The Secret of High Eldersham

Desmond Merrion #1

by Miles Burton

Samuel Whitehead, landlord of the Rose and Crown, is a stranger in the lonely East Anglian village of High Eldersham. When the newcomer is stabbed to death in his pub, and Scotland Yard are called to the scene, it seems that the veil dividing High Eldersham from the outside world is about to be lifted.

Detective-Inspector Young forms a theory about the case so utterly impossible that merely entertaining the suspicion makes him doubt his own sanity. Surrounded by sinister forces beyond his understanding, and feeling the need of rational assistance, he calls on a brilliant amateur and ‘living encyclopedia’, Desmond Merrion. Soon Merrion falls for the charms of a young woman in the village, Mavis Owerton. But does Mavis know more about the secrets of the village than she is willing to admit?

Burton’s best novels are fast-paced and crisply told, and The Secret of High Eldersham—which uncovers ancient secrets in sleepy rural England—is among the most entertaining of all his crime stories.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, British Literature, Golden Age Mystery, Classics, Detective

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1930

About the author

AKA John Rhode, Cecil Waye, Cecil J.C. Street, I.O., F.O.O..
Cecil John Charles Street, MC, OBE, (1884 - January 1965), known as CJC Street and John Street, began his military career as an artillery officer in the British army. During the course of World War I, he became a propagandist for MI7, in which role he held the rank of Major. After the armistice, he alternated between Dublin and London during the Irish War of Independence as Information Officer for Dublin Castle, working closely with Lionel Curtis. He later earned his living as a prolific writer of detective novels.

He produced two long series of novels; one under the name of John Rhode featuring the forensic scientist Dr Priestley, and another under the name of Miles Burton featuring the investigator Desmond Merrion. Under the name Cecil Waye, Street produced four novels: The Figure of Eight; The End of the Chase; The Prime Minister's Pencil; and Murder at Monk's Barn. The Dr. Priestley novels were among the first after Sherlock Holmes to feature scientific detection of crime, such as analysing the mud on a suspect's shoes. Desmond Merrion is an amateur detective who works with Scotland Yard's Inspector Arnold.

Critic and author Julian Symons places this author as a prominent member of the "Humdrum" school of detective fiction. "Most of them came late to writing fiction, and few had much talent for it. They had some skill in constructing puzzles, nothing more, and ironically they fulfilled much better than S. S. Van Dine his dictum that the detective story properly belonged in the category of riddles or crossword puzzles. Most of the Humdrums were British, and among the best known of them were Major John Street.

-Wikipedia

Reviews

[Susan in NC · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just okay for me. Started off interesting with A murder in the creepy village, but then the Scotland Yard detective is pushed aside by his amateur sleuth friend, who gets caught up in a melodramatic subplot involving witchcraft.

Seemed pretty obvious what was really at the root of the murder by the middle or so, and I was right. The plot seemed rather drawn out and became tedious, as the Scotland Yard inspector gave up and pretty much returned to London, and the amateur’s exploits took over.

Not really my thing, especially the witchcraft angle. I skimmed the last several chapters, as it seemed quite melodramatic and silly (no spoilers), but then I remembered this was published in 1930, so several of what seemed to be dated, rather obvious plot elements to a longtime mystery fan were actually probably quite fresh and ahead of their time. And Burton really creates a creepy, rather ominous mood in some scenes, so respect for that. I guess it just didn’t work for me, failed to hold my interest.

[Elliot · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Secret of High Eldersham  
I received a free copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
 
This was clearly a first novel in a series, the pacing was off and what I loved about the first book I read in the series was missing. I enjoyed this book, but there was a huge difference in both plot development and writing style between The Secret of High Eldersham and Death in the Tunnel. Death in the Tunnel was more of a bare bones writing style, not overly flowery, but still descriptive enough to be an enjoyable read. The Secret of High Eldersham was descriptive to the point of being exhausting.
 
