Nowadays Joseph Smith Fletcher seems to have become neglected in this country, but he was popular in his time, both here and in the US, indeed he is still read over the Atlantic. The US President, Woodrow Wilson was a fan of Fletcher's detective fiction, as were so many others. Although Fletcher was a quite prolific writer, writing history books as well as fiction it was his detective fiction that he was most known and loved for, arguably he was one of the pioneers of what we now call the 'Golden Age' in crime fiction.
This novel takes place in London. Scotsman, Andrew Lauriston is hard up for cash and finds that he has to visit the local pawnshop to raise some more funds, until money that he is owed arrives in the post. Hoping to see the attractive Zilla on his visit, he instead comes across her grandfather - dead. Finding himself the prime suspect Lauriston doesn't know what to do, but with the help of Zilla, and her cousin Melchior 'Melky' Rubinstein he finds that he has friends who will help him, especially as an old friend of his is coming down from Scotland as well. With one detective also believing that Lauriston is innocent he sets out to prove his innocence, whilst a whole host of friends and acquaintances, along with the police try to piece together what happened, and why there doesn't seem to be any indication of a theft.
With just two possible clues there is little initially to gain any other clues and information from, but as the friends start looking around more evidence comes to light. This is a great tale which you can immerse yourself in and will appeal to anyone who likes the old style crime/ mystery novels.
