The Third Encounter

Antony Maitland #4

by Sara Woods

Someone had murdered kindly old Dr. Martin. Scotland Yard promptly arrested Martin’s freeloading cousin Gerry, who had bumbled into an argument with his rich relative at about the fatal hour. But Antony Maitland knew Gerry didn’t do it. The good doctor had been a secret service agent… and Antony knew who really had a motive to kill him. The catch was that a visit with a man from Whitehall plunged Antony back in Her Majesty’s Service and sworn to secrecy. His only chance to save Gerry was to catch the real killer. And that desperate hunt would bring him face-to-face with a nightmare from his own past… and a wartime betrayal that had once made Antony a prisoner and now could make him a corpse. (Publisher’s description)

Genres: Mystery, British Literature

182 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1963

About the author

(Lana Hutton Bowen-Judd)
UK (1922 - 1986)
aka Anne Burton, Mary Challis, Margaret Leek

Born in England, she was educated at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Filey, Yorkshire.

During the Second World War, she worked in a bank and as a solicitor's clerk in London. Here she gained much of the information later used in her novels. Lana married Anthony George Bowen-Judd on April 25, 1946. They ran a pig breeding farm between 1948 and 1954. In 1957 they moved to Nova Scotia, Canada. She worked as a registrar for St. Mary's University until 1964. In 1961 she wrote her first novel, Bloody Instructions, introducing the hero of forty-nine of her mysteries, Anthony Maitland, an English barrister.

Her last years she lived with her husband at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

Reviews

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maitland gets a phone call from his old friend Dr. Martin, but the call is cut off before the barrister can even speak to him. Maitland figures that a patient walked in or Dr. Martin was otherwise interrupted and thinks little of it until it's time to close up shop at the office. When calls Martin's number, a familiar voice answers--but not that of Dr. Martin. It is Inspector Sykes of Scotland Yard. The kindly old doctor has been found strangled to death and the police are pretty certain that they've got the culprit all sewn up. Gerry Martin, the doctor's free-loading cousin, had a rather public argument just a day or so ago and he just happens to be the doctor's heir.

Maitland and his uncle, Sir Nicholas, are called upon to defend Gerry with Maitland quite sure that Gerry may be a lot things, but he's no murderer. Maitland is even more sure when he finds subtle hints of leftovers from his from his intelligence work during the war and the lingering shadow of an old enemy--the man responsible for his capture in Paris and his war injury. He sets about making inquiries with his colleagues in intelligence and finds himself drawn back into a web of secrecy and espionage. He will have to walk a fine line to dig up proof of Gerry's innocence without upsetting an international applecart....or losing his own life to the one man he fears most.

Woods does a good job connecting the past and the present in this story of the likeable Antony Maitland. She provides the background needed without miring the story in the past and she provides a good setting for Maitland to put some of the demons from his war experience to rest. It also helps substantiate the reasons behind his playing such a lone hand--and getting himself in danger. An interesting plot, with perhaps a too limited selection of suspects--which makes it fairly easy to spot the villain/s and anticipate the final twist. Still, a well-told and exciting entry in the series. ★★★ and 3/4...rounded to four here.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Barrister Antony Maitland gets involved in what seems to be a straightforward case. But in no time at all, he finds himself plunged into a race for his life against a familiar opponent--the man who captured him during World War II. The man is now in England, living under another name, but he's just as dangerous. Antony barely survived their last meeting, but this third encounter may prove even more deadly. He finds himself framed for murder, so if the real killer doesn't get him, Scotland Yard will.

A really exciting read. I love this author and really recommend this one as one of her best works.

[Linda Brue · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third book in the Antony Maitland series involves secrets from Antony's past working during the war. Dr. Martin is murdered after telephoning Antony but not reaching him, and although the police quickly nab the man's ne'er-do-well cousin Gerry, Antony believes the man's undercover work during the war might have brought someone to murder. He suspects that Dr. Martin might have seen someone from the past who is supposed to be dead. Unfortunately, proving this brings him uncomfortably close to being charged with murder himself, as well as making him a target for deadly enemies from his own past. Kind of a grim storyline, but well plotted.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a bit on the slow side, really very little happened until the last 20 or so pages. The back story of Antony's damaged shoulder is revealed and WWII ghosts who should have been dead are resurrected. There are several passages were the characters are talking and they know what's not being said but it's frustrating for the audience, particularly one reading 50+ years later.