What should have been subplot pretty much took over the book. The first couple of chapters did a good job of focusing on the murder of the former police officer Whitehead, but around the 27% when Desmond Merrion starts researching the practice of witchcraft, the plot derailed. Merrion spends the rest of the novel lurking around High Eldersham, spying on midnight meetings held under a full moon, and living on a yacht. He gets caught up in investigating a smuggling case and right about then it started to feel like a Hardy Boys mystery. I like the Hardy Boys, at one point I owned over thirty books in the series before my dad left them behind when we moved, but I was expecting something else when I started this book. It felt out of place in the overall arc of the novel. Why was he spending so much time investigating a smuggling ring instead of trying to discover who killed Whitehead? He has a hunch that the smuggling has something to do with the death of Whitehead, but it’s a bad one. The murder is related to the smuggling/drug ring in only a roundabout way. Inspector Young fairs no better during this investigation, rushing off to investigate anything he deems as strange in this village even though he has no reason to think any of it has to do with the murder of Whitehead. Merrion and Inspector Young only discover the murderer at the end of the book out of sheer dumb luck and not any investigating prowess on their part. It took them an entire book to realize they should look into Whitehead’s past to see if anybody he may have arrested might hold a grudge?!? That’s Investigating 101.
 
I have no idea what was with the coven subplot -- it felt like it didn't truly belong to this book.
 

"But this scheme would necessitate his obtaining such an influence locally that no one would dare to run counter to his wishes. The scheme was of a secret nature, and the betrayal of it would be disastrous. He had decided that such an influence could only be obtained by arousing a superstitious fear among the villagers, and to this end he proposed to revive the practice of the witch-cult, of which the tradition still lingers in these parts...Doctor Padfield was admitted to the secret, and he was able to make up the modern equivalents..."

 
So his plan was:
1.Start smuggling drugs into the country.
2.Bring Doctor Padfield in on the plan so he could drug the villagers.
3.Convince the villagers to join a witch’s coven so they won’t rat on him.
 
It seems to me that he made this more complicated and involved more people in his plot then he needed to. Why would you include the entire village in your illegal activities? Was the saying “loose lips sink ships” just not around at that time? If you’re going to do something illegal, you do it in secret and you involve as few people as you can. There were only four people who really needed to know what was going on in the village and they had no reason to go to the police. And if you are going to blackmail everybody, then there is absolutely no need for subterfuge, just do your illegal activities out in the open.
 
I liked this book, I truly did, but it had some issues that kept me from fully immersing myself. It felt like there was too much going on at once and the author struggled to pull the various subplots together into one cohesive plot. I still recommend this series, just keep in mind that the first book is not a good example of the quality of the writing. 3 stars.
 

[Libros Prestados · Rating 3 out of 5]

Más que un "quién lo hizo", esta novela es un thriller. Un thriller de los primeros tiempos del género, con lo que es todo más simple y más naif. Da hasta ternura cómo el culpable es fácilmente identificable y cómo una vez que se revela no existe un segundo giro ni nada (como sería habitual en las novelas actuales), simplemente se le persigue. Pero por poco tiempo, que esta no es una historia muy compleja. Los personajes, sin embargo, pecan de ser bastante planos y no muy memorables.

Existen como dos tramas o dos misterios paralelos que al final se encuentran, pero de nuevo, todo de una manera que a día de hoy podría resultar un poco ingenua. Aún así tiene su encanto por lo simple del planteamiento, y porque parte de la trama me recordaba a una comedia británica moderna (parte de una, llamémosle, trilogía) cuyo título no diré aquí para destripar lo menos posible.

Supongo que es para muy fanáticos del género y para aquellos que quieren pasar un rato entretenido sin calentar en absoluto sus cabezas.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoroughly enjoyable, if totally improbable, Golden Age Murder Mystery set in the backwoods of East Anglia which is apparently populated by mindless, superstitious morons. I know this not to be true as I live there myself. Just as much a thriller as a detective story but none the worse for that. I feel that I shouldn't have enjoyed it so much because it is so daft, but I did.

[Cookie M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was not my favorite book in the collection. There were a lot of strings and threads in this one, a lot of shifting around from point of view of one sleuth to another, and now that I think about it, the fate of one of them, left poisoned in the middle of the story, was never resolved.
If you are determined to read as many Golden Age detective novels as you can, do include this one, but if you are on the highlights only tour, give "The Secrets of High Eldersham a miss."

[Shaelyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tedious and way too long. I love this genre and I always try to read the British Crim Library Classic releases, I'd love to own the whole collection. This one is so tedious and drawn out, it became boring so often I ended up listening to it at a very fast speed to hurry it along, the protagonist's mother was written as a smothering rude person that's always putting her son down, he lives with her. I just found the relationship too irritating , at first it was humorous, but for me it got old quickly as protagonist as seen as being rather meek and rarely stands up for himself. I think I just didn't have enough patience for the story. I just don't think it fit my mood or maybe bad timing as I recently began going over events in my own childhood with a severely strict, verbally abusive stepfather. I think that mother just subconsciously brought up some of my own frustrating feelings. So at this time I did not like this book, the narration was quite good and that's why it's 2 stars not 1.

