Moray Dalton (1882–1963)

After a rocky start, with a choppy narrative that was very difficult to fall into, the book evened out about 1/3 of the way in and once PI Glide showed up, I found it very difficult to put the book down until I’d finished it. I can’t say it’s because I liked Glide – I really didn’t care for him one way or the other, but the I got caught up in the events and the fast pace, of the story, and I warmed to Mrs. Clare. I generally don’t like courtroom dramas, but this one kept a nice edge of tension going; even though I felt confident about the murderer, I had no idea how Glide was going to pull off the proof of it.

I got 2 out of 3 of the murders correct, but I totally missed the Diane prediction I made – or more accurately, I was right, but with entirely the wrong person. I’m laughing to myself because that critical scene towards the end over tea – I knew how that was going to turn out because I’d seen the same thing done way back in the 80’s on, of all things, the soap opera General Hospital. But the scene at the zoo? I didn’t see that coming, and it was a delightful little twist to the story. My biggest complaint about the story is the fate of Sergeant Lane – I dislike being made to like someone only to have them ripped away.

I won’t say no to more Dalton, but I’m not sure I’d make a concentrated effort to get me hands on more of them.… (plus d'informations)

It’s really too bad that mine is the first review of The Body in the Road. It is possibly the worst mystery I’ve ever read.
Note: In the interests of fairness, I want to say that the first book I read by Dalton wasn’t too bad. Not a huge winner, but not bad.

WARNING: review is full of spoilers

The reader knows from the second page who the murderer is. And I don’t mean that author Dalton has created an inverted mystery. Not at all. It’s simply perfectly obvious who has done the killing, and why. Naturally this detracts from any possible suspense, or even interest in the story.

But I’ve read other mysteries where I knew whodunnit fairly quickly. I even reread certain mysteries to savor the atmosphere and the author’s twists and turns. I’ll never read this one again, and wish I hadn’t read it this time.

There’s a romance of sorts which isn’t too sickly sweet, and it’s the best part of the book. Since I normally dislike a romance interfering with figuring out the puzzle, this book goes even lower on my list.

The writing is almost impossibly clunky and awkward. I know it’s from 1930, but I read plenty of books, whether mysteries or not, written from 1800 onward. This is just dreadful.

The detective doesn’t come on board until late in the story. He’s an interesting character: not your usual run of private investigator at all. He redeems the book somewhat, but his actions are finally so over the top as to be incredible. Too bad; he’s got potential.

I’ll try one more by Dalton, just to see. I recommend avoiding this one, though.… (plus d'informations)

This is a mystery of the Golden age, but it is certainly not sedate. It starts with a famous jewel of the Russian court and a rumour of its existence being passed on to two different parties. The rest of the book then chases around after one of these gangs that has it's heart set on the jewel and really doesn't care what it does to achieve it. There is an interesting cast of characters, including an array of possible villains and a cross section of class, ranging from the Lord and his children, his secretary and his antiques dealer father, an invalided army officer and his younger brother. The Army officer and the CID man were in the war together, which is how he gets involved. It all gets a little confused and very frenetic towards the end. It's unusual in that there are multiple crimes, some of which are not solved at all, while others have an identified guilty party. I will feel smug that I had one of the villains down as a wrong 'un from the start, but I entirely missed some of the others! There is also, in the midst of all the chasing about, a small romance that ought to be given the chance to bloom - only on that topic the ending remains silent., Well we can always imagine a happier ending.

This was recommended to me as the title contains "Belfry" and I'm a bellringer who spends far too much time in belfries. The belfry's role is limited to the site of a grisly discovery after the bell tolled once, in suitably spooky and suspicious way...… (plus d'informations)