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    Murder of a Lady: A Scottish Mystery
    Unavailable
    Murder of a Lady: A Scottish Mystery
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    Murder of a Lady: A Scottish Mystery
    Ebook327 pages5 hours

    Murder of a Lady: A Scottish Mystery

    By Anthony Wynne and Martin Edwards

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder

    "This 1931 novel, now republished as part of the British Library's Crime Classics series, is a cunningly concocted locked-room mystery, a staple of Golden Age detective fiction." —Booklist STARRED review

    Duchlan Castle is a gloomy, forbidding place in the Scottish Highlands. Late one night the body of Mary Gregor, sister of the laird of Duchlan, is found in the castle. She has been stabbed to death in her bedroom—but the room is locked from within and the windows are barred. The only tiny clue to the culprit is a silver fish's scale, left on the floor next to Mary's body.

    Inspector Dundas is dispatched to Duchlan to investigate the case. The Gregor family and their servants are quick—perhaps too quick—to explain that Mary was a kind and charitable woman. Dundas uncovers a more complex truth, and the cruel character of the dead woman continues to pervade the house after her death. Soon further deaths, equally impossible, occur, and the atmosphere grows ever darker. Superstitious locals believe that fish creatures from the nearby waters are responsible; but luckily for Inspector Dundas, the gifted amateur sleuth Eustace Hailey is on the scene, and unravels a more logical solution to this most fiendish of plots.

    Anthony Wynne wrote some of the best locked-room mysteries from the golden age of British crime fiction. This cunningly plotted novel—one of Wynne's finest—has never been reprinted since 1931, and is long overdue for rediscovery.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSourcebooks
    Release dateFeb 2, 2016
    ISBN9781464205729
    Author

    Anthony Wynne

    ANTHONY WYNNE is a pseudonym of Robert McNair-Wilson (1882-1963), who wrote twenty-seven detective novels featuring Eustace Hailey, a physician and amateur sleuth. He also published on economics and history, notably a biography of Napoleon.

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    Reviews for Murder of a Lady

    3.5/5

    52 ratings6 reviews

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    • 2/5
      I thought this book would be just the kind of mystery I'd like, but I got fed up with it about half-way through and didn't finish it. The locked room plot was interesting, but for me, John Dickson Carr does it much better. I will donate this one, and hope it finds a reader who will enjoy it more.
    • 5/5
      Set in the Scottish Highlands. A woman is found murdered in her bedroom, but the windows are locked and the door is locked from the inside.
      Other mysterious deaths follow.
      The superstitious people who live near believe that there are fish creatures living in the loch who are responsible.
      Inspector Dundas is sent to investigate and uncovers a dastardly plot which has nothing to do with fish.
      Another British Library Classic and I hope there are many more to come.
      I was given a digital copy of this book by the publisher Poisoned Pen Press via Netgalley in return for an honest unbiased review
    • 4/5
      The first paragraph alone is worth the price."Murder of a Lady" (released in the USA as "The Silver Scale Mystery") by Anthony Wynne is one of the older British mysteries that are being reprinted by Poisoned Pen Press and The British Library. It was first published in 1931 by Hutchinson, London. The book is set in a small community in Scotland and the cast of characters is small. It is an excellent "locked room" murder, a style that was a speciality of Mr. Wynne. Miss Mary Gregor, sister of the laird of Castle Duchlan, has been stabbed and lies dead beside her bed. The windows and doors of the room are firmly locked and there is no murder weapon.Dr. Eustace Hailey, a recurrent character in Mr. Wynne's work, is a guest nearby, and he is called upon by local officials to assist in the investigation. His help is not appreciated by the police who go to great length to explain why police logic is superior to Dr. Hailey's more intuitive, character-based investigative methods.This is a book that may present difficulties for some readers. Dr. Hailey's deductive methods focus almost exclusively on the character of the victim and the people who surround her. Readers who are not very familiar with the highlands of Scotland and the peculiar people who live there may feel overwhelmed by the picture Mr. Wynne paints of a stiff-necked, proud, dark, stupid and superstitious bunch who are motivated by beliefs and emotions that are alien to us today.Mr. Wynne was a Scot and he knows his people well. He goes out of his way to help his readers visualize and mentally connect with the Duchlan and his people, but still one is tempted to give up in frustration at this impenetrable culture. I urge you to keep going. The murderer is clear fairly early on but never in a million years will you guess how the deed was done.I received a review copy of "Murder of a Lady" by Anthony Wynne (Poisoned Pen) through NetGalley.com.PS For you non-smokers, serious pipe smokers rub the bowl of their pipe on the skin of their nose to keep the bowl from drying and cracking. Nose oil is liquid at room temperature and is readily available to the smoker. However, this isn't a ritual you perform in front of others.
    • 4/5
      This is an ingenious "impossible crime" murder mystery. Martin Edwards, in his Introduction to this British Library Crime Classic edition, wrote that it will appeal to readers who love "a cunningly contrived puzzle" because it is certainly that. The original crime is compounded when two of the police detectives sent to investigate it are themselves killed, one after another, each in a mysterious fashion. Dr. Eustace Hailey finally figures it all out. An entertaining read.Recommended.
    • 2/5
      Agatha Christie mysteries are panto, this is farce. About as ridiculous except the setting is somehow even more contrived. The glass eye falling out of the protagonist's eye socket doesn't get any funnier the 10th time it happens.
    • 3/5
      Great start, interesting finish, fabulous characters, but oh my didn't this drag on forever...Also, the Scottish nostalgia theme was a wee bitty much.