Crooked House (1949)
Blurb:
My review:
In this stock account of the poisoning of a Greek tycoon by a close
family member, there is far more conversation than detection, far more
discovery of possible motive than ratiocination. Indeed, the
identity of the psychologically abnormal murderer dawns on the
narrator-hero only after the murderer's diary falls into his
hands. Not comparable with the best Christies.
Note similarities with Conan Doyle's "The
Sussex Vampire," Margery Allingham's The White Cottage Mystery, and
Ellery Queen's appalling Tragedy of Y.