So Pretty a Problem

March 19, 2018
Why might a woman falsely confess to shooting her husband? That’s the conundrum that Duncan’s affable amateur sleuth, Mordecai Tremaine, must crack in this welcome reissue, first published in the U.K. in 1947. Mordecai, a retired tobacconist with a gift for detection, is dozing on a Cornish beach when he’s roused by Helen Carthallow, who lives in an isolated house nearby. She says she needs his help because she just accidentally killed her artist husband, Adrian. She pointed a gun at Adrian that she thought was unloaded, and it went off. Mordecai returns with her to the cliff-top house, which is accessible only via a narrow bridge, to find Adrian’s corpse in his study and no evidence that anyone else has been present. Troubled by Helen’s version of events, Mordecai suspects that she was having an affair, and he shares his doubts with the local inspector, who enlists his aid in finding out what really happened. Fans of twisty fair-play whodunits will be gratified.