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The Terriford Mystery
Mrs. Belloc Lowndes knows better than most writers how to maintain the interest in a mystery story. Accordingly"The Terriford Mystery" (Hutchinson) opens with a very exciting cricket match in whicha famous Australian team is beaten by one run. The host on that occasion was Henry Garlett, and it was he who, with a brilliant catch, won the match for the English team. The reader knows, therefore", that no matter how black the circumstances may be it was not Henry Garlett who poisoned his invalid wife while ?he match was in progress. The case against him proceeds with growing interest, and with more circumstantial detail until the very end.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1924
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About the author
Marie Belloc Lowndes
232 books69 followersMarie Adelaide Elizabeth Rayner Lowndes, née Belloc (5 August 1868 – 14 November 1947), was a prolific English novelist.
Active from 1898 until her death, she had a literary reputation for combining exciting incident with psychological interest. Two of her works were adapted for the screen.
Born in Marylebone, London and raised in La Celle-Saint-Cloud, France, Mrs Belloc Lowndes was the only daughter of French barrister Louis Belloc and English feminist Bessie Parkes. Her younger brother was Hilaire Belloc, whom she wrote of in her last work, The Young Hilaire Belloc (published posthumously in 1956). Her paternal grandfather was the French painter Jean-Hilaire Belloc, and her maternal great-great-grandfather was Joseph Priestley. In 1896, she married Frederick Sawrey A. Lowndes (1868–1940). Her mother died in 1925, 53 years after her father.
She published a biography, H.R.H. The Prince of Wales: An Account of His Career, in 1898. From then on, she published novels, reminiscences, and plays at the rate of one per year until 1946. In the memoir, I, too, Have Lived in Arcadia (1942), she told the story of her mother's life, compiled largely from old family letters and her own memories of her early life in France. A second autobiography Where love and friendship dwelt, appeared posthumously in 1948.
She died 14 November 1947 at the home of her elder daughter, Countess Iddesleigh (wife of the third Earl) in Eversley Cross, Hampshire, and was interred in France, in La Celle-Saint-Cloud near Versailles, where she spent her youth.
(from Wikipedia)
Active from 1898 until her death, she had a literary reputation for combining exciting incident with psychological interest. Two of her works were adapted for the screen.
Born in Marylebone, London and raised in La Celle-Saint-Cloud, France, Mrs Belloc Lowndes was the only daughter of French barrister Louis Belloc and English feminist Bessie Parkes. Her younger brother was Hilaire Belloc, whom she wrote of in her last work, The Young Hilaire Belloc (published posthumously in 1956). Her paternal grandfather was the French painter Jean-Hilaire Belloc, and her maternal great-great-grandfather was Joseph Priestley. In 1896, she married Frederick Sawrey A. Lowndes (1868–1940). Her mother died in 1925, 53 years after her father.
She published a biography, H.R.H. The Prince of Wales: An Account of His Career, in 1898. From then on, she published novels, reminiscences, and plays at the rate of one per year until 1946. In the memoir, I, too, Have Lived in Arcadia (1942), she told the story of her mother's life, compiled largely from old family letters and her own memories of her early life in France. A second autobiography Where love and friendship dwelt, appeared posthumously in 1948.
She died 14 November 1947 at the home of her elder daughter, Countess Iddesleigh (wife of the third Earl) in Eversley Cross, Hampshire, and was interred in France, in La Celle-Saint-Cloud near Versailles, where she spent her youth.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 22, 2020
Never would I have thought such a great mystery would center around the game of cricket.
June 9, 2023
A famous cricket player is tethered to an invalid wife as we begin this drama. That state of affairs does not last long, as his wife dies of gastrointestinal distress after gorging on a bowl of strawberries. That gets the rumors started and a poison pen writer going. It doesn’t help matters that the hero, who is valiant to the point of stupidity, suddenly falls in love hard with the country doctor’s pretty niece. Yes, a murder trial is imminent.
For the first two thirds, this thing is pretty dull —as it seems obvious what’s going to happen to all the characters. There are some twists in plot towards the end — as well as a welcome change in focus that shakes up the plot. Alas, this is not really a fair play mystery, but the final revelation is pretty good.
