The White Cottage Mystery

This story was originally run as a newspaper serial during the late 1920s and was not published as a book until the 70s, when a family member edited out the re-hashing of all the previous weeks' redundant action and re-submitted the manuscript as a regular mystery novel. At only 130+ pages, it's really more of a novella but, it's still great hammock-reading. A young bachelor driving his sporty convertible through an English town gives an attractive young gal a lift to her nearby home. He drops her off at The White Cottage and, more quickly than he can put up his top to avoid getting drenched by the rain, a shot rings out from the cottage. Along with a nearby constable, the young man, rushes to investigate and finds a man lying dead of a shotgun blast to the chest. It just so happens that the young man is the son of a renowned Scotland Yard inspector who is, of course, immediately called in on the case. There are plenty of suspects in both The White Cottage as well as in the curmudgeony victim's incongruous mansion next door. The many clues point in one direction and then another. Since the story first ran as a serial, there is plenty of action in this one, sort of a literary cliffhanger. Margery Allingham is much more widely known for her "Campion" series so you might wish to read one of those entries first, "The Crime at Black Dudley," for instance, (the first of the series); however, just about any fan of British cosy murders will enjoy this one.