The Conqueror Inn is ancient, possibly dating back to the eleventh century, but it is a very new crime which brings Inspector Bobby Owen to the inn's door. The inn's owner had phoned the police to say that he had found a box full of money lying in the road, and would the police kindly come and take it away? Well, it was the middle of World War Two and England had other worries on its hands, so Bobby Owen sighed and headed out to the inn. By the time he arrived there, he was greeted with the news that there seemed to be something else left lying about - a body in an unmarked grave. And that turned out to be a gruesome sight indeed, for somebody had battered the body so badly after death that it was going to be close to impossible to identify it.
That's the situation you will find in The Conqueror Inn, by the British Golden Age author, E. R. Punshon. The book is the subject of today's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you are welcome to listen to the complete review by clicking here.
In 1943, when The Conqueror Inn was first published, Britain was at a low point in its struggle for survival during World War II. A lot of the puzzles in the book, and its description of the routine of everyday life in wartime, make it clear how disruptive and demoralizing the effects of the war, and the need for eternal vigilance against aerial bombing, infiltration by possible spies, rationing and an active and pernicious black market, could be for the average person – not to mention the daily tragedies of family and friends killed in battle. When you read The Conqueror Inn, you’ll learn a great deal about what life was like under those conditions.
The war is one of the primary reasons that Inspector Bobby Owen first gets involved in the strange goings-on at the Conqueror Inn – there really isn’t anyone else left to do the job. He sees a chance to get out of his office on a simple errand – picking up that box of money. He doesn’t expect to be led to the shallow grave containing that horrifyingly mutilated body, a development which puts him squarely into the middle of a murder investigation.
With little to go on in the way of clues – and NOTHING to go on to help him in terms of identifying the dead man – Bobby Owen begins hunting for young men of roughly the same age as the victim who might have gone missing. As he investigates, he will find that many of the local residents have secrets to hide, and Bobby will have to sort out their stories and find himself searching desperately, trying to find evidence that will stand up in court. And somehow, the Conqueror Inn itself is at the heart of both the mystery – and its solution.
The Conqueror Inn, by E.R. Punshon is a tightly written book with a complex plot and some sharply defined characters – including, I might add, the “character” of that gloomy and unwelcoming inn. It is a grim crime indeed, and a dark solution, too. You will enjoy it. As a bonus for today’s readers, mystery historian Curtis Evans has provided an introduction to this new edition from Dean Street Press.
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