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    Fire in the Thatch: A Devon Mystery
    Fire in the Thatch: A Devon Mystery
    Fire in the Thatch: A Devon Mystery
    Ebook271 pages4 hours

    Fire in the Thatch: A Devon Mystery

    By E.C.R. Lorac and Martin Edwards

    3.5/5

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    Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder

    "Readers will enjoy watching the conflicts that arise between the wary country folk and the cocktail-drinking Londoners invading their habitat. In sum, this is jolly good fun." —Publishers Weekly

    The Second World War is drawing to a close. Nicholas Vaughan, released from the army after an accident, takes refuge in Devon—renting a thatched cottage in the beautiful countryside at Mallory Fitzjohn. Vaughan sets to work farming the land, rearing geese and renovating the cottage. Hard work and rural peace seem to make this a happy bachelor life.

    On a nearby farm lives the bored, flirtatious June St Cyres, an exile from London while her husband is a Japanese POW. June's presence attracts fashionable visitors of dubious character, and threatens to spoil Vaughan's prized seclusion.

    When Little Thatch is destroyed in a blaze, all Vaughan's work goes up in smoke—and Inspector Macdonald is drafted in to uncover a motive for murder.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSourcebooks
    Release dateJun 5, 2018
    ISBN9781464209680

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    Reviews for Fire in the Thatch

    3.5/5

    34 ratings5 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.Set towards the end of the Second World War, Nicholas Vaughan is invalided out of the navy, rents a smallholding in Devon, and is found burnt to death in his thatched cottage. The coroner declares accidental death, but Nicholas' commanding officer is not so sure and Inspector MacDonald is dispatched from Scotland Yard to investigate.This was an interesting read with a good sense of place and time, although perhaps too much is made of the "sharp Londoners" and the "slower countryfolk". Petrol rationing as a side effect of being at war had an important effect on the methods of the murderer. The storyline moved along briskly, although there was a certain amount of re-hashing of points, especially as characters tended to unveil large chunks of information by recounting them in lengthy conversations with one another. The female characters fell squarely into the categories of wife, sister, and nurse. I felt that the motivation for the murders was well done; the method stretched credulity somewhat - the murderer was fortunate SPOILERhe didn't forget where he had left one of the cars!
    • 5/5
      Thanks to the Poison Pen Press and Netgalley for providing a copy of the book for my review. The views expressed below are my own.Scotland Yard Inspector Macdonald investigates a suspicious fire that claimed the life of Nicholas Vaughan, a Navy veteran. Vaughan apparently died when a fire destroyed his thatched cottage in Devon, England in 1944. Initially the police and the coroner view it as an accidental death. Then Vaughan's former naval commander exerts his influence to have Scotland Yard look into the fire and Inspector Macdonald is sent to Devon. Vaughan was a newcomer to the area, but in a short time he gained the respect of the local people through his hard work and devotion to fixing up the property he leased. He had only one detractor, Tommy Gressingham, a Londoner who had wanted to lease the property that Vaughan did. Macdonald thinks the local police did a good job in their investigation, although it remains a mystery what Vaughan did the evening before the fire started. Gressingham raises concerns about whether the body in the house is actually Vaughan and suggests that he had something to hide. Macdonald is hard pressed to prove that the body is actually Vaughan, but there is little to suggest who else it might be.The investigation proceeds methodically with Macdonald interviewing the people of the village and the London visitors in Gessingham's retinue in order to put together a timeline of the night of the fire. He also looks into Vaughan's background and some mysterious telephone calls in which messages are left for Vaughan at a neighbouring farm. Vaughan's long lost sister appears on the scene with a story that Vaughan was due to inherit their uncle's farm in the north of England where they grew up. Tension grows as Gressingham falls out with one of his retinue over his suspected use of his car on the night of the fire. Things come to a head and there is a dramatic conclusion with the reveal of the killer.It's a suspenseful police procedural whodunit story set in rural England at the end of World War 2. Many of the characters are "country folk" who prefer their way of life to that of the Londoners, like Gressingham. They are also suspicious and resentful of the people who are billeted in the country for safety during the war. (The author favours the country people). The Londoners are shown as being flighty and preoccupied with frivolous things. Interestingly Macdonald is accepted by the country people, even though he has lived in London most of his working life. His saving grace seems to be that he spent time in the country during his youth. Of course, his unstinting politeness and patience help him too.The story is well told and an enjoyable read. As with most of the British Library Crime Classics, there's an informative introduction written by Martin Edwards which provides background on the story as well as the author. Recommended.
    • 4/5
      The novel was sent to me by Poisoned Pen Press via NetGalley. Thank you.Lorac’s Fire in the Thatch is a mystery set toward the end of WWII in the beautiful county of Devon. The local major landowner Colonel St. Cyres has decided to rent out a rundown thatched cottage on his estate with the stipulation that the new tenant improve the property. There are plenty of interested parties, from a rather shiftless local farmer to affluent Londoners looking for a country retreat. St. Cyres settles on a wounded veteran from the north of England who was an experienced farmer back home. Nicholas Vaughan proves to be honorable, hard-working, and a thoroughly likeable person. So it comes as an shock when Vaughan is killed when the cottage is destroyed in a careless fire.But, wonders St. Cyres and many other locals, Vaughan was not a careless sort of person. They disagree with verdict of accidental death and soon Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Macdonald takes over the case. Macdonald, Lorac’s affable detective, soon uncovers evidence of murder. Who would want to murder such a fine young man?The strongest aspects of the mystery are the characters. They jump from the pages and the reader can sympathize with the residents whose families have farmed the land for centuries only to see their beloved countryside being changed by outsiders who see only recreational opportunities for wealthy Londoners. Lorac has done a good job of forecasting the inevitable conflicts between tradition and progress.The least satisfying aspect of the mystery for me was the crime itself. The murderer’s actions seem needlessly complicated to establish an alibi. And, Macdonald for all of his skill, failed to ask a simple question about a character’s name. Had he down so, the crime would have been solved half way through the novel.Three stars for the actual mystery and five stars for the poignant look at Devon at the end of WWII.
    • 4/5
      This clever mystery featuring Detective Inspector MacDonald sends him to a rural Devon community where Nicholas Vaughan, a very private man, burned in the home he leased. At first glance, it appears to be an accidental fire, but things don't add up in the death of the meticulous and well-liked man. A man who tried to lease or purchase the same property, known as "Little Thatch," questions the man's identity. MacDonald finds the missing pieces, leading to the murderer's motive and identity. This installment is one of the better reads in the British Library Crime Classics series. I received an electronic copy from the publisher through NetGalley with the expectation of an honest review.
    • 4/5
      Nicholas Vaughan on being injured takes refuge in Devon by leasing a property called Little Thatch. But in this quite corner of Devon death comes along bringing with it Detective Inspector MacDonald of Scotland Yard.
      An enjoyable police procedural story with enough interesting characters to keep the story flowing
      A NetGalley Book

