The Middle Temple Murder by J S Fletcher

Spargo, sub-editor of Watchman, returning home after the papers have gone to the press at 2 in the early morning, spots news near Middle Temple lane when he finds policemen there. A porter had reported that he found a man lying dead in one of the entrances to the lane. There was nothing on the man that could lead to his identification.

They find a scrap of paper with a barrister's address on it. But the barrister is not aware of any such man. So who was he? Why was he murdered? Who murdered him? Spargo plays an active role in the investigation. He uses his influence of as a journalists to get the case solved.

With the help of the cap, the dead man was wearing, they trace him. It is a complicated and confusing case involving embezzlement, impersonation, hidden identities, invaluable stamps, hidden leather box and a twenty-one year old case.

I didn't guess the killer or the reason. There were many twists that I hadn't anticipated. Interesting mystery that got me glued from start to finish. I liked this book much much better than The Charing Cross Mystery by J S Fletcher. The Middle Temple Murder published in 1919 is available as a free ebook from many websites including Gutenberg and Amazon.

The Charing Cross Mystery by J S Fletcher

Traveling home in the last east-bound train in London, Heatherwick couldn't help noticing the two men who boarded the almost empty train in St. James Square. They talk about recognising a woman even after such a long time, and suddenly one of them drops dead. The other gets down in Charing Cross station promising to bring a doctor. As we all know, he has disappeared. The dead man was poisoned. Who is the man who ran away in Charing Cross? Who is the lady he was talking about? Is it related to this death? What are the blue stains in the murdered man's hands? Heatherwick, a young barrister, has all the time in the world to investigate. More so because Robert Hannaford, the dead man, has a beautiful daughter.

Heatherwick believes that the lady Hannaford was talking about, is the key to the mystery. With the help of the newspaper cutting in Hannaford's belongings, Heatherwick tries to trace the lady. He also finds out that Hannaford was an amateur scientist and he was on to inventing something that would make hime rich. What happened to the man who ran away at Charing cross station? Was he responsible for Hannaford's death? Heatherwick gets into finding these with some help from the police inspector Matherfield.

It is a complicated, confusing and intriguing story that involves scientific inventions, blackmail, stolen diamond necklace, impersonation, mistaken-identities, kidnapping and of course murders. At the midway point, I lost interest because of something that happened. Most of the mysteries is solved at the midway point. What happens later is the climax stuff we see in movies- kidnapping, rescue and final apprehension.

The Charing Cross Mystery published in 1923 is available as a free ebook from Manybooks website.

Crime Fiction Pick of the Month October 2012

Crime Fiction Pick of the Month October 2012

I read the following Crime Fiction in October 2012. Here are the books

The Caller by Karin Fossum
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
Whited Sepulchres by Anne Perry
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
The Middle Temple Murder by J S Fletcher
The Service of all Dead by Colin Dexter
A Dark Adapted Eye by Barbara Vine

All the reads this month were terrific. The Maltese Falcon is a great classic, I loved the crazy, 'merry-go-round' mystery. Barbara Vine/Ruth Rendell is my favourite writer, and I go crazy over her books. A dark Adapted Eye is the first book by Ruth Rendell writing as Barbara Vine and establishes what to expect from Vine books. I discovered Jo Nesbo this year and I am discovering other Norwegian writers. I enjoyed The Caller by Karin Fossum and look forward to read her other books. The Little Stranger is not strictly crime fiction, but it is. I loved the writing and the mystery. I always loved Inspector Morse, mean, crazy and all. The Service of all Dead is really crazy too.

But the crime fiction pick of the month is The Middle Temple Murder by J S Fletcher, because it had twists and turns, surprises and I didn't guess the killer and most of all it didn't have an open ending unlike the other terrific reads this month. I hate open endings.

Theme Thursday

Theme Thursday is a fun weekly Meme hosted at Reading Between the Pages.

This week's theme is see, wink, roll
These snippets are from The Charing Cross Mystery by J S Fletcher

And Matherfield suddenly brightened, and gave Hetherwick an unmistakable wink.
one more
The driver showed his understanding by a nod and a wink and moved a little distance off to the kerbstone.