And Death Came Too

A great story line with brilliant main characters.. I read this book in one sitting as I couldn't put it down.

Who killed Arthur Yeldham?... And what was the motive? These are the questions at the root of this novel which, as far as I know, was the closest Richard Hull came to writing a classic puzzle mystery.

The story is spun out in leisurely fashion, with strongly-drawn characters even in minor roles. The regular police are to the fore, with DS Scoresby interviewing relentlessly, and reporting to the Chief Constable. There is even a "grand confrontation scene, ending with the unmasking of the villain" as one character sardonically described it.

This was hugely enjoyable and demonstrates that, while still being slightly subversive, Hull was not always just looking for innovative ways of writing about crime. This is classic stuff, fairly and solidly clued, with a few red herring, some misdirection and a not-too-difficult-to-spot murderer, although the motive was a bit more opaque.

Recommended, although not the best, and not my favourite by this very readable author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Agora Books for the digital review copy.

Four young people having spent three evenings in a row socialising are now, late at night, reluctant to pay a call in response to a request by Arthur Yeldham to visit him. But they are persuaded, and later are faced with a death. Detective Sergeant Scoresby slowly investigates.
A slow paced story as you would expect from a book published in 1939 but a still an interesting well-written mystery.

Hull has written a number of country house murder mysteries, but I find that always he never writes the same story twice! A late night house call leaves 6 characters under suspicion and even a policeman, when Arthur Yeldham is found dead in his study.
Whilst no amateur sleuthing occurs we get to follow the lines investigation that the police pursue, when they're not disparaging their colleagues that is, and inter-departmental grudges do at points effect and influence the case.
Hull shows he has not lost his touch in describing and portraying his characters in memorable ways and one of my favourite descriptions from the book has to be this one:
'Detective Sergeant Scoresby, though only one man, had the additional disadvantage of taking up the room of two, with bushy, beetling black eyebrows that were almost enough for three.'
Despite having a number of suspects Hull manages to make them all feel individual and distinct, which he shows through their attitude towards the murder.
The weakest part of the book unfortunately is the final third. The killer is too apparent and the solution, as well as the ending falls somewhat limp. The decision to conclude the book mid-conversation also felt a little jarring.
However there is still much to enjoy in this book and is a delightful quick read.

"And Death Came Too" is a mystery originally published in 1939. The characters were interesting, but this was mainly a puzzle mystery with a focus on sorting out the clues. There are basically eight suspects to the murder, and each had either a motive or the means. The trick is to discover who had access to both the weapon and the man and a motive worthy of murder. The detective worked slowly, but he carefully collected information and sorted out what it meant. People withheld information or messed with the evidence, making the detective's job more difficult. The reader has more information than the detective, so it's possible to guess whodunit a little before the detective. There was no sex. There were only a few uses of bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this twisty mystery.

Good story with lots of red herrings and rather complicated in the telling. It is a typical book of the times by Richard Hull.
Anyone who likes book from the golden era of crime should find this book entertaining.

Hugely enjoyable Golden Age mystery from the pen of the very talented Richard Hull. Credible characterisation, red herrings, witty retorts, clever and intelligent plotting - a classic mystery - whodunnit, why and how? A joy to read from start to finish. Vintage crime aficionados will not be disappointed.

"And Death Came Too" represents something a bit less out-of-the-ordinary from Richard Hull, most of whose mystery stories were more along the lines of 'biter-bit' comedies in which mildly unpleasant schemers get in over their heads. In this book, we simply have a murdered man and the question of who killed him.

The four young people who first arrive at the house of the dead man are much less prominent than a summary would lead you to believe, although they appear more towards the end of the book. The most important characters are the local police, who struggle to get through the investigation without having to make a humiliating appeal to Scotland Yard just after establishing their own investigative branch. The police are also the most likeable characters. I think it's actually rather typical of Hull's style — his characters are rarely flat or one-note, but it's extremely uncommon for him to particularly approve of any of them, so his books often seem a little archly superior to everybody in them. The flawed but on-the-job investigators of crime, therefore, tend to come off best.

