Death Holds the Key, Alexander Thorpe

When I read the first novel from Alexander Thorpe (DEATH LEAVES THE STATION) I hadn't quite twigged to the extent that future novels would be based around the itinerant friar figure - but it's now titled the "Itinerant Mendicant" series, and it really makes a lot of sense. He's a fascinating, elusive, all seeing, quiet and perspicacious character, and, because of his position, his look and mannerisms, tailor made to quietly slot into places without suspicion. He's therefore from the school of observant and evesdropping investigators, watching, understanding human nature, and analysing the little things. In this second novel, DEATH HOLDS THE KEY, there are also some particularly revealing insights into his past, and where he sees his future heading. Given that the timeframe is again the late 1920s, all those revelations work, as does the entire scenario around the murder of Fred O'Donnell.

Called to investigate strange goings on at a remote property, city cop, Detective Harley is confronted by a very unusual situation as he arrives at the remote rural landholding of the much disliked O'Donnell. O'Donnell is briefly visible outside the house as Hartley and the daughter-in-law assigned to escort him arrive, promptly disappearing into the house, to be immediately shot dead, in a locked room with no murder weapon in sight and a very perplexed cop right outside. Classic locked room mystery in other words, following the style of the novel, the timing of the setting, and the earlier series entry.

Given this is very much an homage to Golden Age novels, this is wordy, gentle and immersive reading. Don't pick up one of these novels if you're looking for a lot of fast paced action and much rushing about. There's quite a bit of walking about, there's a lot of chat - between the monk and the cop, them and O'Donnell's extended family and farm worker, and individually between characters and the main investigators. There's quite a bit of the monk quietly explaining what it is that the cop has just seen / heard / should have picked up and there's a lot about a developing friendship as well as highly unlikely working relationship. Which is made believable because of Hartley's lack of experience, the weirdness of the case, and the timeframe - which lends itself to perfectly to an observational style of investigation, with no forensics or investigative tools and not a lot of anything other than testimony, and character actions to go on.

Slightly on the cosier side, the personalities, and interactions between the two main characters is a big part of the attraction of DEATH HOLDS THE KEY. A classic locked room mystery, it's not too hard to work out what's probably behind it all, but the path there is engaging and the clues as to the why laid out for the reader to discover at the same time as the investigators. It's gentler reading, even though there's a shot man at the centre of the story, and the rest of the family are nicely eccentric, trodden upon, most hostage to an unpleasant man with something to hide. All of which fits with the style it's aiming for very squarely, producing a tale which was engaging and very readable.