CLASSIC CRIME
THE MYSTERY GUEST by Nita Prose (Harper Collins €13.99, 366pp)
MOLLY GRAY is exceptional. With a literal mind that delights in the strict order of things, she shines as head maid in a smart hotel. Preparing for a press conference hosted by a famous crime writer, Molly is on hand to ensure that the arrangements are perfect in every detail.
But even she is unable to anticipate the novelist dropping dead at the microphone in the tearoom.
When murder by poison is indicated, Molly is caught up in an investigation that takes in her early years when the victim had made an unwelcome intrusion on her life.
But she is not alone in harbouring a grudge against the crime writer.
Deploying her gift for strictly logical thinking, Molly outsmarts the police to prove her own innocence while moving the black spot on to likelier suspects. In a novel full of surprises, this modest if self-assured maid-of-all-work is a stand-out character of crime fiction. Long may she thrive.
DEATH ON THE LUSITANIA by R L Graham (Macmillan €15.99, 400pp)
SUNK by a German torpedo in 1915, the luxury trans-Atlantic liner has been a continuing source of speculation and controversy. Could the British navy have done more to save lives and was it not asking for trouble for a civilian vessel to carry munitions?
In this outstanding novel of deception and double dealing, Graham delivers another element of mystery by having on board a secret service agent who is keeping tabs on a suspected traitor. But the ever-vigilant Patrick Gallagher soon finds he has more on his hands than escort duties.
Following on from an investigation into the violent death of a business chancer who has links to organised crime, Gallagher spreads his net to haul in other passengers who have much to hide.
Vivid characterisation adds spice to an adventure that must for many end in tragedy on the high seas. Death On The Lusitania is an instant classic.
MURDER BY CANDLELIGHT by Faith Martin (HQ €23.80, 304pp)
FOR her latest venture into crime that amuses and intrigues in equal measure, Martin takes us back to the mid-1920s, when the calm of a quiet village in the Cotswolds is disturbed by rumours of a ghost walking.
Archie Swift, a light-hearted guide to ghost hunting, is persuaded against his better judgment to explain the apparent haunting. It all turns nasty when the grande dame who had initiated the investigation is found poisoned. That she died in bed behind a locked door with the windows locked is an added twist to a beguiling mystery.
Aided, if not always helpfully, by an independently minded Girl Friday, Archie delves into a disputed inheritance and secret love affairs to solve a seemingly impossible crime. Murder By Candlelight is certainly a splendid start to what promises to be a long-running series.