September 24: Murder by Matchlight (Robert MacDonald, #26) by E.C.R. Lorac (1945)

[Susan]

Welcome to our September 24 group read of Murder by Matchlight by E.C.R. Lorac This is book 26 in the Robert Macdonald series published in 1945.

On a damp November evening in wartime London, a young chemist sits on a bench in Regent's Park and watches as an approaching stranger suddenly disappears beneath a footbridge. Seconds later another figure appears on the same overpass, stops to smoke and discard a cigarette, and strikes a match that briefly illuminates a face beyond his own. Through the succeeding darkness come the sounds of a thud and a falling body - then silence.

Thus begins this chilling mystery from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. Murder by Matchlight features Scotland Yard's imperturbable Chief Inspector Robert Macdonald, who is tasked with finding the killer of the man on the bridge. His only evidence: a set of bicycle tracks that come to an abrupt end. His suspects: a colorful cast that includes the shy, soft-spoken witness, a respected London physician, a screenwriter, an unemployed laborer, and a vaudevillian specializing in illusions - a lively group whose questionable activities will keep readers guessing until the final twist and turn of this deftly plotted whodunit.

Please do not post spoilers in this thread. Thank you.

[Susan]

It has been a while since we have read a Lorac - I am enjoying this one but not too far in yet.

[Susan in NC]

This was one of my first Lorac’s several years ago, it was great to reread it.

[Judy]

Thanks for the introduction and opening up the threads, Susan. I really enjoyed this one, very atmospheric with its Blitz setting.

The spoiler thread is linked below:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Susan]

I agree, great setting. Very atmospheric and I always love a boarding house in a novel!

[Judy]

I always like the British Library Crime Classics covers, but this is one where I prefer the book's original cover because it helps me to visualise the scene at the start of the book - although, even with this image, I still find the layout a bit complicated.

[Ellen]

This was a reread for me. Really enjoyed it.

[Susan in NC]

Susan wrote: "I agree, great setting. Very atmospheric and I always love a boarding house in a novel!"

And the theatrical crowd in the boarding house was entertaining! The setting was so authentically invoked, really got me thinking about every day life (or Londoners’ attempts at it) in the Blitz. I remember reading this a few years ago sent me down not just the Lorac rabbit hole, but for fiction and nonfiction about life in the Blitz.

[Rosina]

Judy wrote: "I always like the British Library Crime Classics covers, but this is one where I prefer the book's original cover because it helps me to visualise the scene at the start of the book - although, eve..."

I think you can see the exact site of the murder on Google Earth ...

Go to York Bridge in Regents Park - That's MacDonald's 'road bridge over the lake'. A few steps further on, away from the Outer Circle, and the road is crossed by a path. Turn left, and the path crosses another path, beneath it! A bit further on, and there are benches - possibly the ones (by inheritance) that Mallaig sat on.

The map reference is 51.31.31.94N. 0.09.10.19W Though I'm not sure if that is helpful!

[Ellen]

Susan in NC wrote: "Susan wrote: "I agree, great setting. Very atmospheric and I always love a boarding house in a novel!"

And the theatrical crowd in the boarding house was entertaining! The setting was so authentic..."

One of my favorite books is set during the Blitz. It's a memoir A Chelsea Concerto by Frances Faviell. I have reread it several times.

[Susan in NC]

Oh, yes, I read that last year and loved it. That’s one of the ones I found down the Blitz “rabbit hole”!

[Judy]

Thanks for the map reference, Rosina! I'm not great with maps but will have a try - very interesting to know that the location is so accuratem

[Judy]

I also thought A Chelsea Concerto was great and have been impressed by other books by Frances Faviell as well.

[Susan]

My mother was in the blitz as a child and the houses on both sides of her were bombed, but hers was still standing. A few inches either way and I wouldn't have existed!

[Susan in NC]

Yikes! I don’t know how people did it - but I think it’s a matter of no choice, it is what it is, move forward and carry on (with grit, grace and plenty of dark humor!)

[Keith]

I too was bombed heavily in Nottingham during the war but not as much of a near miss as your mum.. Still quite scary, my stomach still does a flip if I hear a warbling siren!. You (sort of) got used to it and just carried on, not much choice anyway! I remember the fighters' machine guns sounded like a stick rattling on a corrugated iron fence and the bombs whistled as they dropped and went 'crump'

[Susan in NC]

I bet you can recall it as if it were yesterday…What an amazing life you’ve lived, Keith!

[Neer]

Wow! The opening has already pulled me in. It's available for free download from Faded Page for those who want to read it. (Sorry if I am merely repeating this information)

[Susan]

My mother said she used to go outside and watch the planes fighting, which I think many Londoners did. I think, as with everything, people get used to things. The unreal becomes accepted and there is no choice but to carry on with life. She was evacuated but then came back to London, as so many did, during the phoney war and then all hell broke loose!

[Susan in NC]

Susan wrote: "My mother said she used to go outside and watch the planes fighting, which I think many Londoners did. I think, as with everything, people get used to things. The unreal becomes accepted and there ..."

Oh, wow, I’m always amazed when I read that in different books, about people coming out to watch the dogfighting planes, I’d be cowering in a shelter! But I guess you’re right, people get used to it and just carry on.

[Jill]

My father worked nights, and one morning my mum woke up but it was total blackness outside through the windows. She checked the clocks and they all said it was 8 in the morning. Then she heard a lot of noise and people banging on the door. It seems a barrage balloon had deflated and covered the house.

[Keith]

It was my 8th birthday the week after war was declared so the bombing was mostly when I was around 9 and 10 . The amount of freedom I had in those days was really amazing. I wandered for miles through the countryside and along the bank of the Trent, it got me outdoors and as long as I had my gasmask with me, no one was bothered. I've always been an outdoors guy, rock climbing on Stanage Edge and 'hillwalking' in the Peak District, the Lake District , the Yorkshire Moors, Snowdonia etc and climbing in the Austrian Alps.. Coming to NZ gave me more of the same, our wild country is unlike anywhere else. Very mountainous and the bush like a jungle. You certainly have to know how to navigate.

Yes JanC, I have had (and am still having) a fun life although in my 90s my body won't always do what I want it to. Bugger!!

[Frances]

Wow, what wonderful (and terrifying) stories-thanks for sharing everyone! I loved this book and the settings-the mystery itself and the theatrical rooming house-and will now move over to the spoiler thread to discuss the rest.

[Susan in NC]

Keith wrote: "It was my 8th birthday the week after war was declared so the bombing was mostly when I was around 9 and 10 . The amount of freedom I had in those days was really amazing. I wandered for miles thro..."

But you have fantastic memories of all you’ve done and seen to treasure!

[Susan in NC]

Jill wrote: "My father worked nights, and one morning my mum woke up but it was total blackness outside through the windows. She checked the clocks and they all said it was 8 in the morning. Then she heard a lo..."

Wow! That would be wild!