The Cheltenham Square Murder: A British Library Crime Classic by John Bude

The Cheltenham Square is a flat u-shaped neighborhood with lots of odd characters and lots of gossip.  They all have their little idiosyncrasies and many of them don't like certain ones on the square but one never expected murder...

Poisoned Pen Press and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published March 7th.

It took several unrelated incidents to lead up to murder.  A hundred year old tree was cut down.  A woman leaves her husband.  The husband moves because he's going under after being swindled by a neighbor.  All this makes the crime plausible.

One neighbor is visiting the other in a study that faces the street.  The windows are open.  When the owner gets up to pour them each a whiskey, he hears an odd sound.  Turning around, he finds the visitor dead.  He's been shot with an arrow and was instantly killed.

There are five archery people on the square.  They try to figure the angle of the shot and determine it must have come from the vacant house.  But with no one living there and no one seeing anything, it's a hard crime to solve.

Before the story is over, the surviving neighbor man is killed, too.  It takes a lot of investigation and a lot of legwork before they get a clue about what might have happened.  They're almost too late to catch the killer but they do.

Living in this square was like living in a small town.  Everybody knows everybody else's business.  But some clues lead to dead ends.  It took some brainwork to solve this crime.

The Lake District Murder: A British Library Crime Classic by John Bude

The story begins with the death of a garage man.  He turns out to be one of the only good men in this story so it's an unfortunate death.  His fiance is devastated.  He was moving on to a new life and never made it...

Poisoned Pen Press and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published December 6th.

Inspector Meredith begins by trying to figure out if the death is murder or suicide.  They determine it's murder.  When he starts digging for suspects, he finds odd pieces of evidence that points to another crime.  It appears something is being smuggled but he can't figure out what or how.  As he and his supervisors discuss the case and review the evidence, two or three possibilities arise and half the police force is involved.  

They believe the dead man was involved in whatever scheme had been worked out.  He had a lot more money in his checking account than the garage could account for.  But what was it from and why was he killed?

The deeper he digs, the more complex the case gets.  Hidden passage ways, waste dumped in the raging river to hide it, and underground stills come to light.  To catch the gang they will have to set up the sting very carefully.

It's complex story that required intelligent cops to solve it.  They go off in the wrong direction here and there, but then they regroup and head right again.  I still feel sorry for the young man they killed but I didn't have any sympathy for the bad guys.  Sometimes money is the root of all evil.

The Cornish Coast Murder: A British Library Crime Classic by John Bude

Reverend Dodd loved to read mystery stories.  (I do, too!)  He just never expected to be asked to help with a murder case...

Poisoned Pen Press and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published October 4th.

The man fought with everybody.  He lorded his control over his niece and refused to let her get married.  He had his ways, his routines and everybody else could just put up with it.  When his niece notices the window shade is pulled in his study (he always kept it closed), she wondered why.  When she goes in to see, she finds him dead!  He's been shot.

The policeman in charge has lots of theories and makes the facts fit with the murder.  But somehow the case keeps falling apart.  Another witness, another comment and his imaginary cases fall to bits.  He depends on Reverend Dodd to give him background on the people involved.  Dodd often is the one that shoots his theory down.  But neither one quite has it right yet.

When a missing man shows up and tells his story and an estranged brother comes back to bury the murdered man is when all the facts line up and tell a story that only Dodd can see.  Murder is never a good thing but I can sympathize with the killer.  He had a good reason.  Her uncle was not a good man and he paid the ultimate price.

This is another good mystery in this series and was an enjoyable read.  I was worried about the young couple but that worked out OK and I'm glad.