CLASSIC CRIME
BARRY TURNER THE CASE OF THE COUNTERFEIT COLONEL by Christopher Bush
(Dean Street £9.99, 212 pp) CHrisTOPHEr BusH was at the height of his prolific writing career when, in 1952, he published this tantalisingly convoluted golden-age mystery. it starts with private detective ludovic Travers agreeing to trace a war hero who saved his client’s life.
Travers’ investigation leads to a theatre touring company and the odd disappearance of its star. it turns out that he had assumed a false identity as a golf-loving retired Army officer.
Delving into a murky past, Travers exposes a blackmail ring with the bogus colonel at its centre. That is, until he is found murdered.
in the hunt for the killer, Travers has to cope with false trails galore but dogged persistence pays off, the story moving at a satisfying pace towards a surprising but convincing conclusion.
DEATH ON GOKUMON ISLAND by Seishi Yokomizo
(Pushkin £8.99, 320 pp)
ONE of Japan’s most popular mystery writers, this is the latest of seishi yokomizo’s novels to be given a fresh airing.
When detective Kosuke Kindaichi arrives on the remote Gokumon, he brings news of the death of the young son of a leading family, unaware that it would have fatal repercussions for the tight-knit community.
A succession of grotesque murders has the endearingly dishevelled Kindaichi forever scratching his head to release a shower of dandruff, exposing family rivalries and ancient superstitions which defy outside interference. The truth, when it emerges, is as bizarre as it is chilling.
CROOK O’LUNE by E. C. R. Lorac
(British Library
£9.99, 256 pp)
OF All the golden-age crime writers, there was no one quite like E.C.r. lorac for setting a scene. For Crook O’lune she takes us to lancashire’s sparsely populated fells.
inspector robert Macdonald is contemplating early retirement to take up dairy farming. But first, he is enlisted by the local police to help solve a case of sheepstealing. More seriously, there is the urgent need to find a fire-raiser whose attempt to burn down a farmhouse has ended in manslaughter.
That the two cases are linked becomes clear as Macdonald digs into local history to reveal an undercurrent of envy and suspicion. it adds up to a triumphal comeback for a long-forgotten gem of classic crime writing.