Murder at Liberty Hall

De: Alan Clutton-Brock

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

"You can’t expect a murderer to be able to have everything his own way “

Scientist James Hardwicke is invited to progressive co-educational Scrope House School to investigate a case of apparent pyromania among the student body. Although inclined to ignore this odd invitation, he is persuaded to accept by his friend Caroline, who wants a job at the school. It is May 1939, German refugees are streaming into England to escape the horrors of the Hitler regime, and the headmaster is worried about the ramifications of a refugee child being the culprit. Soon enough, James’ rather desultory (and humorous) investigation encompasses murder too, when sherry is poisoned at a faculty party. James must decide if there is a link between the fires and the murder, and whether the victim – the wife of the English teacher – was the intended victim or an accidental one. A British vintage crime classic from 1941, back in print for the first time.

REVIEWS:

A touch of Dorothy Sayers in the dry, English wit, the leisurely pace, the literary fancying-up, and all very clever. Arson and murder break out in an ultra-progressive co-educational school in England, and James Hardwick, persuaded by his girl of the moment, goes down their to straighten matters up. Political and romantic affiliations among the faculty as motivating factors -- and Hardwick, a diffident detective, conjures up a neat solution. (Kirkus Reviews, 1941)

As with people, so with books, there are some towards whom (or which) ones fells instinctively friendly. In the case of "Murder at Liberty Hall", by Alan Clutton-Brock, this is due perhaps to the engaging air of youth there is about the tale. Not, assuredly, youth in the sense of immaturity, but in that of gaiety, of vivacity of spirit, of freshness of outlook. The scene is one of those schools where the pupils are encouraged to develop themselves according to their own desires. There is an outbreak of fire-raising and then a murder occurs. The solutions of the two mysteries, the fires and the murder, are ingenious, and in the case of the outbreak of arson the explanation is amusing and psychologically probable. Mr Clutton-Brock allows his fancy to tread so lightly down so many bypaths that the reader's attention also is apt to wander at times. The account of the cricket match, for instance, is highly amusing but irrelevant, and one may be permitted to doubt whether cricket is a game at which pure intellect would triumph so easily and so quickly as Mr. Clutton-Brock seems to think. (E.R. Punshon, The Manchester Guardian, April 8, 1941)

MURDER AT LIBERTY HALL is yet another detective-story for the connoisseur. "Liberty Hall" is an advanced co-educational institution where sporadic outbreaks of arson have been causing anxiety, the victim being the wife of a member of the staff who is poisoned during a sherry-party. Mr Clutton-Brock has a sense of humour and a pretty wit. There is a wildy funny account of a cricket match between "Liberty Hall" and a public school, and the dialogue is very sprightly. (Western Mail, 1941)

'He is certainly a find, he writes well and has a sense of humour.' (The Sunday Times, 1941)