"I always get what I want," said Lucas Dale.
Lucas Dale is a Brit who went to the U.S. and made a pile of money, in likely dodgy ways, and returned to England. He's just bought King's Bourne, an old country manor from the nearly bankrupt estate of James Bourne. Bourne is survived by one of his twin sisters, Millicent O'Hara, Mrs. O'Hara's daughter Catherine and Catherine's cousin Susan Lenox.
Dale falls in love with Susan Lenox--she's one of the things he wants--but she's already in love with Bill Carrick, the son of the local doctor, who's still got his way to make (as an architect).
Dale also comes with a private secretary, an ex-wife who's on the stage, and an American business partner with a grievance. Plenty of suspects, especially after Dale starts using strong-arm tactics to get Susan to marry him.
Some pearls appear to be stolen, then reappear where they're not supposed to be, and then Lucas Dale is found dead, shot in the back of his head. Scotland Yard is called in, in the person of Chief Inspector Lamb, who brings along his dashing sergeant, Frank Abbott.
Now if you know anything about Patricia Wentworth, you'll know the evidence will look bad for Susan and Bill at first, but that it won't be either of them who committed the murder. And it's not.
This is the second (1940) of the Ernest Lamb series, and he's fine form here, curmudgeonly, sexist, and tender:
"He had three daughters of his own, and was sometimes put to it to conceal a most obstinate softness of heart where girls were concerned."
but at the same time quite observant. Later, after Lamb and Abbott are absorbed into Wentworth's most famous detective series, that of Miss Silver, his curmudgeonly is played up, and his observational skills are less used, and he's mostly that useful thing for a PI, a friend on the force, but in this one he and Abbott are on top of all the needed clues. A completely enjoyable entry, though the witness who has the one crucial clue keeps silent until the very end for reasons that seem a little improbable. (Other than the needs of a mystery novel...)
The first Ernest Lamb novel on the blog is here. I've also got the third and final one, Pursuit of a Parcel, as an eBook, and hope to read it this month.
Also, though I'm already a bit over the top on this challenge, it also fits My Reader's Block Vintage Mystery Scavenger Hunt:
Vintage Mystery, Gold, Hat. Those are some stylish hats, even if I'm not quite sure who the people under them are. Bill and Susan, I guess, though Susan is supposed to be blonde.
Her mysteries always sound fun to me. I wish my library had more of her books. :D
ReplyDeleteI do like her. She's always a fun read.
DeleteI don't think my library's got many of hers either. I pick them up when I see them at charity sales.
When I lived in Latvia, I gave a Wentworth Miss Silver mystery to another expatriate. Couple days later, she complained to me that she missed a night's sleep because she couldn't put it down. I've always wondered if PW was a committee, of sorts, since some books are really good and some are really, um, less satisfying.
ReplyDeleteI tend to find even the lesser ones still decently entertaining, but she did write too much, and it did take her a while to find her groove.
DeleteReading older titles is like going back in time for me---like reading very good historical fiction. I'm often intrigued with the little details in a story's setting, and these are generally things I never knew about. I reread a Bobbsey Twins mystery, a book I hadn't read since my childhood, and I was most taken with the day-to-day life of the children.
ReplyDeleteOh, I haven't read the Bobbsey Twins since I was a kid. That would be interesting.
DeleteI remember when neither the British Crime series nor the Dean Street books were readily available via TPL but, I believe they've started to purchase the crime series (some time ago now) and wonder if Dean Street's stuff is there now too. (But, of course, I can't check now. Gah. Not that you can either!)
ReplyDeleteI don't think Dean Street is yet available at TPL as physical books, but the British Crime Library classics were a nice addition.
DeleteDSP is there as eBooks though.
I am not sure I have read this one but I will look forward to it. I agree that some PW is better than others and I especially feel that some heroines just wail while others are brave and loyal but I enjoy them all.
ReplyDeleteMeg of Dead or Alive that I read last year (well, no, the year before now, 2022) was definitely in the hapless and whiny category. Susan in this one was pretty good.
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