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    The Cornish Coast Murder
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    The Cornish Coast Murder
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    The Cornish Coast Murder
    Ebook279 pages5 hours

    The Cornish Coast Murder

    By John Bude and Martin Edwards

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    'Never, even in his most optimistic moments, had he visualised a scene of this nature - himself in one armchair, a police officer in another, and between them a mystery.'


    The Reverend Dodd, vicar of the quiet Cornish village of Boscawen, spends his evenings reading detective stories by the fireside - but heaven forbid that the shadow of any real crime should ever fall across his seaside parish. The vicar's peace is shattered one stormy night when Julius Tregarthan, a secretive and ill-tempered magistrate, is found at his house in Boscawen with a bullet through his head.


    The local police inspector is baffled by the complete absence of clues. Luckily for Inspector Bigswell, the Reverend Dodd is on hand, and ready to put his keen understanding of the criminal mind to the test.


    This classic mystery novel of the golden age of British crime fiction is set against the vividly described backdrop of a fishing village on Cornwall's Atlantic coast. It is now republished for the first time since the 1930s with an introduction by award-winning crime writer Martin Edwards.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPoisoned Pen Press
    Release dateOct 4, 2016
    ISBN9781464206528
    Author

    John Bude

    JOHN BUDE was the pseudonym of Ernest Elmore (1901–1957), an author of the golden age of crime fiction. Elmore was a cofounder of the Crime Writers' Association, and worked in the theatre as a producer and director.

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    Reviews for The Cornish Coast Murder

    3.5/5

    96 ratings10 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Enjoyable Golden Age mystery (but not one that the reader can solve ahead of the detective)...
    • 4/5
      _The Cornish Coast Murder_ is another in the British Library's series of recent reprintings of detective novels from the Golden Age of the 1920s and 1930s that--while popular in their day--subsequently fell out of print. John Bude was the pen name of Ernest Carpenter Elmore, who wrote several mysteries set in different locales around England.This first one takes place in the coastal Cornish town of Boscawen, and the setting is the star. Bude sets the pitch-perfect atmosphere right from the opening scene, which finds the local vicar, Reverend Dodd, watching out the window of his study for the arrival of the local doctor, his dinner guest. As he waits, it is "raining fitfully, and gusts of wind from off the Atlantic rattle the window-frames and sigh dismally among the sprinkling of gaunt pines which surrounded the Vicarage." In the comfort of his study, though, "a big log fire crackle[s] in the open hearth," illuminating the bookshelves that line the room. A wooden crate between the two armchairs is later revealed to hold a slew of detective novels borrowed from the local library, which the Vicar and the Doctor--huge fans of the genre--will split up to read, exchange, and discuss over the next week. This domestic idyll is disrupted later in the evening, though, when young Ruth Tregarthan, the niece of the master of local Greylings Hall, calls to say that her uncle has been shot. Suddenly, the Vicar finds himself in the midst of a real-life murder mystery, and he proves in many ways to be a more able detective than the local officials--but at the cost of his love of detective fiction.Bude's plotting and characterization show their age in places. There are lots of unchecked references to the unpredictable moodiness and impulsiveness of women, and the police inspector comes up with a scenario about how the murder was committed that is so absurd I kept waiting for him to be mocked by his fellow cops. Instead, they agree that his theory--which requires the murderer to walk barefooted along walls and set up a series of sawhorses with planks between then--is the only plausible explanation. The real solution is, in all honesty, not a whole lot less ridiculous. But that kind of intricate, complicated puzzle-making was the whole point of the genre for some Golden-Age writers, so in that sense, Bude's approach isn't unusual or jarring.If you're a fan of Golden Age British mysteries, I highly recommend this...but if your tastes lean more toward the contemporary, psychological police procedural, you probably should skip it.
    • 4/5
      Despite the fact that it was published in 1935, this is a delightful find for those who love cozies, with a brilliant foreword by Martin Edwards. Bude (a pseudonym used by Ernest Ellsmore) published over 30 detective novels, all stand alones, in just over 20 years.A question that the Reverend Dodd asks himself early on is whether the methods he uses to solve the puzzles in the detective fiction would work as well if he were confronted by the real thing. And then he has the opportunity to assist Inspector Bigswell in the solving of a real life murder, and he knows he will never feel the same about crime fiction.As I said, a delightful read.
    • 3/5
      Julius Tregarthan is found dead in his own home. Initially investigators believe that the shots may have been fired from a path outside the window; however, the vicar has a differing view. Suspects include his niece Ruth who discovered the body as well as many other village persons. There are a couple of misleading clues which may throw some readers "off the scent" of the real murderer, but a confession is finally obtained by the Inspector. I enjoyed the setting of this novel and some of the elements, but I did not find it particularly stimulating.
    • 4/5
      This is a whodunnit published and set in the 1930s, which evokes comparisons with Agatha Christie, though the characters in this novel are all rather more ordinary than those in at least the most famous Christie novels. It concerns the murder of a rather unsympathetic man with whom, naturally, lots of people have reason to have done away, against the background of the Cornish coast and local village at a fairly unfriendly time of year. The main sleuth is the local vicar, though the efforts of the local police are covered more fully here than they often are in such whodunnits. It's all quiet and very English, and a pleasant read, though I didn't really find the vicar a particularly convincing sleuth.
    • 3/5
      This was an entertaining romp of mystery. While I am not overly familiar with the genre, the journey was worthwhile-- if not a bit hackneyed in terms of dialogue. However, the plot was feasible. The characters were not overly developed, at least not in the way that I am used to, but the plot-line moves swiftly along until it expands in its conclusion.