[Lisa Kucharski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading what I consider to be a very typical English murder mystery from the 1930's. The plot is well done and the characters are well- characters at times. A retired policeman who took on the job as a pub manager is killed and Scotland Yard is called in to solve the crime. Insp. Young realizing the difficulty of getting information out of a small-town and close-mouthed group will make solving the case practically impossible. So he requests help from friend Desmond Merrion.

Nicely written and you can really see the surroundings and events. Also enjoyed the constant turns of curious events that felt like they might never add up, and then do all come together at the end. It's a little cozy since the police presence is not over-powering. Just regular enjoyable reading.

[Brian G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well that escalated quickly...
What starts as a simple murder of a pub landlord becomes a lot bigger by the end.
Hard to review because the 'Secret' in the title is the plot but it turns into exciting thriller half way through
Over the top but entertaining
3 stars

[Jessi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first heard about this book on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and thought, "Hm. A mystery that is turned into a detective story/thriller combo by runaway events? I MUST read this." And when it came up as an ARC on NetGalley? I requested it immediately. Thank you Poisoned Pen Press for re-releasing this book.
The first story to feature Desmond Merrion, this book starts out with the description of a small village, seemingly untouched by the modern day (the main road goes around it) and newcomers seem to have spates of bad luck that run them out of town. In fact, the only "newcomer" to have succeeded, though on a small scale, was the pubkeeper of the Rose and Crown. A former policeman, he had retired there to live the rest of his life and work in the garden. So why was he stabbed so ferociously one evening?
At first, Detective Inspector Young, called in from Scotland Yard thinks this is an open and shut case. But he soon discovers that the easy solution is not the correct one. So Inspector Young writes to a man he's known from the war, Desmond Merrion.

[Daniel Myatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

What starts off as a simple murder investigation becomes more complex as a close knit village refuse to break ranks, add to this the discovery of a small wax doll with the Murder victims name on and you're set for a great mystery that's perfect for a dark and stormy nights read.

I'd definitely read more Miles Burton! A true 4 star read!

[Nicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed for The Bibliophibian.

The Secret of High Eldersham is a bit of a weird one, really, with a lot of rather sensational stuff going on. It seems like it’s going to be one of those sleepy little village mysteries, but then there’s a whole mess of occult stuff coming in! Not that it’s unenjoyable, as aside from occasionally rolling my eyes at the drama I did rather enjoy it. It’s fairly typical in many ways of the period, with the intrepid amateur detective (who doesn’t quite run rings round the police, but they’re definitely indebted to him) and a love interest, terrible peril, etc, etc.

Miles Burton makes it work, though, and I’ve enjoyed another of his books too (finding it, on the whole, less sensational and more realistic). I’d recommend at least giving this a try! The pacing isn’t 100% perfect, but for the most part it ticks along pretty nicely.

[Julian Worker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another book in the series of British Library Crime Classics. This one is set in East Anglia close to the North Sea and is the first in a series about Desmond Merrion, a renaissance man and former military intelligence officer.

Merrion is asked by a Scotland Yard detective to help with the case of a murdered publican who is stabbed. The publican is a stranger in the village of High Eldersham. There are sinister forces at play in the village and most people are up to no good.

The story includes witchcraft and smuggling, as well as a beautiful young woman who may or may not be in peril. The murder is not the only mystery in this book that zips along at a fast pace with very little wasted description. This is a high-class thriller.

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Something wicked...

When the landlord of the sole pub in the village of High Eldersham is found murdered, the local police chief hastens to call in Scotland Yard. Partly this is because he doesn’t have the resources to deal with a murder investigation, but mainly it’s because High Eldersham has a strange reputation. And when Inspector Young of the Yard starts his enquiries he quickly spots something that makes him think that reputation may be well deserved. So, in true Golden Age style, he turns to an amateur friend to help out. Enter Desmond Merrion...

