"The Postmaster's Daughter" was first published from July to September 1916 as a series in "Country Gentleman" and then printed as a novel the same year.
It is a fun-to-read detective story, with (of course!) a love-story thrown in, and kept me guessing at the "whodunnit" until fairly far ahead. The characters are described so well you can easily run the movie in your mind. Some of them are likeable, some less so, but all are very much "there".
The book is neatly divided into 23 chapters (probably the way the story was originally serialized in the "Country Gentleman") with such intriguing headlines as "The Face at the Window", "The Seeds of Mischief", "On Both Sides of the River", "A Matter of Heredity" and "The Truth at Last". Don't some of these sound like the names of episodes in Midsomer Murders?
To briefly summarize the story without telling too much, let me just say that well-to-do bachelor John Grant finds the body of a famous actress he once was in love with but has not met in three years on his own grounds, miles away from her London work place. What was she doing there, and who had a reason to want her dead?
The village near his house is soon buzzing with rumours and suspicion, especially when it becomes known that Grant spent part of the evening of the murder in the company of the prettiest and cleverest girl around, the postmaster's daughter.
What roles do the calm and polite village chemist, the butcher, the landlord of the "Hare and Hounds" and the sporty horse dealer play? And where does the ghost of Owd Ben fit in?
Grant summons his best friend for moral support when everyone seems to point at him, and it does not take long for Scotland Yard's best men to appear on the scene.
In the end, all is revealed, although the culprit is not brought to justice (in a way, he is, but I won't say another word!).
This was, as you probably have guessed, a free ebook from the Kindle store, and one I very much enjoyed for its witty dialogue and good characterization of people.
What a great review......I think you must be my literary coach of something! How do you choose free kindle books to read?
ReplyDeletethat's supposed to be "or something"....
DeleteThank you, Kristi! I know my reading material does not appeal to everyone (nor is it intended to), but I am glad you find some of it interesting enough to give it a try yourself.
DeleteFinding free kindle books is simple: You go to Amazon, set the search bar to "Kindle Store" and click "go" without typing anything into the actual Search bar. A lot of books (most popular first) will appear on the page. At the top right corner of the list, there is a drop down menue "Sort by". Choose "Price: Low to High", and you'll get pages and pages of free ebooks.
Hello Meike:
ReplyDeleteYou really do have a way of unearthing little known, or even forgotten, writers of which Louis Tracy must surely be one. We have followed up the link which you have provided to find out a little more about this mystery author who may well not be quite who he appears to be. All very fascinating.
We have not yet succumbed to a Kindle but know many people who have and who find it a most convenient way of reading.
Hello Jane and Lance,
DeleteIt's all randomly chosen, and part of the fun is finding out more about the authors I didn't know anything about.
I wouldn't want to be without my kindle anymore! ebooks will never replace paper books for me, but the kindle is just infinitely more convenient for travelling, and a great space-saver.
I might give this one a try. Never heard of Louis Tracy, but this sounds just the sort of mild and bloodless English mystery I like.
ReplyDeleteHe has written some more, which I'll probably try to get as well. Mild and bloodless, that's exactly what it is, Friko.
DeleteIt sounds like the kind of book I would enjoy. I will give it a try.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear it, Tracey!
DeleteAs with so many of your recommendations you have sent me scurrying off to Amazon to get the free Kindle copy.
ReplyDeleteI do hope my recommendations so far have not disappointed you!
DeleteI should get Kindle but I'm worried that it will tire my eyes. I prefer to read paper books but sometimes they are too big to carry around so Kindly would be useful.
ReplyDeleteI promise you the Kindle will NOT tire your eyes, Francesca. Reading the kindle is just like reading on paper, it has nothing to do with reading from a computer screen, since the Kindle has no backlight (which also means it can go a long time without having to recharge the battery). It works solely on "e-ink", a special method by which molecules are, simply put, black on one side and white on the other, and "told" to turn to their black side to form letters or to their white side to form the parts of the "page" that is not "printed".
DeleteThant's very interesting Meike. It's free on Kindle (and now on mine) but it is still available in hardcover and paperback and it's not cheap either. I wonder if this is a case of Kindle being used as a taster.
ReplyDeleteGraham, I often wonder about the free Kindle books and the enormous prices asked for the same book in its hardcover or paperback versions. The other day, I came across one that had a price tag of over 648 Euros to it!!! I am sure some of this is a mistake, but as long as I can have free ebooks, I'll have them :-)
DeleteI came here by chance while doing research about Louis Tracy. A more complete account of his career can be found here:
ReplyDeletehttp://alangullette.com/lit/shiel/essays/shiel_tracy.htm
He wrote various kinds of books before WWI (mysteries, romances, science fiction), but after the war, he wrote exclusively mysteries featuring the same duo of detectives, Winter and Furneaux, who are characters in "The Postmaster's Daughter".
You can find some of his books on websites like archive.org, as facsimile pdf files. Other are for sale at sometimes stiff prices from reprint publishers like Kessinger, Bibliobazaar, etc. Beware of poor reprint quality and missing pages.
Jean-Daniel Brèque
PS. And try the books of Headon Hill. They are much harder to find but quite fun.
Hello Jean-Daniel,
Deletethank you for stopping by and letting me know more aobut Louis Tracy and his books! I am going to keep an eye out for the Headin Hill ones, too.
- Meike