Douglas G. Browne (1884-1963) was a capable crime writer who also enjoyed success with non-fiction - books about true crime cases and a biography of Bernard Spilsbury. Towards the end of his career, he was elected to membership of the Detection Club, but today many of his books are hard to find. That's true of Rustling End, which was first published in 1948. I count myself as fortunate to have a copy that Browne inscribed to someone who inspired his creation of Stephanie, the young woman in the story.
The first chapter is curious. A young solicitor, John Fordyce, drops into an Essex pub and witnesses a strange confrontation between the landlord, a man called Detmold, and a customer. The men stare at each other intently. Something is amiss between them - yet they don't seem to know each other. Subsequently, Fordyce learns that Detmold has been arrested on a murder charge, and he's ultimately convicted on compelling evidence.
Fordyce then attends a dinner party hosted by Harvey Tuke and his wife Yvette. Among the guests is Stephanie, over from New Zealand. She wants to get in touch with her aunt, but the lady has married unexpectedly and rather mysteriously, and Stephanie receives a letter from her husband, a man called Prowse, who lives at Rustling End in Essex, basically fobbing her off.
Fordyce shares Stephanie's curiosity and their investigations soon uncover some worrying developments - but not the aunt. This is a novel inspired by the Moat Farm case, but it has some distinctive plot features which mean that although the basic situation is straightforward, there's more to the whole business than meets the eye. I enjoyed this novel, an interesting piece of work by an under-estimated author.
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