Checkmate to Murder: A Second World War Mystery

by E.C.R. Lorac

Overview

"[An] excellent fair-play mystery...this British Library Crime Classic more than deserves that status."—Publishers Weekly, STARRED Review

On a dismally foggy night in Hampstead, London, a curious party has gathered in an artist's studio to weather the wartime blackout

As World War II takes its toll around them, a civil servant and a government scientist are matching wits in a game of chess, while an artist paints the portrait of his characterful sitter, bedecked in Cardinal's robes at the other end of the room. In the kitchen, the artist's sister is hosting the charlady of the miser next door.

When the brutal murder of said miser is discovered by his nephew, it's not long before Inspector Macdonald of Scotland Yard is at the scene, faced with perplexing alibis and with the fate of the young man in his hands. In the search for the culprit, Macdonald and his team of detectives must figure out if one of the members of the studio party is somehow involved in the death, or if some other scurrilous neighbour could be responsible.

The British Library of Crime Classics is pleased to revive this clever, classic mystery for amateur sleuths and fans of British historical fiction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781464215094
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	02/23/2021
Series:	British Library Crime Classics
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	97,622
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

E.C.R. LORAC was a pen name of Edith Caroline Rivett (1894-1958) who was a prolific writer of crime fiction from the 1930s to the 1950s, and a member of the prestigious Detection Club. Her books have been almost entirely neglected since her death, but deserve rediscovery as fine examples of classic British crime fiction in its golden age.

Editorial Reviews

★ 12/14/2020

Set in WWII London, this excellent fair-play mystery from Lorac (1894–1958) opens on a dramatic note. One evening, artist Bruce Manaton is in his studio painting the portrait of an actor while two other men, a civil servant and a government chemist, are playing chess. Shortly after Manaton’s sister pops outside briefly to make sure that blackout precautions have been observed, Special Constable Lewis Verraby, who has arrested Canadian soldier Neil Folliner for murder, intrudes on the quartet. After noticing the front door of the building next to the studio open, Verraby went inside and found Folliner near the corpse of the soldier’s great-uncle, Albert, who’d been shot in the head. Folliner insists that Albert was already dead when he arrived. Scotland Yard’s Chief Insp. Robert Macdonald, Lorac’s series sleuth, looks beyond the obvious—that Folliner is guilty—at the possible motives of the others on the scene, including Verraby. The astute Macdonald’s interrogations and deductions lead to a satisfying resolution. The characters are all well-delineated, and the clues artfully hidden. First published in 1944, this British Library Crime Classic more than deserves that status. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

"[An] excellent fair-play mystery... The characters are all well-delineated, and the clues artfully hidden. First published in 1944, this British Library Crime Classic more than deserves that status. " - Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"Period details-the way wartime blackout regulations made any crime at night hard to see, and the fact that no one noticed the fatal shot because people had become so used to hearing explosives-make this mystery especially fascinating. Readers may want to follow up with Lorac's Murder by Matchlight, also set during WWII." - Booklist, Starred Review

From the Publisher

2020-12-15
All the restrictions imposed on London in 1944 can’t prevent a most private murder among a tiny circle of neighbors and guests in this ingenious wartime cozy from the pseudonymous Edith Caroline Rivett (1894-1958).

A disturbance outside the studio of impoverished artist Bruce Manaton turns out to be bumptious Special Constable Lewis Verraby arresting Neil Folliner for the murder of his great-uncle, Albert Folliner, in the adjoining house. Not a bit of it, protests the young Canadian; coming to visit and see if he could be of any help, he’d entered the open front door and climbed the stairs to find the old pauper (or miser?) already shot to death. A pair of witnesses at either end of this block of Hollyberry Hill narrow the list of alternative suspects to half a dozen. But no one would suspect Folliner’s devoted charlady, Mrs. Tubbs, and at least four of the others have cast-iron alibis. As Manaton painted actor André Delaunier in a cardinal’s robes, his other guests, Home Office veteran Robert Cavenish and young government chemist Ian Mackellon, were playing chess in the same cavernous room. Only the painter’s sister, Rosanne Manaton, who spent most of the evening preparing dinner in the kitchen, could conceivably have slipped out. Chief Inspector Macdonald of the CID scrupulously avoids licentious theorizing as he questions the impossible suspects and gradually reveals a powerful motive involving 25 Hollyberry Hill.

Few readers will be surprised by the denouement, but they’ll have passed a pleasant few hours anyway.

Kirkus Reviews

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