So Pretty a Problem
-
- $10.99
Publisher Description
Amateur sleuth Mordecai Tremaine is back in another classic mystery from the author of Murder for Christmas
Adrian Carthallow, enfant terrible of the art world, is no stranger to controversy. But this time it’s not his paintings that have provoked a blaze of publicity – it’s the fact that his career has been suddenly terminated by a bullet to the head. Not only that, but his wife has confessed to firing the fatal shot.
Inspector Penross of the town constabulary is, however, less than convinced by Helen Carthallow’s story – but has no other explanation for the incident that occurred when the couple were alone in their clifftop house.
Luckily for the Inspector, amateur criminologist Mordecai Tremaine has an uncanny habit of being in the near neighbourhood whenever sudden death makes its appearance. Investigating the killing, Tremaine is quick to realise that however handsome a couple the Carthallows were, and however extravagant a life they led, beneath the surface there’s a pretty devil’s brew…
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
