If you think you would enjoy The Castleford Conundrum - and I think you would - you might also want to take a look at J. J. Connington's first mystery, Murder in the Maze. I wrote it up in a post here a couple of months back.
Like The Castleford Conundrum, it's a classic English Country House mystery with an additional first-rate twist: the murders are committed not in the house but in a large, and rather frightening, garden maze. It's a double maze, really, with two center spaces to be found - and there are two murders, one in each of the maze's centers. What is truly terrifying, however, is that there are a couple of innocent bystanders wandering through the unfamiliar paths of the maze at the time. They hear the murders - and they also hear the running footsteps of the murderer, trying to find his way out of the maze to escape. And they wonder...what would happen if the murderer came across these witnesses on his way out...
It's an excellent book, as is The Castleford Conundrum, and I recommend both highly. The publisher, Coachwhip Publications, has also reprinted a third Connington, The Tau Cross. I haven't read it yet...but I will. Soon.
Enticing description!
Posted by: Curt Evans | July 30, 2012 at 02:48 AM
Curt, the person who wrote the introduction...hmm, I forget his name...really added value to this edition as well... ;-)
Posted by: Les Blatt | July 30, 2012 at 05:58 AM