“Murder in the Maze” by J.J.Connington

J.J.Connington (Alfred Walter Stewart) wrote, as I read in Wikipedia, 17 detective novels, but only one of them ever came my way. I bought it from another lover of the English language, here, in Saratov, ages ago – and have no idea how many other owners the book had before it fell into my hands, but it looks very old and its paper cover is falling apart.

Murders in detective stories have happened everywhere: in houses, in the open, in trains, you name it. But the Maze – now that’s not something you’ll often see in such stories – and yet it seems a perfect place for a murder.

“The Maze at Whistlefield was a relic of earlier days when such things were fashionable; but it had been kept in good repair, and Roger Shandon’s gardeners spent a considerable amount of labour in clipping its topiary hedges into the semblance of green walls.”

We soon find out that few people outside the family know the pathways of the Maze, and any newcomer is bound to get lost in it and try in vain for hours to find their way out of the trap. The family, their secretary and the gardeners, however, know it very well by heart and can find their way to either of the two centres from any of the outer paths without the slightest hesitation.

And then Roger Shandon – the owner of the estate – and his twin brother Neville, a successful and formidable barrister, are both found murdered in two centres of the Maze. Sir Clinton Driffield, the Chief Constable, undertakes to find out who, how and why. His old friend Mr Wendover, the owner of the neighbouring estate, plays the role of Dr Watson – and does it splendidly.

They succeed, of course, though not before planting a nice collection of red herrings all through the book – and the solution to the mystery is as unpredictable as it should be. What’s a bit unorthodox is the way they treat the murderer once it’s known who it is. According to Sir Clinton, it was done to save the good name of the innocent members of the murderer’s family, but I dread to think what will happen if the police accept his method of getting rid of criminals as the norm.

My favourite part of the book is the description of the silly contest of “who will find the center of the Maze first” that brought two guests of the house – Vera Forrest and Howard Torrance – to the Maze at the time of the murder thus making them the first people to hear the shots and then – much later, as they knew nothing about the Maze – to discover the bodies. Though they were lucky enough to escape the wrath of the murderer, they had a very hard time running through the intricate corridors of the Maze for their life, separated from each other and the rest of the world. The author has done a great job writing this episode up. My other favourite part is the explanation, of course – I love explanations.

This books is one of those I re-read regularly – and that’s a compliment. I’d be happy to read the rest of the novels written by the same author – assuming I can find them. The choice of books in English available to me in Saratov is rather restricted.