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Inspector Kentworthy #5
Some run crooked
New St Martin's., (1978). Very near fine in a like dustjacket.. First US printing. Fifth novel featuring Simon Kenworthy - who finds himself investigating three murders spread out over 200 years. Hilton combines a knowledge of English local history and folklore with a puzzling murder mystery. 192 pp.
- GenresMystery
191 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1978
About the author
John Buxton Hilton
57 books4 followersJohn Buxton Hilton was a British crime writer. After his war service in the army he became an Inspector of schools, before retiring in 1970 to take up full-time writing.
He wrote the Superintendent Simon Kenworthy series and the Inspector Thomas Brunt series, as well as the Inspector Mosley series under the pseudonym John Greenwood. Hilton died in Norwich.
He wrote the Superintendent Simon Kenworthy series and the Inspector Thomas Brunt series, as well as the Inspector Mosley series under the pseudonym John Greenwood. Hilton died in Norwich.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 19, 2019
"There are a thousand paths to the delectable tavern of death, and some run straight and some run crooked.
"As for the deaths recorded here the path runs crooked, very crooked indeed.
"Hilton writes of the ancient anachronistic privilege remaining at Peak Forest in Derbyshire. A chapel was founded there in the seventeenth century 'outside the jurisdiction of the bishops' its priest was called Principal Official and Judge in Peak Forest. He had the right to solemnize marriage according to a liberal set of rules -- a rival, one might say, to Gretna Green.
"As can be expected, the death of Julie Wimpole calls for a most unusual investigation. Julie came as a stranger to the nearby village of Peak Low in 1958, and everyone assumed she was there for fifteen days, the qualifying period to allow her to marry her lover under the curious laws still prevailing. But was she a stranger? Some of the villagers knew more about Julie than they cared to admit -- and she about them. What had she known about that other girl, also seeking the residential qualification for a romantic and hasty marriage, who was murdered here in 1940?
"Kenworthy, who reappears here as a police inspector, in effect finds himself investigating three murders spread over two hundred years and his methods are as bizarre and circuitous as ever, as in this case.
"John Buxton Hilton has woven his knowledge of English local history and of folklore into the construction of a splendidly ingenious and baffling story."
~~front flap
Well yes, I agree with the sobriquets "bizarre, circuitous, and baffling." The plot depends on several circumstances which are unknown to the reader until the denouement, which I always think is cheating: how can the reader even begin to solve the mystery without a clue or two along the way?
"As for the deaths recorded here the path runs crooked, very crooked indeed.
"Hilton writes of the ancient anachronistic privilege remaining at Peak Forest in Derbyshire. A chapel was founded there in the seventeenth century 'outside the jurisdiction of the bishops' its priest was called Principal Official and Judge in Peak Forest. He had the right to solemnize marriage according to a liberal set of rules -- a rival, one might say, to Gretna Green.
"As can be expected, the death of Julie Wimpole calls for a most unusual investigation. Julie came as a stranger to the nearby village of Peak Low in 1958, and everyone assumed she was there for fifteen days, the qualifying period to allow her to marry her lover under the curious laws still prevailing. But was she a stranger? Some of the villagers knew more about Julie than they cared to admit -- and she about them. What had she known about that other girl, also seeking the residential qualification for a romantic and hasty marriage, who was murdered here in 1940?
"Kenworthy, who reappears here as a police inspector, in effect finds himself investigating three murders spread over two hundred years and his methods are as bizarre and circuitous as ever, as in this case.
"John Buxton Hilton has woven his knowledge of English local history and of folklore into the construction of a splendidly ingenious and baffling story."
~~front flap
Well yes, I agree with the sobriquets "bizarre, circuitous, and baffling." The plot depends on several circumstances which are unknown to the reader until the denouement, which I always think is cheating: how can the reader even begin to solve the mystery without a clue or two along the way?
Displaying 1 of 1 review