My foray into classic English society mysteries continue! I was recommended this book at some point, by...someone (possibly my sister-in-law? Who can say), and unlike Christie, I was entirely unfamiliar with this author culturally. She was also a woman writing mysteries in the first half of the twentieth century, although she was from New Zealand rather than England. The focus of her books (at least based on this one) feels quite similar to Christie's - there was a blackmailer in the upper crust of 1930's English society, one man learns too much, and he ends up dead.
There's also an inspector named Roderick Alleyn who knew the dead man quite well and feels responsible, but he holds it together long enough to piece together both the blackmail scheme and the murder. It was a quite pleasant mystery with interesting characters and a number of unexpected secrets and so forth. I was also very pleased that while there is a touch of the standard English mystery racism present, it wasn't too bad...at least not until the very short epilogue which takes place in China, and well. The less said about that the better. That caveat aside, a lovely book to read on the couch under the blankets while waiting for spring to actually start.
Grade: B
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