A dangerous love triangle, long-simmering grudges, long-festering jealousies and clever murderous shenanigans are some of the ingredients the reader will find in this utterly compelling mystery set in Southern England in the 50's, a dark tale full of unexpected twists and turns, blessed with a terrific cast of exquisitely drawn characters and a very unexpected ending!

A captivating and highly recommended whodunit that deserves to be enjoyed without any moderation whatsoever!

Many thanks to Poisoned Pen and Netgalley for this fabulous ARC

This is a "thank you, but no" for me - I wish I liked Lorac's novels more as she is prolific and it's always nice to find an author with a deep well of work but the dialogue, MY GAWD. Her characters are so one dimensional and talky, talky, talky - I don't need to completely be enamored or like a character really, but I need to want to spend time with them at the very least and these insufferable prigs are the worst. So, I can't recommend this generally but the Golden Age reader may want to delve for the sake of completion.

DNF - I will attribute the fact that I didn't/couldn't finish this to the time period in which I tried to read it. There are so many other people who seem to have loved this & I am glad that the book has found its target audience! Maybe I will try reading this again in the future but for the time being I am having to set it aside.

The British Library is known for picking lost gems and old favorites with their Crime Classics series, and this one is no exception. Involving two mysteries, that may or may not be connected, this book will have you tracking down further mysteries from this sadly forgotten author.

Another excellent mystery by E. C. R. Lorac. The countryside setting, with its foggy, winding roads, was strikingly depicted and the characters were compelling and well-written. A very enjoyable read, with a pleasingly twisty ending.

I love Lorac's classic mysteries and this never-before-published one is o exception. It combines a small village along a rugged coast, a man found run over sprawled in the middle of the road, and plenty of characters with incomplete explanations.

i read lots of mysteries and I had no idea who the murderer was until it was revealed.

Lately, I have been delving into Golden Age mysteries, and this was my first by E.C.R. Lorac. It's a cracking good yarn with an ending that I certainly did not see coming.

What a great book and a fun read. This has all the mystery of a good thriller with a bit of humour, a bit of fun. I love the characters as they are all unique and bring something different to the story.

I love that it was written so many, many years ago yet even today it is such an easy book to read yet so entertaining and fun. The characters are likeable and the story is mysterious with clues along the way. It gets you thinking but also lets you just go with the story until you find out 'Who Dunnit' it the end.

Great book, fun and a good quick and easy read. Would recommend to any reader that likes a mystery.

Golden Age mystery writer E.C.R. Lorac’s “Two-Way Murder” is about a number of things: the joy of dancing, family secrets, difficult parents, unhappy history between families, and a woman who captivates every man she comes into contact with (reminiscent of Helen of Troy).

When a man is found run over and dead in the middle of the road on the very foggy night of a country dance, it’s both the culmination of years of secrets and bad feelings, as well as the kick-off to an investigation with so many lies and shadings of the truth it’s hard to see how the genial Inspector Waring will ever arrive at the truth.

There are enough twists and turns to keep the story interesting, and if it hadn’t been for my reading of most of Dame Agatha’s works, I might have pointed at the wrong person as the murderer. Not that Lorac’s solution is easy to suss out; in fact, there were enough contrary statements and murky motives to keep me reading happily to the end.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Two-Way Murder by E C R Lorac is a sixty-year-old mystery now published for the first time. The author is a woman and it is very much in the style of that time. It takes place after WWII when life is not quite back to normal, but getting there. It is a convoluted tale of a murder in which nearly everyone is a suspect, except the murderer, who has made a plan almost foolproof. Nothing was as it seemed. The Hunt Ball had taken place that night and everyone for miles around was in attendance. Nicholas Brent was in his early thirties and had spied a run down pub when he had been doing maneuvers during the ward. After the war he returned and bought the place and after years of work had turned it in to a lovely small hotel and life was so good he was ready to find a wife. He had her all picked out, as did many of the younger men in the area: Dilys Maine. He had given her a ticket to the dance and he was to drive her home, all under the radar, as her father could be difficult to get along with. When nearing her home, they came across a body in the road. He urged her to walk the rest of the way as if she was recorded as a witness, her father would know she had not spent the evening at home as he had directed. Thus started the investigation to end all investigations. An old-fashioned who-dunnit.

