June Wright wrote this lost gem in the mid-1950s, but consigned it to her bottom drawer after her publisher foolishly rejected it. Perhaps it was a little ahead of its time? Because while it’s a tour de force of the classic country-house murder mystery, it’s also a delightful romp, poking fun at the conventions of the genre. When someone takes advantage of a duck hunt to murder publisher Athol Sefton at a remote hunting inn, it soon turns out that virtually everyone, guests and staff alike, had a good reason for shooting him. Sefton’s nephew Charles thinks he can solve the crime by applying the “rules of the game” he’s absorbed from his years as a reviewer of detective fiction — only the killer evidently isn’t playing by those rules. Duck Season Death is a both a fiendishly clever whodunit and a marvelous entertainment.

Author

June Wright

June Wright (b. 1919) - Wrote six detective novels between 1948-66, mostly in Melbourne settings and with female detectives. While wrapping food scraps in newspaper she saw an advertisement for a novel competition, run by the London publisher Hutchinson. She won the prize with Murder in the Telephone Exchange and Hutchinson published three of her novels. With Reservation for Murder (1966) she introduced her detective-nun, the formidable Mother Paul. The best of her novels is Faculty of Murder (1961), set in Melbourne University, with Ormond College's tower on the cover.

Country of Origin

Books:

Series:

Series: Maggie Byrnes

Book Number:
2
2015
Blog Currently Reading - DUCK SEASON DEATH, June Wright
Karen Chisholm
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Blog Currently Reading - So Bad a Death, June Wright
Karen Chisholm
Monday, May 4, 2015
Review Review - MURDER IN THE TELEPHONE EXCHANGE, June Wright
Karen Chisholm
Friday, May 2, 2014
Blog CR - Murder in the Telephone Exchange, June Wright
Karen Chisholm
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
ISBN
9781891241352
Year of Publication
Publisher

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