![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Lyttleton Case
Dec. 22nd, 2017 08:42 pmBook Review: The Lyttleton Case, by R A V Morris
There has been a vogue for "rediscovering" Golden Age crime fiction for a while now. My experience is that the best of it was never forgotten, and that some of the forgotten stuff could quite happily have remained in obscurity. But I decided to give this one a go from the work book sale, and I'm glad I did, because I found it very good indeed.
James Lyttleton (note, not Lyttelton) is a partner in a merchant bank, and one day he receives a letter that prompts him to go in to work early to receive a telephone call. From there, he telegraphs home to say he has to visit Liverpool on business, and then he telegraphs to say he has to visit New York. This does not initially cause concern for his daughter Doris, but the trail then goes cold, and she becomes increasingly concerned for his whereabouts. Basil Dawson, her fiancé, is a journalist who knows Chief Inspector Candlish of Scotland Yard, and between them an investigation is begun.
The story is told well, and there are the obligatory clues and plot twists. Some reviews on Goodreads complain of the slow pace, but I found it about right. It is said that everyone has a book in them; it seems a shame that R A V Morris decided to write only one.
There has been a vogue for "rediscovering" Golden Age crime fiction for a while now. My experience is that the best of it was never forgotten, and that some of the forgotten stuff could quite happily have remained in obscurity. But I decided to give this one a go from the work book sale, and I'm glad I did, because I found it very good indeed.
James Lyttleton (note, not Lyttelton) is a partner in a merchant bank, and one day he receives a letter that prompts him to go in to work early to receive a telephone call. From there, he telegraphs home to say he has to visit Liverpool on business, and then he telegraphs to say he has to visit New York. This does not initially cause concern for his daughter Doris, but the trail then goes cold, and she becomes increasingly concerned for his whereabouts. Basil Dawson, her fiancé, is a journalist who knows Chief Inspector Candlish of Scotland Yard, and between them an investigation is begun.
The story is told well, and there are the obligatory clues and plot twists. Some reviews on Goodreads complain of the slow pace, but I found it about right. It is said that everyone has a book in them; it seems a shame that R A V Morris decided to write only one.