What do you think?
Rate this book
The Stowmarket Mystery
A mystery novel featuring Reginald Brett, Barrister Detective, an insightful, Sherlockian investigator. We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.
318 pages, Paperback
First published February 28, 1903
27 people are currently reading
64 people want to read
About the author
Louis Tracy
243 books16 followersLouis Tracy (1863 - 1928) was a British journalist, and prolific writer of fiction. He used the pseudonyms Gordon Holmes and Robert Fraser, which were at times shared with M.P. Shiel, a collaborator from the start of the twentieth century.
Around 1884 he became a reporter for a local paper - 'The Northern Echo' at Darlington, circulating in parts of Durham and North Yorkshire; later he worked for papers in Cardiff and Allahabad.
During 1892-1894 he was closely associated with Arthur Harmsworth, in 'The Sun' and 'The Evening News and Post'.
Around 1884 he became a reporter for a local paper - 'The Northern Echo' at Darlington, circulating in parts of Durham and North Yorkshire; later he worked for papers in Cardiff and Allahabad.
During 1892-1894 he was closely associated with Arthur Harmsworth, in 'The Sun' and 'The Evening News and Post'.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
April 8, 2024
Despite Brett being a rather too clever "know it all" I thoroughly enjoyed this tale involving family secrets, murder and intrigue. The author played fair with the reader and there are plenty of clues which enabled me, more or less, to figure it out, albeit fairly late on. The writing is of its time and rather stilted and politically incorrect at times but this didn't put me off. The Kindle dictionary came in handy a few times with unusual obscure words.
Stowmarket is a small market town in Suffolk England. I live very near and go there quite often.
Stowmarket is a small market town in Suffolk England. I live very near and go there quite often.
September 5, 2016
Now mark me, Winter. Just as the breed of the chicken is indelibly stamped on it in the eyes of a man skilled in chickens, so is the murder we are investigating marked by characteristics so plain that a child of ten, properly trained to use his eyes, might discern them.
The Stowmarket Mystery Or, a Legacy of Hate by Louis Tracy (1st published in England as A Fatal Legacy 1903) features Reginald Brett, barrister and hobby detective, working opposite (and then with) Inspector Winter. David Hume-Frazer was tried twice for the murder of his cousin, Alan, and though Winter was convinced that the police had found their man Hume's first trial resulted in a hung jury and he was acquitted in the second. Despite the lack of conviction, suspicion clings to him, and he wishes his name to be cleared before he marries his fiancé, Helen Layton. She also will not marry him, per her father's wishes, until the suspicion is gone nor will she abandon him for anyone else. And David's father, who stands next in line for the baronetcy, refuses to take the title until the cloud of suspicion is removed.
Hume comes to Brett and asks him to investigate on his behalf. The barrister had followed the trials closely and also believed the evidence pointed to Hume. During their brief interview Brett changes his mind about the young man's guilt and agrees to take up the case. It is a baffling one--Alan was killed with a special Japanese knife just beyond the library windows with, if his story is to be believed, David sleeping soundly inside. Killed, in fact, in the same place where four of his ancestors already died "where they stood in their boots." Brett will have to dig into the family tree to find the motives and the real killer and several of our characters will have their lives threatened before he and Winter can bring the case to a successful conclusion.
This story is very much of the period, stereotypes abound--but there is plenty of action, lots of intrigue, and a cast of character that are interesting and engaging. The reader will be rooting for Hume's exoneration before the first chapter is complete. Reginald Brett is a detective very much in the Holmesian tradition. His quick observations and intellect make sense of clues that Winter either doesn't see or doesn't see the full meaning. But Brett is not as infallible as Holmes is generally
portrayed--he makes a few costly mistakes before the grand finale--allowing Winter to score a few points off him. Their relationship is more of a friendly competition than the adversarial relationship between Holmes and the police.
