was immediately carried into the house and laid upon the bed. The family physician was telephoned for. The powder marks around the wound could be seen by all. In his confusion and excitement, the butler felt that he ought to notify his master of what had happened before sending for the police. Nobody in the house knew where Mr. Whittall was dining that night, and the butler started telephoning around to his clubs, and to the houses of his most intimate friends in the endeavour to find him. He could not get any word of him. He was still at the telephone when Mr. Whittall returned home. This would be about eleven. Mr. Whittall's first act was to telephone to the local police station. He upbraided the butler for not having done so at once. A few minutes later the police were in the house.
Mrs. Whittall's own maid had identified the revolver as one belonging to her mistress. She had testified that she had seen nothing strange in the behaviour of her mistress before she left the house. So far as she could
A good read. Loved the main character, needless to say she HAS character.......
Highly recommend this book. I love the books from the ‘Golden Age’ of crime fiction, but I’d never heard of Madame Rosika Storey - now I’ve read one book, I’m hooked! If you like Agatha Christie, Patricia Wentworth and Ngaio Marsh, you’ll like this.
This is a bit later than Christie’s books, and there are definite echoes of her in it - Mme Storey reminded me of Poirot, as like him, she’s a professional (rather than an amateur like Miss Marple or Miss Silver) and takes a psychological approach to solving crime. The stories whittle down the suspects, and tend to end with the familiar dénouement scene. However, the book isn’t just a pale Christie wannabe - Mme Storey is a strong character and the stories are well-written and clever. Excellent read.
