Maybe it was the heat of a summer's day that caused tempers to fray. Or perhaps it was the frustrations shared by members of Sir Richard March's family, much-bullied by the family patriarch who kept threatening to disinherit them. The result, eventually and perhaps inevitably, was murder - but how could the murderer have approached the victim (or escaped the scene of the crime) without leaving a tell-tale trail of footprints on the sandy path? You can find the answers in The Crooked Wreath, an Inspector Cockrill mystery by Christianna Brand, first published in 1946, The Crooked Wreath is the American title; the original title in the U.K. was Suddenly at his Residence. It's the subject of today's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you can listen to the complete review by clicking here.
The Crooked Wreath is set at an English country estate called Swanswater, filled with squabbling relatives and an interesting cross-set of tensions and emotions. Sir Richard keeps his grandchildren (as well as his second wife) on a pretty tight leash; he’s also in the habit of changing his will with some regularity, disinheriting one or more of his potential heirs while returning others to favor. This is always a dangerous pastime in a classic English mystery, so when Sir Richard announces that he is now angry enough to disinherit ALL of his squabbling relatives, it really doesn’t surprise the reader to find Sir Richard meeting an untimely end pretty quickly, courtesy of some particularly nasty poison. Scotland Yard’s Inspector Cockrill investigates and realizes that the murderer must be one of a small group of people, most of them being part of Sir Richard’s family. And as the investigation drags on, relations among the family members deteriorate, with plenty of accusations being hurled as nerves fray. Then too, with World War II going on around them and England being bombed nightly, the war itself will play a critical role in finding a solution to the murder.
As usual in a mystery by Christianna Brand, we are treated to some excellent and quite memorable characters, and it's harrowing to watch as they accuse each other of murder - and do so in very believable ways. Inspector Cockrill is on hand to sort the information and try to make sense out of the mysteries, but, as usual in Brand's books, Cockie makes mistakes - and those will have consequences, too.
The Crooked Wreath is available in e-book formats. Under this title and also as Suddenly at his Residence, you may find copies from your favorite mystery bookstore. When Brand is good, she is very good indeed - and she is very good in The Crooked Wreath.
Comments