The Chianti Flask
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4.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
It seems clear that the poison was delivered in a flask of Chianti with supper…
An enigmatic young woman named Laura Dousland stands on trial for murder, accused of poisoning her elderly husband, Fordish. It seems clear that the poison was delivered in a flask of Chianti with supper, but according to the couple's servant in the witness-box, the flask disappeared the night Fordish died, and all attempts to trace it have come to nothing. The jury delivers its verdict, but this is just the end of the beginning of Marie Belloc Lowndes's gripping story.
First published in 1934, this exquisitely crafted novel blends the tenets of a traditional mystery with an exploration of the psychological impact of death, accusation, guilt, and justice in the aftermath of murder.
This edition includes an introduction by the CWA Diamond Dagger Award-winning author Martin Edwards.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Best known for The Lodger, Lowndes (1896–1947) inverts the traditional courtroom drama in this psychologically complex mystery, first published in 1935. Laura Dousland has been charged with murdering her husband, Fordish Dousland, by poisoning his wine with rat poison, supposedly motivated by his mistreatment. One witness, a physician who was a golfing acquaintance of Fordish, testifies that the deceased, who was depressed and may have been suicidal, asked him whether the rat poison Fordish had requested his wife to purchase would be painless if administered to a human. The key proof incriminating the defendant comes from the household's sole servant, Angelo Terugi, who insists that the flask containing the tainted Chianti that killed Fordish mysteriously vanished the night Fordish drank from it. That damning account is interrupted by the defendant, who protests that Terugi has confused that night with a prior incident when her husband concealed a flask to keep the servant from imbibing from it. The jury's verdict comes early on, leaving Lowndes to tease out over the rest of the book whether the jurors' decision was the right one. This is another obscure title worthy of resurrection as a British Library crime classic.
Customer Reviews
Excellent psychological story!
She is the best at psychological mysteries with a touch of romance. Sad and uplifting at the same time.