      Overall, a decent book: 3 stars.
    • 4/5
      This is one of those classic, old crime stories with which, one has no chance to beat the detective - and the keen amateur - to the solution. The criminal comes into the story in the latter chapters and it isn't until he is under lock and key that one learns the reason for his actions.This makes the book sound to be a disappointing read but, the tension is maintained through the seeming guilt of a pair of young lovers and, it is their rescue from a situation of almost unquestionable arrest that makes this a tale worthy of its place on the bookshelf.
    • 4/5
      The novel was sent to me by the Poisoned Pen Press via Net Gallery. Thank you.This British Library Crime Classic fits deftly into classic puzzle category. The victim and murderer are secondary to the puzzle. How the victim is done away with is much more important than why the victim was murdered. Julius Tregarthan is shot through a window in his study as he apparently is watching a storm rage outside. At first, he seems an unlikely subject for foul play but as the novel progresses he is shown to be a rather nasty character. The solving of the mystery is split between the police force led by Inspector Bigswell and the Rev Dodd Vicar of St Michael’s on-the-Cliff in the village. Bigswell is a by- the- book detective who analyzes the clues and doggedly tries to match the clues to the suspects. Dodd, on the other hand, is proud of his intuition which allows him to dismiss suspects because he truly believes they could not be guilty of the crime. In a happy partnership they work together because Bigswell recognizes that Dodd has an insight into the community which he lacks as an outsider.In a charming, long opening chapter, the Vicar and the local doctor have their weekly meeting where they have dinner and then open a box sent by their lending library chock full of the latest whodunits. Their routine is to each pick out books, read them, and then swap them. Then they analyze the plots and methodology of the detectives and how long it took them to solve the puzzle. Only after establishing that both men are good at the game, does the author bring in the murder.Then it is the painstaking collection of evidence with the inspector and the Vicar trading ideas about the suspects. Just when one suspect seems to be “the one” another clue or alibi seems to exonerate the person. Everything hinges, not so much on motive, but on where each character was in a very narrow twenty minute window when the crime could have been committed.The Cornish Coat Mystery is a delight. The Vicar is charming and Bigswell thoroughly likeable. This is a nice reissue for golden age mystery buffs.
    • 4/5
      Very British and Christie like. Story starts with the vicar and the local doctor sitting before a fire during a storm (picture Alistair Cooke and Julian Fellowes) discussing the latest mystery novels they’ve read when a call comes for the doctor about a shooting. Shortly after the vicar follows and he’s checking muddy footprints and it’s a real mystery for them to solve.
    • 3/5
      A murder occurs at night during a March storm on the Cornish coast.
      The Reverend Dodd and his friend Dr. Pendrill are having their usually Monday evening dinner together and deciding which crime novels to read during the next week, when the Doctor is called to Greylings because Julian Tregarthan has been shot. The Reverend decides to also investigate while Inspector Bigswell looks for the killer.
      The book, original published in 1935, had multiple red herrings to investigate and discard. An enjoyable read.
      A NetGalley Book