The grandchildren of Sir Richard March have descended on his Kent home, fleeing from the Blitz, just in time for them all to be disinherited. Needless to say, before the new will can be finalised, Sir Richard is found dead from strychnine poisoning – and the lodge where he was spending the night can be shown to have had no visitors, due to the regularly rolled soft path leading to the only door showing no footprints. Enter Inspector Cockrill…

Meanwhile – sort of – in Yorkshire, Athelstan Digby has been looking after a bookshop while visiting his nephew, Jim. Three visitors on his first day all enquire after a copy of The Life and Death Of Mr Badman by John Bunyan, a book not in stock – but then a copy arrives in a bundle of books and is then stolen. Trying to discern the book’s popularity, Digby is shocked to discover that two of his visitors are now dead…

Another two-in-one review, the common theme being recent releases from the British Library Crime Classics range. Let’s kick off with the Christianna Brand title, as it’s the one that I enjoyed more.

I enjoyed it a lot, to be fair. It was a re-read for me, but I couldn’t recall that much about it apart from how the second impossible murder was committed. It’s always the way that the bits that you remember are the bits that annoy you, and I still maintain that you wouldn’t confuse naturally occurring SPOILER with what it was replaced with. But ignoring that, I really enjoyed this one. It’s a good mystery, with well-drawn characters and no obvious killer. Yes, Cockrill’s behaviour at the end is rather bonkers, but it’s a very good traditional mystery told with all the skill and colour that Brand always provides.

The Mysterious Mr Badman starts well, but it’s much more of a thriller than a mystery, so my interest waned in the second half. Fans of classic thrillers should enjoy it though.