For the first two thirds, this thing is pretty dull —as it seems obvious what’s going to happen to all the characters. There are some twists in plot towards the end — as well as a welcome change in focus that shakes up the plot. Alas, this is not really a fair play mystery, but the final revelation is pretty good.
July 25, 2023
I found this rather tedious, mainly as it was, to me, fairly obvious what the twist would be. There is a very early major clue, a significant indiscretion which is easily missed.
Otherwise this mystery is really the tale of a romance or two, of village gossip and the voracious appetite of the general public for scandal among the wealthy and its tendency to rush to wrong judgments.
It is not as interesting as the later “ The Chianti Flask” with the trial appearing as part of the Epilogue simply to facilitate the melodramatic denouement rather than occupying a central position. Characters one would expect to be crucial, such as the detective Kentworthy, just fade out and the regular police are firmly in the background. There is no real investigation and the author’s acquaintance with police and legal procedures is shaky.
Very easy reading but for me not very challenging as a mystery.
3.25 stars.
Otherwise this mystery is really the tale of a romance or two, of village gossip and the voracious appetite of the general public for scandal among the wealthy and its tendency to rush to wrong judgments.
It is not as interesting as the later “ The Chianti Flask” with the trial appearing as part of the Epilogue simply to facilitate the melodramatic denouement rather than occupying a central position. Characters one would expect to be crucial, such as the detective Kentworthy, just fade out and the regular police are firmly in the background. There is no real investigation and the author’s acquaintance with police and legal procedures is shaky.
Very easy reading but for me not very challenging as a mystery.
3.25 stars.
December 30, 2024
A classic mystery story with a different angle: very little of it is concerned with the investigation of the crime, and what investigation there is doesn't end up being very important, thanks to a last-minute revelation.
Instead, its focus is the distress of the innocent accused and his equally innocent beloved, who are universally believed to be respectively the murderer and the motive for the murder of the accused's late wife. It's only detected as a crime at all because some busybody suggests that the circumstances of her death were suspicious, and her widower, wanting to put the rumours firmly to bed for good, insists on an exhumation, not expecting for a moment that there will be evidence of murder.
The fact that he was the one who insisted on the exhumation is never discussed in his defense, and in fact the legal side of things in general is a bit slapdash. More interesting as a human story involving a murder than a mystery in the genre sense, and the author could have had a stronger grasp on where to put commas and tends to repeat vocabulary and phrasing. I'm also reasonably sure the word "illusive" should have been "elusive".
Still, it's enjoyable for what it is if you don't expect it to be something else.
Instead, its focus is the distress of the innocent accused and his equally innocent beloved, who are universally believed to be respectively the murderer and the motive for the murder of the accused's late wife. It's only detected as a crime at all because some busybody suggests that the circumstances of her death were suspicious, and her widower, wanting to put the rumours firmly to bed for good, insists on an exhumation, not expecting for a moment that there will be evidence of murder.
The fact that he was the one who insisted on the exhumation is never discussed in his defense, and in fact the legal side of things in general is a bit slapdash. More interesting as a human story involving a murder than a mystery in the genre sense, and the author could have had a stronger grasp on where to put commas and tends to repeat vocabulary and phrasing. I'm also reasonably sure the word "illusive" should have been "elusive".
Still, it's enjoyable for what it is if you don't expect it to be something else.
August 15, 2023
A solid, well written British murder mystery, though perhaps a bit slow moving at points. Lowndes is best known for The Lodger, her 1911 Jack the Ripper thriller that was adapted by Hitchcock as his third (silent) feature film, but The Terriford Mystery shows she was certainly an accomplished author and not a one-novel success story. There aren't as many red herrings or other clever devices that are routine in contemporary mysteries but the novel instead focuses on characterization and coherent plotting. Though almost 100 years old at this point, it's stood the test of time very well.
June 22, 2020
I love mysteries. Give me more!
October 28, 2024
Congratulations, Terriford Mystery, you're the worst book I read this year.
There's no resolution.
There's no resolution.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews