Book Review : An English Murder by Cyril Hare

I was browsing in a second-hand bookshop looking for the work of another writer when I came across this wonderful book, by an author I’d never heard of before, Cyril Hare.

A day later and I’ve read the book and I’m looking for other titles by Cyril Hare to read.

An English Murder is set in a country house at Christmas where there’s a family gathering – it does sound formulaic but it really isn’t. There’s no detective to solve the murder other than a special branch officer who’s a ‘minder’ for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, a member of the family, the cousin of Lord Warbeck the ailing head of the family.

Yes it snows, yes they’re snowed in, yes the telephone line is down, there’s only six guests, plus a butler and his daughter and the cook. One of the guests is a central European intellectual, Dr Bottwink, who is the useful foil for some characters’ opinions.

All this works so well in the hands of Cyril Hare. None of the characters are truly obnoxious or too snooty but three of them still don’t make it to the end of the book. The reasons for the murders is truly superb and shows the legal mind of the author, who had a day job as a county court judge.