Murder At The Nineteenth
(J.M. Gregson)
?Murder at the Nineteenth? is the first in a series of murder mysteries featuring the likeable, literary Chief Superintendent John Lambert and his stolid offsider, Sergeant Bert Hook. Gently paced and requiring its protagonists to master nothing more technological than a car phone, it generates the reliable cosiness of an Agatha Christie detective novel with just a little more flesh on the narrative bones.
Responding to a late night phone call from the chairman of his golf club, Chief Superintendent Lambert arrives at the club a short time later only to find the chairman has been stabbed to death in the interim. Two facts which shape the course of the ensuing investigation emerge quickly: the dead man was universally disliked, and his killer is almost certainly one of five members of the committee who attended a meeting at the club house earlier that evening.
The field of suspects thus narrows down to three men and two women. As a member of the club, Lambert knows each one of them and likes some of them. This personal involvement adds an extra degree of difficulty to his task as he begins the process of probing into their personal lives and possible motives in search of the truth. From individual interviews with each suspect he becomes aware of their secret fears, shame and hatred, suggesting a plethora of motives for the murder of the unpopular chairman.
Evidence, however, begins to mount up strongly against one person in particular. Sergeant Hook is itching to make an arrest but Lambert has reservations which increase when the picturesque golf course becomes the incongruous setting for a second violent murder.
Delayed but not deluded by a few red herrings, Lambert closes in on his killer in a final unmasking scene which ties up the loose ends satisfactorily.
Resumos Relacionados
- First To Die
- The 5th Horseman (women's Murder Club)
- Green Thumb
- The Crossword Murder
- 1st To Die
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