An English Murder

(Paperback, Main)

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Description

The snow is thick, the phone line is down, and no one is getting in or out of Warbeck Hall. With friends and family gathered round the fire, all should be set for a perfect Christmas, but as the bells chime midnight, a mysterious murder takes place.

Who can be responsible The scorned young lover The lord's passed-over cousin The social climbing politician's wife The Czech history professor The obsequious butler And perhaps the real question is: can any of them survive long enough to tell the tale

Reviews

Hare's writing is sublime... this author was years ahead of his time. -- CrimeSquad

...incisive social commentary, vivid descriptions and nuanced interactions between characters... a book modern readers should not miss. -- CrimeReview

This light-hearted classic from 1951 slips down as easily as eggnog on Christmas morning. -- Jake Kerridge, Sunday Express 'Murder and Mystery Books of the Year'

Faber's welcome republication of vintage crime bestsellers continued with An English Murder by Cyril Hare, a wintry country house whodunit from 1951. -- Mark Lawson, Guardian 'Best Crime and Thrillers 2017'

Six people around the table on Christmas Eve in a large country house include the chancellor of the exchequer, the leader of a fascist movement, a Jewish historian and assorted toffs. They start dying, one by one. Snow prevents detectives from coming to investigate. Written in 1951, Cyril Hare's novel tells a satisfying tale of politics and wealth, with an unexpected denouement. -- Times 'Books of the Year: Crime'

Author Bio

Cyril Hare was the pseudonym for the distinguished lawyer Alfred Alexander Gordon Clark. He was born in Surrey, in 1900, and was educated at Rugby and Oxford. A member of the Inner Temple, he was called to the Bar in 1924 and joined the chambers of Roland Oliver, who handled many of the great crime cases of the 1920s. He practised as a barrister until the Second World War, after which he served in various legal and judicial capacities including a time as a county court judge in Surrey.

Hare's crime novels, many of which draw on his legal experience, have been praised by Elizabeth Bowen and P.D. James among others. He died in 1958 - at the peak of his career as a judge, and at the height of his powers as a master of the whodunit.