That it was well-written, there is no doubt. If it were not, an already confusing plotline would have become impossible. As it was, the reader almost needed a scorecard to keep track of all the characters. Most of the people in town seemed to have been interviewed and suspicion traveled from person to person. Every own has "that family," and no matter how hard the remaining ones try, they can never overcome what has come before. The police are confounded. Indeed, even the people giving testimony are confused. There are too many possibilities. It was almost, not quite, Keystone Cops and was totally entertaining if you are a fan of early mysteries. I recommend it, but not for everyone.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of Two-Way Murder by Poisoned Pen Press, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #netgalley #poisonedpenpress #ECRlorac #twowaymurder

Turn back the clock to the 1950s in the vintage murder mystery, just published for the first time, Two-Way Murder.

Ian is driving his potential girlfriend, Dilys, home after the annual Hunt Ball when they find a dead body in the road. Dilys walks home before the police arrive to avoid her father finding out she has gone to the Ball without his permission. The police quickly determine that the victim was murdered. Two detectives try to solve the case with Ian’s rather incompetent assistance. There are red herrings and secrets aplenty. Even though this book was written in the 1950s, it has more of a golden age (between the two World Wars) style. The mystery is challenging. Armchair detectives will love it! 5 stars!

Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

I love the Golden Age mysteries, but I wasn't familiar with this author. After reading this, I will definitely look forward to reading her earlier books. Very interesting plot, characters and conclusion.

Set in the late 1950s Sussex, England, this Golden Age mystery drips with just the kind of atmosphere mystery readers crave...swirling mist and fog late at night intermingled with red herrings. Though not proven to be written by by E. C. R. Lorac, it is certainly believed to be as the 1950s manuscript was found in her belongings, written in her trademark style. If that isn't enough enticement...

The Hunt Ball is THE event of the year at Fordings and therefore well attended with fewer people out and about in the countryside to witness goings on. Not only are there slivers of a mysterious past after the disappearance of Rosemary of the illustrious Reeve family but there is fresh murder in the form of a body on a road. Michael Reeve's house is the closest to the fateful road from which the murder is reported by telephone. Friends Nicholas Brent and Ian MacBane drive to the ball together but Nick has the fortune of driving local beauty Dilys back. Her friend Jennifer is also in attendance. Inspectors Waring and Turner investigate and question the neighbourhood including old families with deep roots.

Mystery readers, especially those with a passion for the Golden Age, ought to read Two-Way Murder. My preference is for her earlier works but I am happy to read anything she wrote as her books are difficult to find in my location. They really are a special treat.

My sincere thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this excellent book. I am grateful for your mission of recognizing the value of publishing such works and introducing more books to the Golden Age repertoire.

"Two-Way Murder" is a mystery set in 1956 or 1957 in England. It really needed a map showing all of the locations and roads. It was confusing at times to know where a certain significant event happened and why that might be important because there was no map (at least, not in my advanced reader copy). The locals instantly knew any significance and could mull over the possibilities.

The characters were interesting, and several people tried to solve whodunit. They weren't necessarily helping the police. Several people lied or were uncooperative with the police to keep people they cared about out of the investigation for various reasons. The likable policeman did solve the mystery, though, by asking good questions and thinking out the possibilities. I guessed whodunit based on some of the clues, but I didn't quite figure out how (though it felt like an "oh, duh!" moment after the reveal). There was no sex. There was a fair amount of bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this engaging, interesting mystery.

Since discovering E.C.R. Lorac through the excellent British Library Crime Classics series, I have eagerly grabbed each of her books that I can find. Two-Way Murder is the latest to be published in the US – and what a coup for the BL! As martin Edwards explains in his usual informative introduction, the book was never published in Lorac’s lifetime – perhaps because she died before she can perform the final edit. Also, it doesn’t feature Chief Inspector Macdonald, her usual series detective. Indeed, the title page of the typescript has Mary Le Bourne as the author’s name – maybe she was going to seek a new publisher for a new series?