A very entertaining mystery from the early twentieth century and one doesn't even mind that it breaks one of the Golden Age rules. We'll forgive Tracy--since he was writing well before Ronald Knox created his list of detective "no-nos." ★★★ and a half.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
The Stowmarket Mystery Or, a Legacy of Hate by Louis Tracy (1st published in England as A Fatal Legacy 1903) features Reginald Brett, barrister and hobby detective, working opposite (and then with) Inspector Winter. David Hume-Frazer was tried twice for the murder of his cousin, Alan, and though Winter was convinced that the police had found their man Hume's first trial resulted in a hung jury and he was acquitted in the second. Despite the lack of conviction, suspicion clings to him, and he wishes his name to be cleared before he marries his fiancé, Helen Layton. She also will not marry him, per her father's wishes, until the suspicion is gone nor will she abandon him for anyone else. And David's father, who stands next in line for the baronetcy, refuses to take the title until the cloud of suspicion is removed.
Hume comes to Brett and asks him to investigate on his behalf. The barrister had followed the trials closely and also believed the evidence pointed to Hume. During their brief interview Brett changes his mind about the young man's guilt and agrees to take up the case. It is a baffling one--Alan was killed with a special Japanese knife just beyond the library windows with, if his story is to be believed, David sleeping soundly inside. Killed, in fact, in the same place where four of his ancestors already died "where they stood in their boots." Brett will have to dig into the family tree to find the motives and the real killer and several of our characters will have their lives threatened before he and Winter can bring the case to a successful conclusion.
This story is very much of the period, stereotypes abound--but there is plenty of action, lots of intrigue, and a cast of character that are interesting and engaging. The reader will be rooting for Hume's exoneration before the first chapter is complete. Reginald Brett is a detective very much in the Holmesian tradition. His quick observations and intellect make sense of clues that Winter either doesn't see or doesn't see the full meaning. But Brett is not as infallible as Holmes is generally
portrayed--he makes a few costly mistakes before the grand finale--allowing Winter to score a few points off him. Their relationship is more of a friendly competition than the adversarial relationship between Holmes and the police.
A very entertaining mystery from the early twentieth century and one doesn't even mind that it breaks one of the Golden Age rules. We'll forgive Tracy--since he was writing well before Ronald Knox created his list of detective "no-nos." ★★★ and a half.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
June 26, 2018
I read this in correlation with and in support of the Public Domain Readers group here on Goodreads.
This is quite an enjoyable yarn, lightly humorous at times, quite intelligent and with a few mysterious elements to intrigue you, even a hint at the supernatural, with a barrister who is a kind of Sherlock Holmes type character.
The characters come through quite clearly, though not with huge depth, which I guess would have been 'improper' in those days and that social class, generally via the barrister's sharp observations.
A little dated and 'incorrect' in its national, class and gender stereotypes, perhaps, with a 'Jap' or two, a 'swarthy' Italian, some 'un-English' ways, 'feminine logic', using the word 'Jacobite' in reference to Scottish heritage, even the mention that Irish home rule would obviously be a disaster, and EVEN the use of the 'n word' at one point, though seemingly in the context of the writer perceiving the meaning of that word to be a simple noun denoting race, equal in his 1900s vocabulary to the Spanish word 'negro', or 'black person'. With the calm intelligence of tone of the writing, mainly via the main protagonist's sharp mind, it all kind of feels like it could be a little tongue-in-cheek, but probably that's just my reading it from modern times.
Besides the entertainment of the tale itself, which to me is inessential, not a deep enlightening insight into much, if anything, but well-made entertainment all the same, I found interest in getting an insight into people's perspective just over a century ago. The women and servants are portrayed respectfully on the whole,even perhaps the attitude could have been progressive for its times (especially in totally taking the woman's side in her 'scandalous' situation), but the feeling of the natural place of the wealthy men as in charge for good reason, and the power and righteousness of masculinity, though tempered with calm intelligence, and the view of the world outside England as far more a different world, with people who may be slightly different creatures from us, is constantly, though lightly, felt, and lets us see how much narrower their view of the world was before the development of technology and international connectedness that the 20th century had an explosion of. It's light and inoffensive, I would say, especially when contextualized, all the same. Basically a well-constructed detective and social tale, designed mainly for entertainment with a little mild edification. I imagine wealthy types with time on their hands sitting at the fireplace reading such stuff.
