Perhaps of all the obscure authors brought back into the public’s eye by the British Library in its Crime Classics series, I enjoy Edith Caroline Rivett (1894–1958) the most. Her 70 plus mysteries, originally published between 1931 and 1959, are immensely readable, if they can be found. The first editions of her books are usually the only copies and they command premium prices, especially the titles published under the Carol Carnac pseudonym.
I was delighted to find an E. C. R. Lorac in one of the Detective Book Club anthologies I acquired recently for a song. Part for a Poisoner was published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in 1948 and in the US by the Doubleday Crime Club in 1949 under the title Place for a Poisoner.
Elderly James Marchment has been quite ill and his only surviving relatives, two nephews and a brother, while sympathetic, are thinking about the tidy sum that they will receive under his will and the material difference it will make in their lives. The younger brother wants an advance on his share and he visits Marchment to make a case, only to learn that Marchment is engaged to marry the nurse who has been caring for him during his recent bout with pneumonia. The opportunistic nurse lost no time in ingratiating herself with the sick man and took full advantage of the situation. The long-time housekeeper is devastated, as is the family.
A conniving nurse occurs in a similar setup in an Anthony Gilbert mystery also published by Collins in 1948. I wonder if Lorac and Gilbert shared an editor or compared plot ideas.
The family does some checking and finds little is known of the would-be Mrs. Marchment. She was hired on the say-so of another nurse, who is now working in Australia. The nurse firmly keeps the family away so they can’t coax Marchment into changing his mind and all they can do is simmer quietly in frustration. Her efforts go for nought when Marchment dies unexpectedly before he can change his will.
The housemaid falls sick soon afterwards and the doctor arranges for her to go to hospital, since there was no one in the Marchment house to care for her. Tests showed she had ingested arsenic. When the local police heard there had been a death where the housemaid worked, they expanded their inquiries and discovered James Marchment had been poisoned.
Enter Inspector Robert Macdonald of Scotland Yard. He realized that the nurse had no apparent reason for harming her charge but she had to be questioned. His detectives could unearth no trace of her. She left after accusing the housekeeper and the elder nephew of killing Marchment to protect their inheritance and had not been seen since. And the part-time cleaning lady has also vanished. So Macdonald had a poisoning to solve as well as two disappearances.
While the two nephews, the brother, and the housekeeper had the most obvious motivation to prevent Marchment’s marriage, neither the nephews nor the brother had the opportunity to administer the poison and the housekeeper would scarcely have called the doctor when Marchment had his final attack if she had been the killer. Macdonald decided the answer rested with the missing nurse and the lost scrubwoman and he made them the focus of his investigation.
I was stunned by the ending, which was completely unexpected but just as logical because most of it had been obvious all along if I had understood how to put the pieces together. Quite possibly the best Lorac I have read even if it is not set in her beloved countryside. Highly recommended. A great candidate for the British Library reprint series.