    Book preview

    Fire in the Thatch - E.C.R. Lorac

    Copyright

    Originally published in 1946 by Collins

    Copyright © 2018 Estate of E.C.R. Lorac

    Introduction copyright © 2018 Martin Edwards

    Published by Poisoned Pen Press in association with the British Library

    First E-book Edition 2018

    ISBN: 9781464209680 ebook

    All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.

    The historical characters and events portrayed in this book are inventions of the author or used fictitiously.

    Poisoned Pen Press

    4014 N. Goldwater Boulevard, #201

    Scottsdale, Arizona 85251

    www.poisonedpenpress.com

    [email protected]

    Contents

    Fire in the Thatch

    Copyright

    Contents

    Introduction

    Chapter One

    Chapter Two

    Chapter Three

    Chapter Four

    Chapter Five

    Chapter Six

    Chapter Seven

    Chapter Eight

    Chapter Nine

    Chapter Ten

    Chapter Eleven

    Chapter Twelve

    Chapter Thirteen

    Chapter Fourteen

    Chapter Fifteen

    Chapter Sixteen

    Chapter Seventeen

    More from this Author

    Contact Us

    Introduction

    Fire in the Thatch is an enjoyable example of E.C.R. Lorac’s ability to impart a distinctive flavour to the traditional detective story. The setting is rural Devon, and Lorac’s fascination with country life, and with people who care about the land, is evident from first page to last.

