Murder at Shots Hall

Rating:
Summary: A fascinating read from an underrated author
Review: Maureen Sarsfield published three novels, two of them mysteries featuring Lane Parry, an Inspector with Scotland Yard, in the 1940's. Both were reprinted in the United States, which was fairly notable for the time. Then Sarsfield disappeared from the public eye, until the Rue Morgue Press decided to bring them her books back to the mystery reading audience.

Murder at Shots Hall introduces the reader to Inspector Lane Parry, who is called upon when there is a murder in Shotshall, which is the name of both the village and its manor house. We are introduced to the lovely and inscrutable Flikka Ashley, who is living at Shots Hall with her down-to-earth Aunt Bee Chattock. When their housekeeper Molly Pritchard is found poisoned, the horrible Detective Sergeant Arnoldson immediately assumes that Flik is the murderess. Fortunately for Flik, there are several gentlemen in the village who worship her from afar, which comes in very handy when the bodies start piling up and the evidence points to her as the probable suspect. The village doctor, Abbot, is one of her admirers, and knocks himself out seeing to her safety even as his duties exhaust him. There is still a doubt in his mind, which drives him wild:

"Abbot said nothing, thinking she was all dressed up int hat lovely wool dress not to be grilled but to kill. It was the color of her hair, and very tight in the waist, and plain. She'd a fancy for Parry, all right, and Parry, might the devil take him, wouldn't hesitate to hang her if needs be. Then, less unjustly, he decided it was all pretty bloody for Parry, unless he was unmoved by her loveliness, which seemed impossible, even for a policeman."

The tone of Murder at Shots Hall is what sets it apart from so many of today's stories. It is a story Hitchcock would have loved...all moody and surreal. The characters, who are well drawn and each desperate in their own right, are constantly having to battle wretched weather to get where they are going, which is usually to the scene of another murder. Nothing is what it seems, and the ending is delightfully twisted. But when one thinks about it, it all makes perfect sense. Those are the elements of a wonderful cozy. Too bad Sarsfield didn't write more...she was definitely on a par with Agatha Christie. Thanks to the Rue Morgue Press for resurrecting this little gem. A fascinating read from an underrated author.

Shelley Glodowski
Reviewer