This isn’t really a mystery novel in the traditional sense – it’s much more of a thriller. Though there is the question of who murdered the landlord, the real bulk of the story is about the mysterious goings-on in the village, and what nefarious crimes they’re being used to cover. In truth, with my twenty-first century eyes, it seemed pretty obvious what the fundamental criminal enterprise was, but I suspect it wouldn’t have been quite so obvious back when the book was first published in 1930. This, of course, is a common difficulty for vintage crime novels – subsequent writers have reused and recycled the plots so often, it’s quite hard to know when they were first original.

But having a good idea of the underlying crime didn’t in any way diminish my liking for the book. The fun is in seeing how it plays out, and in the thrills and adventures provided along the way. Desmond Merrion apparently became a popular recurring character in later books and I can see why – he’s knowledgable without being insufferable, an action man without being Superman, susceptible to love without being a womaniser. He achieved that rare feat for Golden Age characters of not annoying me by his outdated attitudes – he’d work just as well in a modern context, I think. Merrion had served in the war first as a combatant then, after an injury, moving into intelligence work. His servant, Newport, served alongside him, and now works as his butler-come-sidekick. And a jolly good sidekick he is too, with skills of his own, and happily Merrion treats him as an equal – often the patronising way these ex-servicemen sidekicks are portrayed in the Golden Age puts me off the books, like Campion’s Lugg or Wimsey’s Bunter. Newport however is only devoted to his master to an acceptable degree and doesn’t speak with a “comedy” working-class dialect. And he’s perfectly capable of using his own initiative when need be.

The book builds its tension mainly through the dark activities of the villagers, activities rooted in a more superstitious past. There are hints of the supernatural, but the story remains firmly within the rational world, while showing chillingly how bad people can use old traditions to achieve their wicked ends. There are occasional moments of melodrama, some fortunate coincidences, and stock situations like the woman-in-peril, but it’s all done very well and kept me turning pages. And I did like the woman in question – no shrinking miss, the lovely Mavis owns her own speedboat and is the rescuer as often as the rescued. A couple of the scenes are genuinely creepy and Burton manages to get across the real evils that are going on without ever feeling the need to be graphic or voyeuristic – a lesson that I’d be grateful if many a modern writer could learn.

It’s all a matter of taste, of course, but I think this one deserves more praise than it has received. Martin Edwards lists it under his Serpents of Eden category in his Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books, and I think that’s a perfect place for it – wickedness and true evil going on underneath the outwardly quiet life of an English village. Edwards tells us too that, although this is only the second book published under this name, Burton also wrote under other pseudonyms, most notably John Rhodes, and was therefore already a practised and successful writer, and I think this shows in the quality of the writing. Good stuff – I shall certainly be looking out for more in this series.

www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it but found it a little disjointed, probably because there are two sleuths: Detective Inspector Young, and the amateur detective, Desmond Merrion, who is Burton's series character and who also becomes involved with one of the suspects, Mavis Owerton. There's a rural village with inhabitants who are reluctant to engage with outsiders; a subplot involving witchcraft and ritual; and a lot of detail about sailing and boating. While I liked it and found it enjoyable, I probably won't remember much detail six months from now. A pleasant diversion and another entry in the Poisoned Pen Press/British Library Crime Classics series.

[tara bomp · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very generic, dull story. Single point of interest are the supernatural trappings, but they're used and written very badly. The main characters are terminally thick, making the story drag on longer than it should and causing me to throw up my hands in annoyance when they almost die but get saved by absurd good fortune. Solution to the "mystery" obvious from like halfway through. Ridiculous pointless unconvincing love plot. The whole supernatural thing makes *no sense* and only served to draw more attention to the criminal activities. Quotes heavily from Margaret Murray on the supposed existence of a witch cult. Ends with not all the criminals getting their comeuppance and the main characters being glad because it means less annoyance for them. The country squire whose daughter the main character falls in love with and marries was totally in on the evil criminal plot so he doesn't want the plot exposed b/c it might tarnish her reputation! It's all ok cause he apparently dies very soon after the main action finishes so no worries. All the characters talk the same, there's 0 characterisation, the dialogue is dull as anything, it's all dull, even the action is dull. Just. Blurgh

[Vanessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

What starts out as a promising country murder, with a bit of supernatural frisson on the side, degenerates in the final third into a whole bunch of nonsense and damsel-in-distress tomfoolery. Relies too heavily on phrases like "a horrid thrill ran through his bones" and "he felt the taint of evil in the air." And the ultimate evil doer telegraphs his status with flaring nostrils and a moody brow from about the third chapter. Unfortunately, this was a miss for me.