    Colonel St Cyres, a sympathetically portrayed landowner, is about to grant a tenancy of Little Thatch, a rather neglected property on his estate. His quarrelsome daughter-in-law June, who is staying with him because her husband is being held prisoner by the Japanese in Burma, urges him to allow her friend Tommy Gressingham to take the property. But the Colonel’s daughter Anne fears that June’s motives are less than honourable, and the tenancy is ultimately granted to Nicholas Vaughan, a stranger who has turned up in the area after being invalided out of the Navy. Undaunted, Gressingham moves to a house in the neighbourhood, but unlike the reclusive Vaughan, he has no interest in cultivating the land. He is an entrepreneur whose ambition is to build a country club.

    The tension between the old way of life in rural England and the march of progress is sharpened by the timing of the events of the story, set as the Second World War is drawing to a close (although the book was not published until 1946). Lorac creates a vivid picture of an apprehensive society, including small social details that make the story especially interesting to a twenty-first century reader. People realise that change is in the air, but many of them fear the form that change will take.

    Gressingham, however, scents the opportunities: Farming’s done well during the war, but it’s not going to do so well in future…In five years’ time quite a number of land-owning gentry will be glad to realise a good figure for their property. His friend Howard Brendon, a lawyer turned businessman, is more sceptical: In five years’ time the sale of land will be controlled. What you refuse to realise is that this country is going to swing to the left, and the hell of a long way, too.

    We are also given an insight into the conflicting attitudes of country folk and Londoners. Some villagers resent being ordered to offer billets which would bring bombed-out townsfolk into farms and cottages. ‘We don’t want them here and we can’t do with them.’ But Anne St Cyres, at least, does not lack the imagination…to realise the distresses of those who are strangers. Reading this book, and thinking of debates current at the time of writing, about immigration and the plight of homeless refugees, one is reminded that, whilst the detail of social problems keeps changing, the fundamentals of human nature—both positive and negative—are enduring.

    Four chapters set the scene before we are fast-forwarded to a conversation between Commander Wilton and Chief Inspector Macdonald of Scotland Yard. Little Thatch has been gutted in a blaze, and a body has been found. It seems that the deceased is Nicholas Vaughan, and that he died as a result of an accident, but Wilton isn’t satisfied. Macdonald duly takes himself down to Devon, and soon becomes convinced that there is more to the tragedy than meets the eye.

    The likeable and diligent Macdonald appeared in all the books which Edith Caroline Rivett (1894–1958) published under the name E.C.R. Lorac. Macdonald made his debut in The Murder on the Burrows (1931) and took a final bow in the posthumously published Death of a Lady Killer (1959). The Lorac novels won many admirers, including the sometimes acerbic Dorothy L. Sayers. Writing in the Sunday Times in 1935, Sayers heaped praise upon The Organ Speaks: Mr. Lorac’s story is entirely original, highly ingenious and remarkable for atmospheric writing and convincing development of character.

    The next year, the renowned crime critic of the Observer, Torquemada, was equally enthusiastic: "I praised the last three of Mr. Lorac’s books each for a different quality, for pleasantness of style, for ingenuity, and for sound characterisation. Now I find all these qualities present in A Pall for a Painter. So it is safe to bet that this author will soon find himself an accepted member of that very small band which writes first-rate detective stories that are also literature." Sure enough, the following year Lorac was elected to membership of the elite Detection Club, together with the future Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis (who wrote crime fiction as Nicholas Blake), Newton Gayle (a pseudonym which concealed the combined identities of Muna Lee and Maurice Guinness), and Christopher Bush.

    After the Second World War, with the Golden Age of Murder in detective fiction effectively over, several of the genre’s most distinguished practitioners, including Sayers and Anthony Berkeley, who had founded the Detection Club, ceased to write detective novels. Lorac, however, continued to write industriously. Because she produced so much, some of her books, and perhaps especially those which appeared under the pen-name Carol Carnac, were relatively routine. But she was never less than a capable craftswoman, and at her best she constructed compelling mysteries. She kept writing to the very end—at her death, a final manuscript was left incomplete. One other novel written towards the end of her life, Two-Way Murder, has never been published, despite the fact that it is a sound and characteristically readable piece of work. Today, her books are ripe for rediscovery, and it is a pleasure to reintroduce this under-estimated author to a new generation of readers.

