John Bude wrote his crime stories before WW2 and some of them have recently been reissued by The British Library with some lovely covers and new introductions by Martin Edwards. I have previously read one of his books set in the Lake District (see here for review) and another set in Cornwall (see here). These are very much books of their time and, as such, are also interesting from a social history point of view, for example, how people function without easily accessible telephones, the general lack of cars and also the attitudes to working people which are acceptable in popular fiction. I didn’t find any of this offensive but if someone had been writing a book today set in the 1930s they might have portrayed some things differently to take account of changed values.
The Sussex Downs Murder is set in a small town when a man completely disappears and his abandoned car is found. The detective, Superintendent Meredith, has to disentangle the affairs of the missing man and his brother and sister in law with whom he lives. Where is the body ? Did the missing man have an affair with his brother’s wife ? Meredith mainly investigates by interviewing lots of people and following up every lead which means that the author has the opportunity to introduce us to lots of eccentric local characters. Eventually his plodding style comes up with the solution to the mystery which is excellently thought through with minimal dependency on coincidences (I had worked it out for myself but then I do read a lot of crime fiction).
This isn’t the most fast-paced book that I have ever read but I was happy enough to work through the story with the author and to enjoy some of his amusing characters and comments on rural life. It’s a very satisfying crime novel to read.
Anne Is Reading 