book cover of Postscript To Poison
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Postscript To Poison

(1938)
(The first book in the Chief Inspector Dan Pardoe series)
A novel by

 
 
“Do you think it is a secret that you are slowly poisoning Mrs. Lackland?”
When Dr. Tom Faithful receives the third anonymous letter, he knows it is time to call the police. His wealthy patient, Cornelia Lackland, is recovering steadily from a serious illness, diligently cared for by him, her family members and her household staff. But something is amiss in Minsterbridge. Mrs. Lackland rules her house with an iron fist, keeping granddaughters Jenny and Carol as virtual prisoners and bullying her attendant Emily Bullen. Scornful and dismissive of everyone, she is planning to make one final change to her will. But, before she can meet her solicitor, Cornelia Lackland is dead, the apparent victim of a poisoner. This is a town where everybody's business is known by everyone else. Chief Inspector Dan Pardoe of Scotland Yard and his colleague Sergeant Salt are called in to investigate an ever-growing list of suspects. Pardoe is a satisfying and likeable creation, described by Milward Kennedy, crime writer and Sunday Times reviewer, as having ‘humanity and common sense as impressive as his intelligence’.

Author Dorothy Bowers (1901-1948) was an advocate of the ‘fair play’ school of detective novels, and displayed great ingenuity in piecing together the necessary elements of a baffling mystery, with clues shared freely with the reader. When Inspector Pardoe indicates he knows who the murderer is, the reader knows virtually everything he does. Bower’s skill in obscuring her characters motives allows her to hide the identity of the murderer until exactly the right moment. However, what raises Bowers above contemporary fair play plodders is the perceptive description of her characters, no matter how small, and a keen eye for place unusual in a genre dominated by plot. For example: “Lights winked, went out, came on in some other room. Blinds shut out the deep blue night that pressed against the windows. A few bats flitted and chased each other like a company of dark, undefined thoughts, and from one of the shrubberies an owl quavered low crooning notes. A cat darted noiselessly from one side of the square to the other…”

The only writer selected for membership in to the prestigious Detection Club in 1948, Bowers wrote five crime thrillers before her early death from tuberculosis: Postscript to Poison (1938), Shadows Before (1929), A Deed Without a Name (1940), Fear for MIss Betony (1941) and The Bells at Old Bailey (1947).




Genre: Mystery

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