A sick and tyrannical old woman rules her household with an iron grip, making life miserable for her granddaughters, threatening to cut off their funds and their inheritances and keeping them as virtual prisoners in her home. An equal opportunity oppressor, she also imposes her will on a house full of servants, a paid companion, even her doctor. Can murder be far behind? Welcome to "Postscript To Poison," by Dorothy Bowers, a mystery from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, and the subject of this week's review on the Classic Mysteries podcast. You can listen to the full review here.
"Postscript to Poison" was Bowers' first mystery, published in 1938. She wrote only five mysteries before her death from tuberculosis. Some critics seem to agree that, had she lived, she could have been a worthy successor to Dorothy L. Sayers. Her books, like Sayers', are well-crafted, fairly-clued mysteries, with solid characters, fine settings and first-rate writing. She's pretty much forgotten these days, and that's unfortunate. "Postscript to Poison" will show you why.
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