Alan (the Lone Librarian) Teder’s Reviews > Serpents in Eden: Countryside Crimes > Status Update

13. Our Pageant *** by Gladys Mitchell (1901-1983). A murder occurs within a group of Morris dancers at a village fair. Originally published in the Evening Standard in the 1950s, collected in Sleuth’s Academy: Cases of Mrs. Bradley and Others (2005).

12. Clue in the Mustard **** by Leo Bruce (1903-1979). Sergeant Beef deduces that a murder has been committed due to the sprouting of mustard seeds in a greenhouse. Original publication probably London Evening Standard 1950-56, collected in Murder in Miniature: The Short Stories of Leo Bruce (1992).

All the same, it was an interesting case. What you’d call mackayber …” “Mack …?”
“You know, gruesome,” explained Beef impatiently.
“Oh, macabre.”
“That’s it.”
I knew better than to underrate Sergeant Beef because of a little eccentricity in pronunciation.

11. The Scarecrow *** by Ethel Lina White (1876-1944). A woman had escaped being murdered by a crazed former boyfriend and now lives at her mother’s farm where the sight of a scarecrow in a field disturbs her. Meanwhile, the former boyfriend has escaped from prison. First published in Pearson’s in November 1928. No information on any previous collection. incl. Write Your Own Ending Alert™

10. Inquest *** by Leonora Wodehouse (1904-1944). A doctor is on a train journey and recognizes his compartment companion as a lawyer who had also testified at an inquest that they both attended years before. The truth behind the death is finally revealed. First published in the Strand Magazine in 1932 under the penname Loel Yeo. No information on any previous collection.

Roger stepped forward. “Good afternoon. Did you have a good run up from Dorset?”
The girl stared at him. “How did you know I had come up from Dorset?”
“I was doing the Sherlock Holmes stuff,” Roger explained, not without pride. “I’ll do some more of it if you like. You run a Morris Oxford saloon; your hobby is tennis; and you live within easy reach of the sea. How’s that?”

9. Direct Evidence **** by Anthony Berkeley, (1893–1971). Roger Sheringham is asked to prove the innocence of a man who was seen shooting his lover by several witnesses. Collected only in the rare The Roger Sheringham Stories (95 copies - 1994). It is an early version of Double Bluff, collected in The Avenging Chance and Even More Stories, but has a different ending.

8. A Proper Mystery ** by Margery Allingham (1904-1966). A herd of cows get loose and trample the exhibits for a country fair. There is suspicion as to how the cows got loose. More of a farmers’ squabble than a crime story. This previously uncollected story was first published in The Lights of Essex magazine in May 1942.

7. The Naturalist at Law *** by R. Austin Freeman (1862-1943). Dr. John Thorndyke is called in on a case to prove that an apparent accidental drowning was not a suicide. Thorndyke suspects that it was actually a murder. First published in Flynn’s Weekly December 11, 1926 and later collected in The Famous Cases of Dr. Thorndyke (1929).

5. The Glyston Slander *** by Herbert George Jenkins (1876-1923). Investigator Malcolm Sage is called in to solve a case of poisoned pen letters in the village of Glyston. The seemingly obvious culprit is arrested until Sage reveals the true writer. First publication is not identified but was collected in Malcolm Sage, Detective (1921).