The Division Bell Mystery
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- $22.99
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- $22.99
Publisher Description
Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder
'Wilkinson deftly tacks between satirizing the stolid Ministers who get ensnared in these crimes and plotting a sturdy detective story.' —Kirkus Reviews
'Through the double clamour of Big Ben and the shrill sound of the bell rang a revolver shot.'
A financier is found shot in the House of Commons. Suspecting foul play, Robert West, a parliamentary private secretary, takes on the role of amateur sleuth. Used to turning a blind eye to covert dealings, West must now uncover the shocking secret behind the man's demise, amid distractions from the press and the dead man's enigmatic daughter.
Originally published in 1932, this was the only mystery novel to be written by Ellen Wilkinson, one of the first women to be elected to Parliament. Wilkinson offers a unique insider's perspective of political scandal, replete with sharp satire.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Wilkinson (1891 1947), a Labour MP for much of her career, makes fine use of her inside knowledge to craft this intriguing whodunit, first published in 1932. Robert West, a Parliamentary private secretary, has arranged for American financier Georges Oissel to dine with his boss, the home secretary, in the House of Commons. The meal, held in a private dining room, is to be followed by a meeting between Oissel and the prime minister to discuss assistance for the beleaguered exchequer. That evening, just as the division bell rings to summon MPs to a vote, a gunshot rings out, and West finds Oissel dead in the dining room, with a revolver nearby and no evidence that anyone else was present at the fatal moment. The near-contemporaneous timing of a burglary at Oissel's lodgings, which ends with his bodyguard's murder, leads West to suspect that Oissel was also murdered, and he joins forces with the Yard to uncover the truth. Wilkinson's detailed depiction of her professional home more than compensates for the less than clever solution. This is another worthy addition to the British Library Crime Classics series.