The solution of the crime is plausible, and the investigation largely makes sense, although Hull undercuts himself by having the murderer actually show up, unnamed, and have a long conversation with the second victim shortly before killing her. At that point, there's really only one man in the book who the murderer can be, so the suspense is a little undercut. On the whole, however, I found the book enjoyable.

I think Richard Hull was a genius and I'm happy that Agora Books is publishing is books again.
This one was great, full of humour and with an unpredictable plot.
I look forward to reading the next book book by this author.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Agora Books and Netgalley for this ARC

This was a fun book that took a little time to get started—the reader and many of the characters are thrust almost immediately into the murder scene and it it’s lite difficult to figure out what is going on. Much of the book is written with tongue firmly in cheek. The ending is a little predictable

A great cosy mystery set in the late 1930's.A book in which it is like a puzzle where you need to solve the mystery from the clues you have. 8 suspects all with motive, means and opportunity now its just about whodunnit! I did guess who the murderer was and it felt that might be easy to do but I still enjoyed finding out whether I was right or not!

I do like the cover of this book. It seems to convey a pretty accurate impression about what we may find inside the book and it definitely indicates the tone of all the people and the investigation (there is a dead body, so there has to be an investigation)

I preface the brief summarizing of the tale with the fact that this is not for people who need a plot to sustain them, now moving on to that summary.The new owner of Y Bryn is dead. There were a few people around a dining table waiting for his arrival late at the night.They are there at his behest.

We have a rich pair of siblings, a fiance, a possible future fiancée, an older schoolmaster,a mystery woman and a very cocky policeman. This is a motley crew, some with stronger ties to the man than others and we are given an insight into their thoughts or at least we are allowed to think so. Then the revelation is made. The skeleton, (reasonably) untrained police staff of the village has to now take up a murder investigation. Things move painstakingly slowly but the description of the process and the subtly hilarious interactions between the lot made me feel very clever when I spotted them.The culprit is apprehended in the most normal of ways, and there is not much of a fight to get them to reveal all. This last part being the reason that you do not read this book for the resolution of the case but the process of getting there. Richard Hull's books remind me of the joy I felt at a time when I still read slowly and read only the few books a local library could provide me with. These being older English books, I am very familiar with this form of narration. Although not meant for everyone in this fast paced literary lifestyle, I highly recommend taking a detour down a simpler more intricately paved lane to visit with the people in the Richard Hull's world.

Gerald Lansley, his fiancée Patricia, her brother Martin and Patricia’s friend Barbara have an invite to Y Bryn, the home of one Arthur Yeldham. With nothing better to do, they arrive to find two other guests, Mr Salter and a nameless woman and no host. As things become more awkward, the local constable arrives and then… you’ve guess it, Yeldham’s body is discovered.
As tensions rise between the foursome as they come under suspicion and motives begin to reveal themselves, will the various investigating police officers be able to pin down the killer?
The Murder Of My Aunt is not a conventional mystery. Nor is Murder Isn’t Easy. Nor is Keep It Quiet. And it’s not without good reason that those are the three best books by Hull that I’ve read. With The Ghost It Was, Hull seemed to be channelling John Dickson Carr, and it was a difficult marriage of styles. Now in this, the seventh book, he seems to have decided to attempt a conventional whodunit.
There’s another difference with those three aforementioned titles. Long periods of the narrative are from a single point of view and Hull gets the chance to build up character. Character is definitely his strength, and with a small cast he can do very well. With a larger cast and a more frequent change of point of view, it has the effect of never really settling the narrative down.
Let’s be clear, this is a perfectly fine mystery. The killer becomes a bit obvious as the finale approaches, but there’s a nice central idea in the execution of the crime. The character work is good, but as I said, it would have benefited by fewer points of view.
It’s really good that another long lost author is getting the exposure that he deserves, and while this isn’t his best work – let’s face it, Murder Isn’t Easy is one of the finest mystery novels I’ve ever read – there’s still plenty of interest here.