Welcome to Litsy!

This British crime classic from 1950, is a gem of a book. The characters, plot, witty dialogue, London setting, combine to make this a novel that I delighted in & could not put down. According to Martin Edwards, crime novelist, critic & historian,”Few British detective stories during the rest of the decade came close to matching it in terms of quality”.Set in a London law firm, a partner is discovered dead in a deed box.🔽

#coffeeandbooks #autumncolors #afternoonbreak #britishlibrarycrimeclassics
Leaves here are only just turning color- 🍁🍁🍁

This map has helped me keep the law partners & secretaries straight, as well as the building itself. I am having fun with this book- mysterious doings, clever dialogue, locked box/room motif, #britishlibrarycrimeclassics, first published in 1950.

#BritishLibraryCrimeClassics #ALondonMystery
A classic, venerated mystery published in 1950, featuring an amateur “detective” and a locked room (in this case being a locked trunk). I just started tonight.

Well this is a cracking murder mystery - set in a solicitors‘ office and written by a solicitor. Ingenious crime, plenty of twists and turns and suitably bamboozling - especially in the modern era when so much about ways of conducting business has changed!

Since @rabbitprincess mentioned enjoying it, I picked this one up first. I have some questions about the series editor's claims of this being THE best crime book ever, but it's an enjoyable read. The real killer is produced with a sort of TADA once you've got confused suspecting everyone else, of course, and there is a convenient left-handed criminal... But like Sayers in Murder Must Advertise, Gilbert writes entertainingly about his home turf.

An entertaining read that I consumed in a single sitting. Gilbert deploys his knowledge of law firms' work artfully and gives his detective a sense of humour. If you like mysteries from the mid-20th century, this is one to check out.

And the detective has a nice flair for the dramatic dénouement ?

I love when characters in detective stories accuse each other of reading too many detective stories. It feels so meta 😂