This is quite an enjoyable yarn, lightly humorous at times, quite intelligent and with a few mysterious elements to intrigue you, even a hint at the supernatural, with a barrister who is a kind of Sherlock Holmes type character.
The characters come through quite clearly, though not with huge depth, which I guess would have been 'improper' in those days and that social class, generally via the barrister's sharp observations.
A little dated and 'incorrect' in its national, class and gender stereotypes, perhaps, with a 'Jap' or two, a 'swarthy' Italian, some 'un-English' ways, 'feminine logic', using the word 'Jacobite' in reference to Scottish heritage, even the mention that Irish home rule would obviously be a disaster, and EVEN the use of the 'n word' at one point, though seemingly in the context of the writer perceiving the meaning of that word to be a simple noun denoting race, equal in his 1900s vocabulary to the Spanish word 'negro', or 'black person'. With the calm intelligence of tone of the writing, mainly via the main protagonist's sharp mind, it all kind of feels like it could be a little tongue-in-cheek, but probably that's just my reading it from modern times.
Besides the entertainment of the tale itself, which to me is inessential, not a deep enlightening insight into much, if anything, but well-made entertainment all the same, I found interest in getting an insight into people's perspective just over a century ago. The women and servants are portrayed respectfully on the whole,even perhaps the attitude could have been progressive for its times (especially in totally taking the woman's side in her 'scandalous' situation), but the feeling of the natural place of the wealthy men as in charge for good reason, and the power and righteousness of masculinity, though tempered with calm intelligence, and the view of the world outside England as far more a different world, with people who may be slightly different creatures from us, is constantly, though lightly, felt, and lets us see how much narrower their view of the world was before the development of technology and international connectedness that the 20th century had an explosion of. It's light and inoffensive, I would say, especially when contextualized, all the same. Basically a well-constructed detective and social tale, designed mainly for entertainment with a little mild edification. I imagine wealthy types with time on their hands sitting at the fireplace reading such stuff.
October 13, 2019
Plenty of twists this time, and the odd enjoyable turn of phrase... but also bucketloads of racism, and I’m not in the mood to say “but it would be an okay story if you just cut 2/3 of it”. In the context of its time and all, but it just so thoroughly sours the experience for me when the plot hangs on this mess...
March 6, 2024
“What a world we should live in if people went without their meals because they were worried. Three days of such treatment would end the South African War, give Ireland Home Rule, bring even the American Senate to reason.”
What sets this 120 year old investigation by Reginald Brett apart from others of its time is the simplicity and clarity of the writing which throws up occasional rather fun observations such as the above.The interplay between Brett and Winter of Scotland Yard also has its amusing moments:-
“You have been reading ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue.’” “The book is in my pocket,” admitted Winter. “I recommend you to transfer it to your head. It should be issued departmentally as a supplement to the Police Code.”
However the book dates from 1903 and so does exhibit attitudes to foreigners-here Scots, Italians and Japanese-whose major faults are that they are not English and “speak funny”. It also suffers from a plot the convolutions and coincidences of which did eventually become rather tiresome and which contribute to the book being about one-third too long.
Still, it is full of adventures and incident, handsome heroes and weeping heroines and it features a suitably villainous villain who emerges rather late from the shadows of the Hume family history.
3.25 stars.
What sets this 120 year old investigation by Reginald Brett apart from others of its time is the simplicity and clarity of the writing which throws up occasional rather fun observations such as the above.The interplay between Brett and Winter of Scotland Yard also has its amusing moments:-
“You have been reading ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue.’” “The book is in my pocket,” admitted Winter. “I recommend you to transfer it to your head. It should be issued departmentally as a supplement to the Police Code.”
However the book dates from 1903 and so does exhibit attitudes to foreigners-here Scots, Italians and Japanese-whose major faults are that they are not English and “speak funny”. It also suffers from a plot the convolutions and coincidences of which did eventually become rather tiresome and which contribute to the book being about one-third too long.
Still, it is full of adventures and incident, handsome heroes and weeping heroines and it features a suitably villainous villain who emerges rather late from the shadows of the Hume family history.
3.25 stars.