    Martin Edwards

    www.martinedwardsbooks.com

    Chapter One

    1

    Colonel St Cyres stepped out of the French window on to the terrace and drew in a deep breath of frosty air, conscious of the exhilaration of a glorious December morning. He always felt better out of doors. In the open air the worries and irritations of life seemed less immediate, and he felt that he lost a burden when he closed the window behind him.

    The prospect before him was one to give a sense of well-being to any healthy man, and St Cyres, still in his early sixties, was vigorous enough to enjoy the keen still air and the glory of winter sunshine. Beyond the low wall of the terrace the frost-rimed meadows gleamed and sparkled, sloping down to the river a couple of hundred yards below. On the farther bank the land rose again in a series of gentle ridges, meadow land, plough land, and finally wood land in the distance. Here and there a thatched roof seemed to be tucked into the comfortable folds of the rich Devon valley, and blue wood smoke coiled into the still cold air. Everything was agleam with hoar frost, scintillating in the level rays of a sun which threw shafts of intense light along the valley and made the swift-running river flash back the white beams.

    Down by the river some bullocks grazed in the lush grasses which never fail in a Devon pasture. Colonel St Cyres chuckled as a couple of the lusty young beasts horned one another around the pasture—Red Devons, the famous Ruby beef cattle, snorting and blowing in their youthful vigour.

    St Cyres thrust some letters into the pocket of his old tweed coat and hastened along the terrace towards the corner where a cluster of outbuildings stood against a larch coppice. In his other hand was a good crust of bread and he munched it appreciatively though with a shamefaced grin. He had done a bolt, he admitted it frankly; he had brought his breakfast to finish out of doors or in the wood-shed, and he knew just why he had done it.

    God knows why he married her, poor chap—but scent at breakfast is more than I can stomach, he said to himself.

    The poor chap of whom the Colonel was thinking was his son, Denis, now a prisoner of war in Japanese hands. Whether the Colonel’s epithet was due to Denis’s plight or to the wife he had married was uncertain, but Colonel St Cyres disliked his daughter-in-law as heartily as any well-bred man allowed himself to dislike a woman. The Colonel was a countryman. He loved the country and his own ancestral acres with an unquestioning tacit devotion. He liked country clothes and country ways, the smell of dung, the rich red Devon mud, the slow slurred speech of his humble country neighbours and the inconveniences of an ancient house set miles away from trains or bus routes.

    June St Cyres was a Londoner. She had been born in a flat in Mayfair, and a flat in Mayfair was her ideal of happiness. She liked fashionable clothes and shoes, French cooking, modern dance music, and what she called Society. She used elaborate make-up, vivid nail varnish, and Coty perfumes. When Denis had been reported as prisoner of war six months ago, Colonel St Cyres had gone up to London to see his daughter-in-law.

    Come down to us, my dear, he had said, and bring the little chap with you. It’ll be better for both of you, and we’ll look after you and save you any worries and troubles we can.

    Full of kindliness and sympathy, St Cyres persuaded June to give up her flat in town and to come with her small boy to live at Manor Thatch.

    June had acquiesced at first. She was lonely and frightened and in debt. June St Cyres was one of those young women who can never live within their incomes, but she was shrewd enough to know that she could live at the Manor without paying anything for her upkeep. Also, she could not get a nurse for small Michael in town, or any domestic help in the flat, and she was very tired of the damned chores as she expressed it. At Manor Thatch there were some old servants—and Anne could help with Michael. Anne was Denis’s sister, a sensible domesticated creature of thirty—though June always regarded her sister-in-law as a woman of fifty. Anne was a sober, quiet woman, who lived contentedly in the same tweed suit year after year.

