Book Review//Two-Way Murder by E.C.R. Lorac

I enjoy all the British Library Crime Classics to some degree or another but I have been particularly enjoying the E.C.R. Lorac mysteries that they are reprinting. E.C.R Lorac was the main pen name of Edith Caroline Rivett. She wrote approximately 70 detective novels under various pennames. Lorac was a member of the Detection Club along with such writers as Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie.

Two-Way Murder is unusual in the Crime Classics list because it is the first novel to have never been published before. It was written shortly before Lorac died and was never in print for one reason or another. This is no reflection on the book. It has engaging characters, a strong sense of place, and a fast-moving plot.

The events start with the evening of a Hunt Ball. Dilys (gorgeous and charming, of course) is being driven home by one of many men who are in love with her. They encounter trouble on the road.

He got out and walked ahead and Dilys leant forward with her heart beating: she knew what it was that lay sprawled on the road ahead, but she didn’t want to believe it. Right ahead, in the beams of the headlights, she saw Brent bend down over the blurred heap. He went down on one knee, put out a hand–but moved nothing. In a minute he stood up, walked back to the car and opened the door beside her.

“I’m sorry, Dilys dear–terribly sorry. It looks as though the chap’s been run down by a driver who didn’t stop.”

Dilys gave a little cry of horror, and Brent went on: “I shall have to notify the police. Now listen carefully: I don’t want you to be involved in this. If the police know that you were in my car, you’ll be called as a witness–and I know that will mean all manner of bother for you. I can’t drive on–for obvious reasons–and I oughtn’t to move the casuality before the police arrive: but you’re less than a mile from home if you take the field path. Can you walk home by yourself–and leave me to deal with this?”

In the best tradition of mystery novels, the situation gets more and more complicated. There is a housebreaking with a fight, false alibis, people hiding things from the police, a missing person, a strict father, illness, an attack on another character, and many lovelorn individuals. So, all in all, it is a lot of fun. I figured out who did it and who would marry whom but that simply contributed to my enjoyment.

I have also read Fell Murder, Murder by Matchlight, and Bats in the Belfry by Lorac and have enjoyed them all. I hope the British Library will continue to reprint her novels and I will be able to read many more.

My thanks to the British Library for kindly sending me a copy of this book.