Is there anything better in this world than being on page 1 of an unread Lesley Shane mystery? I think not!
This one – appropriately titled House of Mystery – starts with a striking montage of a serial killer at work before Lesley is visited by the cheesy proprietor of the boarding houses where people have died under mysterious circumstances.
The wonderful atmosphere created, I believe, by Conrad Frost and Oliver Passingham reminds me of Terence Rattigan’s Separate Tables (an exquisite movie adaptation starred David Niven, Deborah Kerr, Burt Lancaster and Rita Hayworth – as an aside, Deborah Kerr would have made a perfect Lesley Shane!)
Curses! I should have guessed who the killer was – the evidence was there and planted before the halfway point in line with Detection Club rules - but I blew it – perhaps you will have better luck than I?
Link to the book:
Super Detective Library 102 - The House of Mystery