    June came down to the Manor, bringing five-year-old Michael and a mountain of luggage. She had been there for six months, and it was difficult to say who disliked the arrangement most—June or her father-in-law. Chivalry and a sense of duty prevented Colonel St Cyres from suggesting any other arrangement. With June, it was sheer inertia which kept her at Manor Thatch, coupled to money difficulties. She wanted to go back to London, but the rents asked for any habitation which she called possible appalled her. Everything was expensive, and service was unobtainable. Two or three visits to town, staying at the Dorchester, had not assisted her laudable intentions of paying her debts. Bored, grumbling, and discontented, June St Cyres continued to stay at Manor Thatch. Irritated, hurt, but never complaining, her father-in-law tried to keep the peace and to put up with June’s untidiness and laziness, her habit of keeping the wireless on all day, and her total lack of consideration for anyone but herself.

    2

    It was Anne who uttered the warning which sent her father out of doors before he had had his second cup of coffee.

    June is coming down to breakfast. I believe she wants to talk to you about letting Little Thatch to those friends of hers.

    Colonel St Cyres choked back his immediate exclamation of Good God! and said hastily, Er…er…later in the day will do for that. I’ve got a letter from a friend of Robert Wilton’s…a naval chap, invalided out. Sounds all right…I shall be in the wood-shed if you want me, Anne…

    The wood-shed was the Colonel’s favourite refuge. He loved wood and he loved wood fires. At the moment he had two vast logs of ash—the split bole of an old tree—and he wanted to cut them up in his own particular way. Ash green or ash dry, meet for a queen to warm her fingers by, he murmured as he rolled the wood over to a convenient angle and considered the matter of driving a wedge in to split it. Leisurely in all his ways, he did not hurry. Having arranged his log and chosen his wedges, he lighted his pipe and took his letters out of his pocket. Anne’s sentence about letting Little Thatch made Colonel St Cyres anxious to consider the letter he had received that morning. Smoothing out the sheet, St Cyres read:

    Sir,—I am advised to write to you by Commander Wilton, who tells me that you have a small property to let—Little Thatch. I have recently been invalided out of the Navy on account of damaged eyesight, and I am seeking a small holding or house with an acre or more of good fertile land suitable for intensive cultivation. I aim at a market garden combined with an orchard and should be glad to keep a few head of stock if pasture is available. I am very fit and intend to work my own land, and I can housekeep for myself for the time being. If your property is what I am seeking, I should be willing to buy, or to take it on an assured tenancy of some years’ duration so that it would be worth while putting work and capital into cultivating the land. I have the opportunity of driving over to see Little Thatch to-morrow morning at 10.30. If I do not hear from you to the contrary by 10 a.m. I shall assume that I can be allowed to view the property. My telephone number is Culverton 79. Yours faithfully, Nicholas Vaughan.

    Sounds just the sort of chap I want there. It’s a fine fertile bit of land, and though it’s out of cultivation now, it’ll pay anyone to cultivate it, said St Cyres to himself. I only hope he likes it…

    He replaced the letter in his pocket and picked up his mallet, aiming skilfully at the wedge he had placed to split his great gnarled log. He was only half-way through the job when the door of the wood-shed opened and a breath of Chypre wafted across the pleasant smell of wood shavings and sawdust.

    3

    June St Cyres stood at the door of the wood-shed, clutching her fur coat round her and surveying her father-in-law with puzzled eyes. The Colonel gave a start.

    Eh, what’s that? he asked, as he turned to face the newcomer. His jaw fell when he saw June, but he contrived a kindly Good-morning, my dear. Deuced chilly morning for you to be out. Better get back to the fireside.

    I want to talk to you, Pops, said June, unaware of the fact that her form of address irritated St Cyres almost to frenzy. It’s about Little Thatch. I wrote and told Tommy Gressingham about it, and he wants to take it. It’d be a bit of luck for you, because Tommy’s got pots of money and he’d improve it no end.

    Well, well. If your friend wants to take the place he’d better write to me in the usual way, and I’ll deal with his application along with any others, replied St Cyres.

    That’s not good enough, retorted June. I won’t be put off like that.

    She had taken a cigarette out of her pocket and lighted it, throwing the match on the floor. St Cyres hastily stamped on the unextinguished match.

