Neck in a Noose

Toby Dyke #5

by E.X. Ferrars

John Lestarke-Toye was sitting upright in his chair with his hands clasped on his little paunch, smiling, bland and genial as always. He was also quite, quite dead.

On the purple carpet, surrounded by broken and disturbed furniture, was a great splash of blood.

There was no medical explanation to suggest that John had died of other than natural causes. And no amount of reasoning could explain the condition of the room in which he was found.

So Toby Dyke and his friend, George, set out to solve the mystery of a corpse without a murder and a murder without a corpse...

Genres: Mystery

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1942

About the author

Aka Elizabeth Ferrars

Elizabeth Ferrars is a pseudonym of Morna Doris MacTaggart Brown. She was born in Rangoon, Burma.

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Toby Dyke finds his old friend John dead, in his armchair, looking at a scene of devastation. But the doctor says that John died of natural causes. Whose, then, is the blood on the rug in the library? And what happened to all the servants, and John's wife? Even this early novel by the always-masterful Ferrars will have your head spinning as you try to identify a murderer.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

For my full reviews click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress...

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Those with a passing knowledge of Ferrars will not be shocked to hear this is, partly, a tale of blackmail and bigamy. The opening setup, on the other hand, is stylish and novel: a dead man, seemingly un-interfered with, sits behind a desk looking out across a large purple room whose center holds a large bloody splash, but with no body. From here, Ferrar's oft-use protagonist Toby Dyke (amusing enough in small doses although no real match for her other series foils) teases apart the strands of the true story. There are a few diverting turns along the way... a half-burned letter, a case of literary chicanery, some more dead folks... but the average reader will probably be ready for things to be over when they are over. As one of the suspects observes in the closing paragraph, "I'm afraid it's just stewed chicken!"

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: there's a dead body sitting in a chair, and lots of blood on the floor but not from the first. Toby sets out to solve the mystery.