The Santa Klaus Murder
by Mavis Doriel Hay (The Bodley Head, 1936)
audiobook read by Gordon Griffin & Anne Dover (Soundings, 2015)
A country house snoozefest with a thoroughly uningenious murder, virtually no actual investigation, a disagreeable cast of characters more pusillanimous than suspicious, and one of the most insipid detectives (Colonel Halstock) in genre history. Griffin’s audiobook reading conspires to add melodramatic hand-wringing.
The Sussex Downs Murder
by John Bude (Skeffington & Sons, 1936)
audiobook read by Gordon Griffin (Soundings, 2015)
Middling at best. While the murder turns out to be cleverly conceived (as Bude has his characters point out, no doubt feeling very pleased with himself), its unravelling is as cack-handed as the prose is uninspired. Superintendent Meredith is rather like dishwater.
Antidote to Venom
by Freeman Wills Crofts (Hodder and Stoughton, 1938)
audiobook read by Gordon Griffin (Soundings, 2015)
A remarkably long and tedious book. Crofts spends the first half establishing the unlikable viewpoint character and his motivation for murder. Even once this occurs, Inspector French is held back until the final third. No suspense, let alone mystery, just utter banality.
The Poisoned Chocolates Case
by Anthony Berkeley (Collins, 1929)
audiobook read by Gordon Griffin (Isis, 2017)
Berkeley employs a Detectives Club scenario to take a sly dig at the mystery genre, proffering several very plausible solutions to a murder by poisoning. While the protagonists aren’t as amusing as he seems to think, this remains a very good read.