    Look here, my dear: I make a rule never to light matches or smoke cigarettes in the wood-shed. It’s too risky. There’s wood shavings and sawdust all over the place and if the shed catches the main thatch will catch too. It’s true I smoke my pipe, but…

    Oh, all right, she retorted, stubbing out her cigarette irritably. About Little Thatch. I want you to let Tommy and Meriel have it. They’re my friends, and it’ll make all the difference in the world to me if I have somebody to talk to down here—somebody who’s interested in the same things as I am. I wouldn’t ask you to let them the place if there was any chance of your being done over it, but there isn’t. They’re well off, and he’s a good business man. I do so want them to come. Promise? she begged, drawing nearer to St Cyres and rubbing her powdered face against his coat.

    Roderick St Cyres had little finesse in his nature; he prided himself on being straight and saying just what he meant, and he answered his daughter-in-law according to his nature.

    I’m sorry, my dear, but I can’t make any promises of that nature. As I’ve told you, if Mr. Gressingham applies for a tenancy, I’ll consider his application on its merits. I can’t promise anything further.

    But I don’t see what you mean, she argued. I’ve told you he’s wealthy, and he’s a good business man. Anyone will tell you I’m right—his banker or lawyer. You can phone up and ask them.

    That isn’t the only point, my dear. As a landlord I have a duty to the land. It’s true that Little Thatch has been shamefully neglected. Poor old Timothy Yeo and his wife just let it go for years, but they were old and they’d lived in that house for quarter of a century. I couldn’t turn them out. Now Yeo’s dead I want to put in a tenant who will live in the house and cultivate the land.

    I’ve told you Tommy will look after it. He’s got a lovely garden at his Surrey place.

    Then he doesn’t need another garden down here. I’m sorry, June, but I don’t want to let Little Thatch as a wealthy man’s plaything, to be used for week-ends and kept for a toy. Little Thatch is a good house and a valuable small holding, and I want a tenant who will live in it and cultivate the land and be a responsible neighbour to me and to the farmers.

    And what about me? she burst out. "You talk about what you want. You don’t think about anyone else. Can’t you see I’m bored and miserable to the verge of giving up? My husband’s a prisoner, and God knows if I shall ever see him again. I’m poor and I can’t live the life I’ve a right to expect—the life I was brought up to. I’m stuck down here in this ghastly place, miles from my own friends, with nothing to do and no one to care about me. I ask you for this one small thing, so that some of my own friends can be near me, and you talk a lot of hot air about cultivating—even though I’ve told you the Gressinghams will improve the place. You’re only refusing me out of obstinacy, because you hate me and hate all I stand for. It’s mean and beastly and cruel."

    Colonel St Cyres stood aghast. He was a reticent man and June’s outburst horrified him. Something inside him told that the right way of dealing with his daughter-in-law was to administer a stern rebuke and to tell her plainly that she was a self-indulgent lazy-bones, but he was too kind-hearted to follow such a course. He protested gently:

    Come, come, my dear. You are being unreasonable. I am indeed sorry to learn your opinion of this place. We wanted you to be happy here, and we have done our best to make you comfortable and to give you a real home—to make you feel you belonged—

    I don’t belong, and I never shall. You’re always criticising me and everything I want, and Anne looks down her nose at me. You don’t care that I’m miserable. You all hate me. I loathe being here, and I loathe your beastly country with its mud and smells and beasts.

    She was working herself up into an even fiercer temper and St Cyres felt alarmed, but his slow-working mind was beginning to resent June’s unfairness. His voice was sterner as he replied:

    While I am sorry that you are unhappy with us, it is only common sense to point out that you are under no compulsion to remain here, June. I suggested your coming in the hope that you would find our home a refuge where you and Michael would be welcome to make your home—but if you are miserable here—

    You don’t care how miserable I am, she broke in. You’re just content to live like cows or cabbages, without any ideas or any society or anything that makes life worth living, and when I tell you I’m wretched you just say clear out—as though I’ve got anywhere to go. I can’t bear it! I wish I were dead, and with that she flung out of the shed running furiously over the frosty ground—running clumsily, too, for her high-heeled slippers were not made for frosty tussocks or cobbled yards.

    Colonel St Cyres took out his handkerchief, mopped his forehead and blew his nose vigorously. God bless my soul was all he could find to say, and he was still saying it when Anne came into the wood-shed.

    4

    Anne St Cyres was very much like her father. She was tall and squarely built—too solid for elegance, but built for endurance.

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