October 29, 2020
Apparently detective Winter got a lot smarter after spending some more time with Furneaux. I say this because he seems none to bright while working with Barrister Brett. However, this is a fun book in which we have the typical Louis Tracy blend of Jane Austen and Agatha Christie. This is another pleasing and well written mystery by Mr. Tracy.
April 30, 2021
David Hume-Frazer has been accused but cleared of the murder of his cousin Sir Alan Hume-Frazer. He approaches Reginald Brett, barrister and detective for help to find the guilty party so that he can marry his fiancee, without all the suspicion that surrounds him
Originally published in 1904
An interesting and entertaining historical mystery
Originally published in 1904
An interesting and entertaining historical mystery
January 3, 2022
Entertaining listening 🔰😀
Another will written British thriller adventure novel by Louis Tracy with lots of interesting will developed characters. The story line is set in England where violence is involved in the main characters life until they escape. I would recommend this novel to readers of mystery. Enjoy the adventure of reading 👓 or listening 🎶to novels 🔰😀 2022
Another will written British thriller adventure novel by Louis Tracy with lots of interesting will developed characters. The story line is set in England where violence is involved in the main characters life until they escape. I would recommend this novel to readers of mystery. Enjoy the adventure of reading 👓 or listening 🎶to novels 🔰😀 2022
April 16, 2020
Now that was a very satisfying murder mystery... rtc
Read
February 23, 2022This gd and enjoyable.I don't know if i read more to this writer.Gd end to clear the name.
April 22, 2022
Well, somehow I like this classic style of narrative writing 🤣
The story was not that good, but as we dive into the story, the plotline was interesting to follow
The story was not that good, but as we dive into the story, the plotline was interesting to follow
December 23, 2025
Meh. Over complicated plot involving a family who all look so much alike that no one can tell them apart.
Read
February 12, 2026review text for 3567
December 29, 2022
A London barrister and amateur detective Reginald Brett mystery. Brett is quite a character as pretty much everyone looks up to him, the police and other officials follow whatever he wants, he's able to talk himself out of any situation, and is able reason any situation out.
While Tracy's character Scotland Yard Inspector Winter appears, Furneaux does not. Winter is more a bumbling foil to Brett who "humors" him than the solid detective in the Winter & Furneaux mysteries.
1903 David Hume-Frazer was tried twice for the murder of his cousin, Sir Alan Hume-Frazer, and though Winter convinced that the police had found their man, Hume's first trial resulted in a hung jury and he was acquitted in the second so can no longer be tried for the murder. Despite the lack of conviction, suspicion clings to Hume, and he wishes his name to be cleared before he marries his fiancé, Helen Layton. She also will not marry him, per her father's wishes, until the suspicion is gone nor will she abandon him for anyone else. Thus, he seeks Reginald Brett for help to clear his name. There are a number of twists along with several look alike relatives, a history of intra Hume-Frazer family maltreatments and a desire for revenge.
While Tracy's character Scotland Yard Inspector Winter appears, Furneaux does not. Winter is more a bumbling foil to Brett who "humors" him than the solid detective in the Winter & Furneaux mysteries.
1903 David Hume-Frazer was tried twice for the murder of his cousin, Sir Alan Hume-Frazer, and though Winter convinced that the police had found their man, Hume's first trial resulted in a hung jury and he was acquitted in the second so can no longer be tried for the murder. Despite the lack of conviction, suspicion clings to Hume, and he wishes his name to be cleared before he marries his fiancé, Helen Layton. She also will not marry him, per her father's wishes, until the suspicion is gone nor will she abandon him for anyone else. Thus, he seeks Reginald Brett for help to clear his name. There are a number of twists along with several look alike relatives, a history of intra Hume-Frazer family maltreatments and a desire for revenge.
May 21, 2016
I quite liked this book. Having read Postmaster's Daughter by the same author, I wanted to try another by him. I'm glad i did. The book flows better than many written in the same age as this one, and the mystery is pleasantly substantial.
December 31, 2015
Enjoyable and imaginative. Uses signature style and phrases.
October 6, 2011
Not as good as The Albert Gate Mystery but an enjoyable read.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews