Silence For The Murderer

Rating:
Summary: Part detective fiction, part romantic fiction.
Review: Sir Roland Chatterton's country estate borders on the river Thames. Close to the river is "the joy of his heart", a sun trap bordered on three sides by evergreen shrubs and open on the other to the sun and the river. Here, during fine periods of the summer, he has his chair placed and here her sits surrounded by his books and papers sometimes for his whole day. On one such day, when members of his family and household are summoned to the sun trap by the sound of a gun shot, it appears that he has suicided. This is the principal mystery around which Freeman Wills Crofts builds his 1949 book "Silence For the Murderer". Allied to this mystery there is also a clever swindle perpetrated by two of the principal characters. The swindle and the suicide are so ingeniously contrived by Crofts that their discovery and explanation, at the hands of Chief Inspector French, are almost too amazing to be believed. There is also an amazing twist at the end of the book, when it seems that the case is well and truly solved.

Nearing the end of his detective fiction career, Crofts has here allowed less space for the dogged detection, timetable checking formula he had used ever since 1920. A love interest component occupies a considerable part of the book. Chief Inspector French's entry is delayed until two third of the way through.

Rating:
Summary: Part detective fiction, part romantic fiction.
Review: Sir Roland Chatterton�s country estate borders on the river Thames. Close to the river is �the joy of his heart� a sun trap bordered on three sides by evergreen shrubs and open on the other to the sun and the river. Here, during fine periods of the summer, he has his chair placed and here he sits surrounded by his books and papers sometimes for his whole day. On one such day, when members of his family and household are summoned to the sun trap by the sound of a gun shot, it appears that he has suicided.

This is the principal mystery around which Freeman Wills Crofts builds his 1949 book �Silence For the Murderer�. Allied to this mystery there is also a clever swindle perpetrated by two of the principal characters. The swindle and the suicide are so ingeniously contrived by Crofts that their discovery and explanation, at the hands of Chief Inspector French, are almost too amazing to be believed. There is also an amazing twist at the end of the book, when it seems that the case is well and truly solved.

Nearing the end of his detective fiction career, Crofts has here allowed less space for the dogged detection, timetable checking formula he had used ever since 1920. A love interest component occupies a considerable part of the book. Chief Inspector French�s entry is delayed until two third of the way through.