The police were wrong.
And Mr. Lomas was right.
Which was mostly unfortunate for Mr. Lomas.
He had complained to the Chief Constable of Burnham that somebody was trying to kill him, an idea ridiculed by that worthy official. So when his body was found that night along the river, at Willow Lock, and the doctor insisted it wasn't a simple drowning, it really came as no surprise to find that poison was involved - although the choice of poison was rather surprising. Inspector Gordon Knollis of the local Burnham police force will need to discover why Mr. Lomas was killed...and, curiously enough, how he was killed. It's the story told by Golden Age author Francis Vivian in The Death of Mr. Lomas, originally published in 1941. The book is the subject of today's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you may listen to the complete review by clicking here.
Francis Vivian is another Golden Age author now making a comeback in new editions designed to bring Golden Age classics to a new generation of readers. From the 1930s through the 1950s, Vivian wrote eighteen mysteries. Ten of them featured Inspector Knollis as the primary investigator, the first of those being The Death of Mr. Lomas. Knollis is an interesting and empathetic character with a quiet and sometimes mischievous sense of humor. But he also knows when – and how – to press an advantage and uncover the truth of what may seem at first to be meaningless or inexplicable clues. It is worth noting that the inspector shares the clues that he discovers with the reader (though not always his interpretation of those clues). In other words, his mysteries definitely include some of that battle of the wits that so many readers of traditional mysteries do enjoy. Mystery historian and author Curtis Evans has provided an introduction to this new edition from Dean Street Press offering more background on Francis Vivian and his books.
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