The story is set in an apparently “perfect” English village, in which wealthy people keep immaculate houses, live blameless, impeccably tasteful lives and have diligent, contented servants. The anonymous letters begin to be received, threatening to expose “scandalous” secrets from people’s pasts, and the life of the village, and the peace of mind of its inhabitants is slowly undermined as suspicion and fear grow and death follows. Eventually, Ignatius Brown, a wealthy city-dweller, amateur sleuth and friend of the Rector, is invited to the village to try to solve the problem.
The start was pretty stodgy, with a clumsy device of a visiting writer having everybody pointed out and explained to her, then making up a “joky” list of scandals for each of the inhabitants...and never being seen again. I also found Ethel Lina White’s laying on the “perfection” with a trowel got a bit much; I know she was trying to paint and then undermine a picture of middle-class self-satisafction, but it was overdone for me and I found it hard to identify with. I also found her personification of Fear rather a crude, unconvincing device.
However, once things began to happen and Ignacius’s investigations began, I enjoyed the book very much. White wrote very well and there are some very shrewd barbs and insights into an “ideal” place where anything remotely unpleasant, unsightly or innovative are seen as intolerable – or deliberately not seen at all. There are some witty scenes and one or two rather touching ones, and some thoughtful characterisation, all of which I enjoyed very much. The denouement and explanation may seem a little full of very dated psychological ideas to the modern reader, but I was happy to take that in my stride.
So, after an unpromising start, this turned out to be a well-written mystery and an interesting view of the period. 3.5 stars rounded up, and recommended.
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