Two-Way Murder

I really like this author and regret that so many of her books are out of print or only available on Kindle or in French. This was an unpublished manuscript and Martin Edwards's introduction - on how t was discovered and published- is itself a good read. This is not her best book but there is a nice variety of suspects, a "moving finger" of suspicion, and some good pieces of misdirection. I liked Inspector Waring, though he was perhaps too all-seeing for his years. It does strike me as a rather light piece and possibly rather old fashioned; some of the ideas about behaviour in it seemed more 1920s/1930s than 1950s. In addition, a central character - Dilys- was really , well, wet, however beautiful ! For some reason she reminded me of Austen's Fanny Price in Mansfield Park! But a comforting bed-time read. PLEASE can we have more E..C. Lorac in paperback - not on ebooks.

The detective work needed to get this book to print for the first time is almost worth a novella in itself. Hats off to Martin Edwards ,his team and to James Pickard.As a long time fan of this author I found this to be a very well written and quite tightly plotted book . Such a surprise after the rather disappointing Murder in Vienna from 1956 ..this is maybe 1957 . Gone are the tired plotting and loose ends . Inspector Waring clearly provided a change of mood ,although in all honesty ,his behaviour was pretty similar to the first rate Inspector Macdonald.Good atmosphere and quite an exciting ending. Perhaps a few too many coincidences and still some rather feeble/unnecessarily helpless characters . Small cavils and as Edwards says in his introduction ,it is the ever changing perspective which makes the book both compelling and fresh. For anyone new to this author ,I would say ,get reading and see how well this author could write at the very end of a long career.

A very ingenious idea is central to this late and previously unpublished Lorac.It is well worth reading but I found it slightly hard-going in places, especially since the main female character, Dilys was one of those rather wet characters I find so unbearable in detective novels.Inspector Waring is not unlike the redoubtable Robert Macdonald, the author's series detective, but the plot relied on a number of coincidences which weakened it for me.Very recommendable for newbies and fans alike.Solidly 4 stars.

This is a very nice murder mystery with an element of romance. It may seem a bit old fashioned today ,dealing as it does with group of gentry -type people in a country district where a dead (murdered) body has been found on a lonely country road, but this is really where its charm lies. We soon realise that the murderer is going to be one of these people however unlikely this may seem. Inspector Waring is on the case and he is a likeable character and a big improvement on Inspector Macdonald of previous Lorac novels. The story jogs along nicely and comes to an action packed finale where the identity of the murderer is revealed. It is good stuff, with a sprinkling of red herrings and a surprise ending The authors repeated insistence on geographical details ( the low road, the high road etc etc) is rather wearisome and seems unnecessary until we find all this is relevant to the solution of the case !.

This is my 4th or 5th Lorac book and once again I enjoyed her easy, flowing prose (compared with the stilted prose of some of her contemporaries). Good story line but with the full potential unrealised as the story definitely needs a map. During reading and again at the end I tried to draw a map of the area of the action. My wife had read the book before me and she tried the same. We ended with 4 different maps. In fact, if you like puzzles, I strongly recommend you try to draw a map as you read and keep revising it as the clues of the layout emerge through the book: this will considerably affect your enjoyment of the story line. The plot line depends on and constantly refers to places and interconnecting roads, paths and bridleways linking them. This is the first time this book has been published, even though others of Lorac's were published posthumously: maybe she hadn't got round to drawing the map herself and no publisher could be bothered working one out.

When I saw that this book had not been published in the author's lifetime, I expected it perhaps to be poor. In fact I enjoyed it very much and thought it was one of her best. I was relieved it was not set in Lancashire, as a number of her books are, but in southern England. The solution is ingenious and the book has a period feel - in a good way. Some of the characters are stereotypes but this does not detract from the overall enjoyment.

If you like detective fiction with a definate period edge this is for you. Dated it maybe but the story is well told and intriguing

Another good murder mystery story from E C R Lorac. Recommended