David Bymeres. The two justify their attraction by the fact that they did not start anything until after Daphne had sunk so low in depression that she had lost all interest in physical side of her marriage. As Wanda tells Masters later:

Oh, I know it sounds ludicrous to remind you of it, but Daphne was my friend and the only reason why David came to me was because the woman he had loved dearly could no longer be a wife to him. What I'mm truing to say is that I didn't replace Daphne in his affections, only--if Mr. Green will forgive the thought--in his bed, just as he fulfilled a need of mine.

She has reason to defend their actions. Daphne Bymeres winds up dead in Wanda's cottage.

Wanda had invited the Bymeres down for a weekend holiday with dinner party guests on the Friday night. She had arranged with David that he would get an "emergency call" that would take him back to town, leaving Daphne with her. The plan was to create a situation where both Daphne and David would get a much needed rest. Daphne's condition had gotten to such a state that she no longer wanted to go out and about and be social and she needed more care and attention at home. Wanda thought the change to country life would do Daphne good and she definitely thought David deserved a break.

All goes as planned until David receives an authentic emergency call and has to leave the cottage earlier than anticipated. Wanda goes ahead with the dinner party and, as expected, Daphne pleads a headache towards the end of the meal and takes herself off to bed. When Wanda checks in on her the next morning, Daphne is dead--having been very sick beforehand. She calls David to let him know and ask him to come back to the cottage and David calls in his wife's own physician. Although his examination can find nothing to indicate anything but natural causes--the symptoms are most suggestive of some sort of heart trouble, he refuses to give a death certificate. And when the local police surgeon arrives he refuses to give one as well.

There's nothing for it but to call in the Yard and, since it involves two doctors who won't give a certificate and the wife of a third doctor, it's decided that Masters and company will investigate. The basic question they must answer is: when are natural causes not natural at all? Masters's job isn't made any easier by the fact that he finds himself attracted to the prime suspect--after all, if something unwholesome was given to Daphne, it's most likely that it would have been served up in the meal provided by Wanda. Of course, Masters believes Mrs. Mace to be smarter than that. But is she smart enough to play that as a double bluff? If Daphne was killed and Wanda didn't do it, then it's obvious that David must have arranged it--I mean, suspects aren't exactly thick on the ground. But how could he when he didn't prepare the meal and he wound up absent for the entire dinner party?

This is another solid entry in the Masters & Green series. The Superintendent and Inspector are still working their way towards the comfortable working relationship found in later installments and it's quite interesting to watch their prickly interactions. It was also interesting to find out how Masters first met his wife, Wanda (so, yeah--she didn't do it). I really enjoy the interesting methods of murder which Clark provides for his villains. That's one of the major selling points for this series--finding out which unconventional murder method will be featured this time.

Which means that quite often the focus is much more on the "how" rather than the "who" or the "why." This is particularly true in this instance. I would be greatly surprised if anyone reading this has any doubts about who the guilty party is from quite early in the book. The how is really the star of the show. But, interesting as that method is, that isn't the spoiler. The most surprising part of this mystery is in the reason (i.e. the woman) why he did it. I quite smugly thought I had spotted the other other woman in the case. It was obvious that David Bymeres was no longer as enthralled with Wanda as he once was. But I really thought that Miss Hector's disapproval of Dr. Bymeres was all for show and that they really had a major thing going on....I was a bit disappointed by Clark's pulling a completely different woman out of thin air. Not a mention of her before. It would have been nice to have at least had a chance to pick the right one.

This was also one of the most cold-blooded murders that Clark has devised. It's really quite horrific that David would plan such a nasty death for his wife and have no qualms at all about the fact that Wanda might be suspected of and (if the police weren't so very good at their job) possibly convicted of the murder. But the murder method and the twists on relationships are a large part of what makes this mystery so enjoyable.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.