I received an ecopy from the publishers and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Alex Sarll]

A typically lovely BL cover, but one which works against the book; we're constantly told there's something queer about High Eldersham, where strangers never prosper, but especially early on Burton never really works out how to show it, and the cover is there the whole time to imply it's idyllic. Hell, nobody even asks what anywhere in East Anglia is doing with 'High' in the name. The functional early chapters give way to something a little livelier once Desmond Merrion, who will become Burton's series detective, turns up to help investigate the stabbing of the local publican, and the story takes a turn towards folk horror. But for a detective he's weirdly incurious, complacently certain that other rum doings he uncovers can't be connected to the central case when obviously they are. I couldn't help thinking how much more fun Mrs Bradley would have had with this material; certainly she'd have had better things to do when encountering a lingering witch-cult than develop a rather drippy crush on a girl called Mavis.

[Jürgen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leider zieht sich die Handlung , sowohl im Plot als auch für den Leser. Selbst in den eher gemütlichen Zeiten der "Golden Era" konnte sich ein Beamter von Scotland Yard nicht einfach wochenlang Zeit lassen mit den Ermittlungen, in denen er wenig mehr tut, als im Ort des Verbrechens spazieren zu gehen. Der entscheidende Umstand, der den Täter entlarvt, hätte bei normaler Ermittlungsarbeit bereits in den ersten zwei Tagen gefunden werden können. Insgesamt ist der gesamte Hintergrundaufbau eher unglaubwürdig.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

while it starts off as a supernatural-themed crime novel that reminded me of the later Sherlock Holmes short stories, it soon becomes more of a thriller in the vein of The Riddle of the Sands.

it has its frustrating points -- the characters often feel slow on the uptake, and some plot points rely too heavily on on coincidence -- but it's still enjoyable enough despite that.

[Helen Sews-Knits · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve rated it as a three but others may rate it higher.

It’s more of a ripping boys own adventure on the water with a murder thrown in than your classic golden age mystery.

[Bev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Welcome to High Eldersham, a small East Anglican coastal village. It's a quiet farming town where not much happens--unless you're an outsider. The townsfolk don't take much to outsiders and outsiders seem to have bad luck. New people who try their hand at farming find that equipment breaks down or they have a bout of unexplained illness. New shopkeepers can't seem to make a profit. When Samuel Whitehead, a retired policeman, takes over as landlord of the Rose and Crown, it seems that string of outsider bad luck may have been broken. His profits go up and the locals seem to like him well enough.

But then...one night someone sneaks into the pub near closing time and stabs Whitehead in the back. The Chief Constable immediately thinks (since a former policeman is the victim) that this is a case for Scotland Yard. And when Detective Inspector Young arrives and gets the lay of the land he immediately thinks the case has a strange vibe that will appeal to his brilliant amateur detective friend Desmond Merrion. As he writes in the letter asking Merrion to join him at High Eldersham:

There is something mysterious about the whole of this countryside, something which I cannot possibly fathom, but which seems to me is more less in your line, and may possibly interest you. I can't get away from a wild and insane idea which I dare not even hint to you, lest you should think I have gone clean off my head.

Needless to say, his letter intrigues Merrion and the wealthy young bachelor comes along to see what's what. He immediately picks up on what Young had hinted at and, to the DI's consternation, confirms his wild idea. There is a nasty hand guiding all the events in High Eldersham, but to what purpose? And had the ex-policeman stumbled across the plot? Or is the murder more personal than that?

So...for most of the book you've got to wonder if DI Young is merely a vehicle to get Merrion into the case. Because Young really doesn't behave much like a Scotland Yard detective. Once he passes on his "this place is weird and something unpleasant is going on" ideas to Merrion he pretty much gives up and disappears for 75% of the book and only shows up again at the end to save the intrepide amateur from a watery grave and to bring in the police reinforcements to round up the bad guys. He does a spot of investigation on the side (but we don't really learn about what he's been up to until he meets up with Merrion again). Merrion is the star of the show and what starts out like a straightforward mystery rapidly turns into a thriller. He tracks the bad guy to his lair, saves a damsel in distress, gets bashed, tied up, and nearly drowned...and, of course, as the hero winds up with said damsel.

