Author: E.C.R. Lorac
Published: November 2024 by British Library Publishing
Category: Crime, Fiction, Mystery, Historical
Superintendent Macdonald, CID, studied his fellow-passengers on the Vienna plane simply because he couldn’t help it, because he hadn’t conditioned himself to being on holiday. The distinguished industrialist he recognised: the stout man he put down (quite mistakenly) as a traveller in whisky. The fair girl was going to a job (he was right there) and the aggressive young man in the camel coat might be something bookish. Macdonald turned away from his fellow-passengers deliberately; they weren’t his business, he was on holiday – or so he thought.
Although E.C.R. Lorac and Macdonald are favourites of mine, I didn’t feel this was one of the better stories. It wasn’t as engaging as I’d hoped, although from the start the reader knows this isn’t just going to be a holiday for Macdonald. The delightful Viennese setting however is described vividly and in detail so there’s a good sense of place.
Macdonald was on his way to visit with a friend in Vienna and the story starts during the aeroplane journey as he casually scrutinised the other passengers while making guesses as to their reasons for travelling, and chats to one or two during a stopover – a young lady en route to a job (he guessed correctly) and someone he had recognised.
As the aircraft changed course, heading a point east of south, it seemed to pivot on a wing-tip, smoothly and effortlessly, like an albatross whose glancing wings plane delicately to win advantage from an air current.
Far below—so very far below that visibility had a ghost quality–the crazy patchwork of English fields faded out, to be replaced by a shot-silk effect, vaguely bordered by a drift of golden-brown.
Macdonald’s holiday began peacefully enough, spending time with his friends and seeing the sights Vienna has to offer. Then, out on a walk one day, he and a family member find the young woman he met on the flight over, hurt and unconscious in the nearby woods. Macdonald becomes involved when the woman’s employer, a retired diplomat, manages to get the Viennese police to accept Macdonald’s help with the case. The plot is quite slow initially, somewhat convoluted and confusing in parts, but gains momentum and a little more more clarity with Macdonald’s involvement.
Even though the story didn’t quite live up to previous ones plot wise, the writing is as descriptive and evocative as ever and Macdonald is just as likeable. A feat in itself as I believe this is the forty second book in the series, first published in 1956.
This book was provided by The British Library for review purposes.
Edith Caroline Rivett (who wrote under the pseudonyms E.C.R. Lorac, Carol Carnac, Carol Rivett, and Mary le Bourne) was a British crime writer. She was born in Hendon, Middlesex (now London). She attended the South Hampstead High School, and the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London.
She was a member of the Detection Club. She was a very prolific writer, having written forty-eight mysteries under her first pen name, and twenty-three under her second. She was an important author of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.