[Richard Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well plotted

It’s the second book by Douglas Clark that I have read and I found it as enjoyable as the first. It’s subtly plotted and easy to read. The ending is not particularly surprising but enough ambiguity is left to leave the reader unsure until close to the end.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wanda Mace has guests arriving for a small dinner party which include her lover Dr David Bymeres, and his wife who is also her friend . Unfortunately for Wanda Daphne Bymeres is discovered dead the next morning in Wanda's guest bedroom. Masters and his team investigate the suspicious death.
An enjoyable modern mystery
Originally published in 1977

[Sukritta Loonia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very predictable.
Best mystery novels are the one's that keep you glued, this one sort of was struggling to reach the end.
May be decent read for people just beginning to pick up reading.
Else, there are much better mystery novels out there.

[Barry Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

Detective Chief Superintendent Masters and his depleted team of Inspector Green and Sergeant Hill are sent to East Anglia to investigate the suspicious death of a Doctors wife. The local police are at odds with the case so call in Scotland Yard.

[Charlene Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nope

I did not like this 1,It was a bit boring. the whole Story, Over done By other writers wasn't Fresh like Clark usually writes.

[Doug Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

The highly successful Scotland Yard team headed by Superintendent George Masters is finally being dissolved. DS Brant has acquired a new wife and a new job. DS Hill is about to be promoted to Detective Inspector. DI Bill Green has never gotten along with Masters and now has an opportunity to be free from him, but he's close to retirement and no one else seems to be interested in picking him up.

With all these things up in the air, Masters is sent to the village of Little Munny to investigate the sudden death, due to cerebral hemmorhage, of a depressed but healthy woman in her 30s. He takes Green and Hill along. They soon learn what must have happened to lead to the woman's death, but proving that was what happened is a more difficult matter. Masters and Green work together more harmoniously than in the past, and by the end of the investigation it seems clear that the two would actually like to continue working together. As usual, medical details play a major role in the case.

[Fabio Pucci · Rating 3 out of 5]

Giallo conciso, intrigante, scorrevole nonostante l’ampio uso del dialogo, privo di divagazioni, in cui dalla seconda metà il whodunit iniziale con probabile delitto perfetto lascia progressivamente il posto a qualcosa di simile a una inverted story, con la soluzione praticamente disvelata ma con alcuni tasselli ancora da ricomporre. I personaggi sono rappresentati in maniera quasi sempre semplice ma incisiva, con l’elemento più debole rappresentato proprio dal sovrintendente protagonista, caratterizzato in modo un po’ anonimo. Pur senza particolari elementi innovativi né significative impennate emotive, si tratta di un ottimo intrattenimento, con una scrittura asciutta ed efficace, capace di andare dritta al punto senza divagare.

***

[John Sargent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful piece of detection

[Robert F. James · Rating 4 out of 5]

slow getting started but once the team got called in, it was good.

I wasn’t sure when I started this book, but once they were called in I could really get into it.

[Charles Fraser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Changes are afoot, and it looks like Detective Superintendent Masters' team is splitting up.

Brant has married and has left for another job. Hill, still on the team, is on the verge of a promotion to another team. Masters has finally succeeded in arranging for the loathsome (in Masters' eyes) Inspector Green to be moved elsewhere, which suits Green too until he discovers that he's such a pain in the gizzard that nobody else wants him.

Masters includes Green in the team for one final investigation, in which Green behaves remarkably helpfully and good naturedly compared with his usual performances. After they work well together in this case, Masters offers Green the opportunity to continue working with him, which Green, unsurprisingly, given the paucity of other options, accepts..

We learn more about the outcome of Masters' doomed romance with a suspect in the first book of the series and he ends up in this, the eighth book, falling for yet another suspect, Wanda, a divorcée who is having an affair with the husband of one of her long-standing friends - and, oh yes, this husband has just bumped off Wanda's friend and arranged that if anyone realises it's murder, then Wanda might well be blamed. Anyway, enough of the soap opera, or should that be soup opera - consommé is, after all, one of the murderers' devious weapons!

I enjoyed this one. There never seemed to be much doubt about who dunnit, but putting together a case that would convince a jury looked unlikely.

[Nancy]

reread this after a few years. Douglas Clark specialized in mysteries having to do with medical conditions--in this one, giving someone a dinner designed to interact with their M.A.O.I. so as to kill them. very smooth....