Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* This reissue of a work by one of the most popular (but now largely forgotten) writers of the golden age of British crime fiction has a spectacularly cozy opening: as rain patters and a wind off the Atlantic moans around the windows of a vicar's snug, fire-lit study, he waits for his weekly guest, the village doctor. Their meeting centers on opening a crate from the local lending library. The books the vicar has chosen for his friend are an index to popular mystery writers of the time: Dorothy L. Sayers, J. Jefferson Farjeon, Agatha Christie, and Freeman Wills Crofts. The vicar and doctor serving the tiny village of Boscawen, in Cornwall, are avid detective-story fans. That very night, the doctor is called out to the neighboring cliffside home of a wealthy magistrate found with a bullet in his head. The vicar, steeped in procedure from his reading, joins forces with the police to solve a crime that hinges on the timing of curtains being pulled, high-heeled footprints, and varieties of gravel, along with the motives of the many who hated the magistrate. The combination of bracing Cornish cliffs and seascapes with cozy interiors and a cerebral mystery makes this one of the most deservedly resurrected titles in the British Library Crime Classics series. With an introduction by modern British crime writer Martin Edwards.--Fletcher, Connie Copyright 2016 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Ernest Elmore (1901-57), under the pseudonym John Bude, takes readers to the Cornish village of Boscawen where the vicar, Reverend Dodd, a reader and fan of mystery stories, finds himself in the middle of an actual mystery. When Julius Tregarthan is found shot in the head, the local police are completely puzzled and are unable to find any clues in his house. Fortunately, they have Reverend Dodd to help them solve the mystery. Vivid descriptions of the Cornish coast, a realistic cast of characters, and a mesmerizing plot make this a timeless story that exhibits all the characteristics of a cozy mystery as appealing today as it was when originally published in 1935. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The British Library Crime Classics latest blast from the pastthis time more of a light squallis this decorous, conscientiously plotted 1935 whodunit by pseudonymous Ernest Carpenter Elmore (1901-1957).The Rev. Dodds weekly session with his old friend Dr. Pendrill to sip sherry and argue about faith and reason is interrupted by some untimely news. Julius Tregarthan has been shot to death inside Greylings, the home he shared with his niece, Ruth, and his servants, Cowper and Mrs. Cowper. Whoever killed him, the vicar and the doctor conclude, must have been a rotten shot, for it took three widely spaced bullets to bring him down. Despite the tiny size of the coastal village of Boscawen, theres no shortage of suspects, for nearly everyone Tregarthan knewhis distracted niece; her rumored sweetheart, local novelist Ronald Hardy; and the Cowpersseems to have quarreled with him during the few days before his death. Although the evidence Inspector Bigswell turns up implicates one suspect after another, each new conversation discloses as much exculpatory as incriminating evidence, and even neer-do-well poacher Ned Salter is able to prove an unlikely alibi. How can the inspector account for the maze of footprints outside the room? Whats become of the murder weapon? And who is the mysterious M.L. who wrote to Tregarthan years ago refusing his money and vowing to keep mum? The inspector plows through layer after layer of evidence, but its the vicar wholl carry off detecting honors. A golden-age mystery reminiscent of Freeman Wills Crofts and Ronald Knox thats guaranteed to keep you guessing and second-guessing, though the final payoff falls well short of the buildup. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