Now don't get me wrong...it's a fun thriller and I enjoyed myself immensely as I was reading it. It's full of ancient folklore, folks running around in hooded cloaks, and sacrificial rites--all to provide cover for the evil deeds. There's a speed boat chase. There's a mysterious boat that runs through shallow water and shoots off guns at specific points. Merrion gets lost in a fog, discovers a hidden steel box, and manages to lose not one, but two dinghies. But he also manages to identify the man behind cloaks and help Young put an end to his nefarious doings. I do wish there had been more of a mystery plot and that we'd seen more of what Young was doing in the background. A solid read.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.

[Adam Carson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book - perhaps because, having grown up in Suffolk I relate to the oddities of East Anglian villages as is described here.

Possibly a little tame judged by other books of the period, I enjoyed it’s fast pace - interwoven stories and undertones of Witchcraft!

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a village shrouded in secrets and where the locals are intensely distrustful of strangers a grisly discovery is made late one night by a local constable, the pub landlord stabbed to death. Outside help is called in from Scotland Yard and Detective Young starts to suspect there is a lot more to High Eldersham than meets the eye.

I always enjoy the British Library Crime Classics so I knew I would love this. The atmosphere is dark and claustrophobic, a small village unwelcoming to new comers, the cause of death is gory. When Young invites crime expert Desmond Merrion on to the case, we get an amateur sleuth thrown into the mix. The last half of the book sees Merrion sleuthing whilst travelling up and down the local waterways, which was an aspect I really enjoyed, you don't get many crime solvers seeking answers from a boat. This is a really interesting read with some unique detective work and great elements of storytelling, highly enjoyable.

[Leila Mota · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've recently found out that the British Library decided to publish forgotten classics from the golden age of British crime writing. Many of these titles haven’t been seen in print since before the II World War. I love this genre and it's been an interesting trip through "new" authors and through time. That's one of the aspects I mostly enjoy. I like to travel when I can and when I can't there'll always be a book to get me where I wish to go. In these forgotten classics I'm also allowed to travel in time. It's curious to see how everything has changed and to see how the detectives did their investigations without the modern resources we've got used to see in TV and movies. So far I'm enjoying the trips. I'll keep travelling.

[Toast · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh I do like a vintage detective story. Throw in a spooky sub plot and I'm anybodies. And this is fab. MB might not be Dame Agatha but his writing has a world created and abused before your eyes, puzzles set and reset, villiany afoot and witches abroad all in one sleepy rural English village. Its not for the faint hearted.
Toast
My copy has a much better cover.

[Anthony Bickley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Traditional mystery with added modernity

Much of this book would fit easily into the golden age but the prescience of its drugs and witchcraft motif elevates it to a higher level. The writing is comfortably traditional but the reader is constantly anticipating yet more skullduggery than is usually the case in golden age stories. An excellent read.

[4cats · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this but the ending was a bit over 'wordy'. Entertaining and a different look at witchcraft.`

[Beth Levitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid 1930s who done it with lots of main character commentary. Seems like many folks back then talked to themselves.

[Kelvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a 1930 book by prolific British author Cecil John Street, writing using the pen name Miles Burton. Street is famous for two separate detective series. The first series detective is Dr. Priestley, which Street wrote using the pseudonym John Rhode. The second series detective of Street is amateur detective Desmond Merrion, which Street wrote using the pen name Miles Burton. This book is the first in the series featuring Merrion. The book also has an alternative title called “The Mystery of High Eldersham”. Having read Street’s Dr. Priestley series, which was very enjoyable, I was quite disappointed in Merrion. Unlike Professor Priestley, who took a logical and puzzle solving approach to crime, Merrion is much more disorganized, haphazard, and over-sensationalized. Overall, I find the book boring (despite there is plenty of actions, circa 1930s). It is also quite dated with a lot of Victorian sentimentalities. The two things that are unique about the book are its coverage of witchcraft in the 1920s in England and some interesting sea tales involving sand dunes. While it was supposed to be a detective mystery, I find it more like an action thriller. Overall, a 3.5 Star book on a 5 Star scale.

Spoiler Alert. The setting of the book is in a small isolated village in East Anglia in England called High Eldersham in late 1920s. It is in an extremely secluded area where almost every family is related to one another and where people dislike all strangers. When Hugh Dunsford, who has run the local pub in High Eldersham called Rose and Crown for the last 20 years, moved up the ladder to operate a more prosperous pub called Tower of London in the nearby bigger city of Gippingford, a retired London Metropolitan police officer called Samuel Whitehead took over and became the new landlord of the Rose and Crown. When Whitehead was found murdered one night in his pub, Detective Inspector Robert Young of Scotland Yard was sent to investigate. He soon called in his friend amateur detective Desmond Merrion to help. The two pursued separate paths of investigations and periodically compared notes. Young would investigate in the open whereas Merrion would be in the background pretending to be a visiting guest to the area.

