Forgotten Book - Death in Shallow Water

Miles Burton's Death in Shallow Water (1948), another Desmond Merrion mystery, contains a number of enjoyable ingredients, even if Merrion only plays a significant part in the closing pages (when he wraps up the case in a trice, naturally). Like many of the books written by John Rhode under that name or as Burton, the murderer's m.o. is cunningly conceived. In this case, no fewer than four people are murdered in shallow water, so the story more than lives up to the promise of its title. One wonders, though, why such a clever villain failed to think up different ways of killing people so as to divert suspicion.

In the first chapter, a rather mysterious chap who introduces himself as John Morston visits Winderport and makes enquires about the former boat business owner Sir William Watkyn and his former colleague Captain Barnham,. Morston evidently knew them years ago. He is an affable chap, but we have the feeling that his enquiries disguise a hidden agenda. He is directed to the lonely village of Windersham, where he is thinking of renting a cottage.

The scene then shifts to the Watkyn household, a week later. Sir William is rich and elderly and Lady Watkyn is younger and rather unpleasant; she treats her niece Hester like a servant. Barnham and his two adult children live nearby, but Barnham is not on the best terms with Sir William. The other major characters are a local vet called O'Brien and an elderly former seaman called Soames.

The small community is rocked by a series of deaths by drowning, so many that Inspector Arnold of Scotland Yard is called in. But he can't find any evidence of murder, even though it seems clear that money is a potential motive for some or all of the people connected with the victims. There is plenty to enjoy in this mystery, but its weakness is that Burton/Rhode, as so often, prized ingenuity of murder method over ingenuity of storytelling. So the identity of the culprit is screamingly obvious. Despite that, however, I enjoyed reading the story.