Is this as good as her main Macdonald series, then? Emphatically, yes. I’m happy to accept that the book isn’t 100% polished, but that simply means examples like using the word “cheerfully” three times in two pages, rather than varying the adverb. I can accept that!

Ian Macbane and Nick Brent are driving to a dance when they see a dead body in the road. Brent goes to telephone for help and, after doing so, is attacked. Who is the deceased? Who attacked Brent? Will they attack again? (“Yes” is the answer to that, as you might expect!) Did I work out whodunnit? Yes, of course I did – Chapter 1! No, just kidding – I didn’t spot the clues and the answer came as a surprise.

This is a really enjoyable book and beautifully evokes England in the 1950s, with girls in their party frocks and men begging to be added to their dance cards. It is definitely a Golden Age of Detection novel.

This latest in the British Library Crime Classics series is not, as usual, a re-publication of an old Golden Age crime novel. Instead, it’s the first-time publication of a manuscript found in the well-known Lorac’s effects after her death. It’s a standalone novel, not part of Lorac’s Inspector MacDonald series, and is set in the 1950s.

The setup involves a visit to the country by London lawyer Ian Macbane, whose old friend Nicholas Brent gives him a ride several miles down a long, foggy rural road so that they can attend the local Hunt Ball. Both are anxious to see the beautiful young Dilys Maine there and join the line of men on her dance card.

Brent, a war veteran and successful inn owner, is lucky enough to get Dilys to take a ride home with him, but it ends when they find a body lying in the road not far from the house of the hot-headed young farmer Michael Reeve and, on the other side of the road, the field path to Dilys’s house. Wanting to keep her out of any police inquiry, and to avoid trouble from Dilys’s bad-tempered father, Brent tells Dilys she should take the field path home while he goes to Reeve’s house to call the police. There, Brent is attacked and knocked out. But by whom?

Enter Inspector Waring, whose investigation of the murder of the man on the road is hampered by tight-lipped and truculent locals, who mislead him in many ways, including the identity of the victim. He wonders if this death is connected to the disappearance of Michael Reeve’s sister a year earlier, or to rumored criminal activities out of a nearby pub. He needs to figure this out soon, because it appears the murderer is now going after anyone who might provide clues to his identity.

This is a good mystery, with an interesting cast of characters and a clever solution that I kicked myself for not figuring out even though I spotted one of the keys to the whodunnit early on.

If you have enjoyed books in the British Library Crime Classics series, you should like this one. I’d say it’s one of the better ones I’ve read in that series.

This book is like going back in time; a previously unpublished book by E.C.R. Lorac who died in 1958.

I wasn't familiar with the author, but it reminded me of an Agatha Christie novel.

Really enjoyed the story and plot.

Thank you to NetGalley, E.C.R. Lorac and the folks that brought this book to light and Poisoned Pen Press the publisher for the opportunity to review Two-Way Murder in exchange for an honest review. Publication date is 05 April 2022.

This is a previously unpublished mystery by E.C.R. Lorac which haas recently been published as part of the British Crime Classic line. I am glad they found it and published it. It was a delightful puzzle of a mystery, so many possibilities, points of view, motives and characters. A man is found on a foggy country road, was it hit and run or murder? Who was the victim? Lots of people know more than they are sharing with the police.
This is a review of an advanced reader copy provided by NetGalley.

Thank you to the author, publisher and Net Galley for providing a free ebook ARC of this title for my review.

I was so excited to get this book! ECR Lorac is a new author to me, as I explore Golden Age Detective novels. Set in the 1950's, this was a great read, very enjoyable, and well written. The mystery wasn't too difficult to solve, but I'm ok with that. Very happy to see these older books being re-published and I look forward to more in the future!

Wonderfully Ingenious…
A wonderfully witty, light mystery from the Golden Age of crime combining well crafted characters and a thoroughly entertaining tale. Rather twee in parts, particularly character wise, but this really is a huge part of its’ appeal. The knotty puzzle at its’ very heart is both clever and ingenious.