Merrion discovered that on a 10-day interval, a boat called La Lys would travel from Belgium to London, passing the sand dunes of High Eldersham whenever it does the trip. The sand dunes are all submerged in high tides so the boat can easily travel above it, but would be exposed at low tide as dry land. Merrion soon discovered that the boat would sail on top of the dunes, drop something overboard and at the same time a fire a signaling gun. At that same moment, a local resident called Laurence Hollesley and his butler Thorburn would be nearby on land plotting the exact location of the boat using a Barr and Stroud rangefinder. Merrion and Young finally realized that they were onto was a smuggling operation. On each trip, heroin and cocaine were packed into a waterproof iron box and shipped on board the boat La Lys from Belgium. The box is dropped in the sandbank at high tide. The exact location is identified by Hollesley using the rangefinder. Then at low tide, Hollesley and Thorburn would walk on the dry sand dunes to pick the box up. A side story of the book involves the practice of witchcraft. East Anglia has a long history of witchcraft going back a few centuries. Hollesley, in order to get the population of High Eldersham to be more secretive and less willing to talk (in case they suspect his illegal activity), forced the local squire, Sir William Owerton, an expert on local folklore and witchcraft, to help him create Hollesley to be the high priest of a secret witch-cult. With the help of the local doctor, a Dr. Padfield, they manufactured some medical potions that are fed to the population to get them into trances and join the occult ceremonies. Quite a lot of the book was spent on this sideshow describing a lot of the rituals of witch cults, which is quite irrelevant to the main case. The other sideshow was Merrion falling in love with the daughter of Sir William Owerton, Mavis Owerton. There were a few scenes of how Mavis saved Merrion’s life, and he subsequently saved hers.

In the end, Young and Merrion, through pursuing their separate paths, solved the three mysteries of the case: the drug trafficking, the murder of Whitehead, and the mysterious gathering of the witch cult. In the end, they were able to bust the drug ring and arrested Hollesley and Thorburn. They also arrested Dunsford. It turns out after the drugs are dropped on the sand dunes and was picked up by Hollesley, Hollesley would divide them up, put them into matchboxes, and give the matchboxes to Dunsford to distribute in his pubs. Whitehead was murdered by Thorburn, whose real name is Gregson. Years ago, Whitehead arrested Gregson and put him away for a long time. Gregson recognized Whitehead when he moved to the village and Gregson murdered him for revenge. In the end, Gregson was hanged for murder and Mavis married Merrion.

[Pamela Mclaren · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have looked forward to reading this book by Miles Burton as I have looked forward to reading all those classic books from the 20s and 30s, and have been rewarded with good stories.

This one is no exception but I wasn't quite sure about it at first.

The story starts strongly: Samuel Whitehead, landlord of the Rose and Crown in the lonely East Anglian village of High Eldersham, is found stabbed to death in his pub. The community is so small that they have a single constable and the next town is just a bit bigger, so a decision is made quickly to call in Scotland Yard.

Detective-Inspector Young arrives and begins his investigation and finds it tough going. Its apparent that the community is tight-knit and not welcoming to many strangers, therefore, not helpful when asked about what they might have seen or heard the day of the death. But as he plugs along he forms a theory that he finds hard to believe. So he calls in a friend, Desmond Merrion, a brilliant amateur detective and 'living encyclopedia.'

And he believes that Young, despite his doubts, has hit on something, even if there is no solid evidence to go on. Young and Merrion work together in an effort to build up clues and evidence that their beliefs are more than theories. Merrion studies up on ancient history for clues and is successful in seeing some things that may or may not be clues, but he knows its not enough.

Still, Merrion presses on in this work as Young devotes as much time as possible to his theory. Are they following a trail that leads nowhere? That's what makes this an entertaining read — can they solve this mystery and discover who and why?

The story is fast-paced and told well, the characters likable and believable. And very good reading. While it was written more than 90 years ago, the story holds up and doesn't feel dated, making it a great debut to Burton's series featuring Desmond Merrion. Its also a great entry into the British Library Crime Classics if you haven't explore it before. In any case, don't be surprised as the strange twists and turns of the tale, just keep reading.