The Wind Blows Death

When The Wind Blows is an overlooked gem, a jewel of a mystery, one that is continuously suspenseful, and yet literate and intelligent. Cyril Hare himself is not well known today, but fortunately in recent years many of his mysteries have been reissued by Dover, Harper-Perennial, and most recently by House of Stratus. Cyril Hare is a pseudonym of a distinguished judge, Alfred Alexander Gordon Clark. His earliest mysteries date from the late 1930s; others from the late 1940s and 1950s. One of Cyril Hare's most popular characters, the lawyer Francis Pettigrew, has surprised his friends by marrying (he was, after all, a middle aged bachelor) and then subsequently retiring from his legal practice. His wife, Eleanor, was passionate about music and was a violinist in the Markshire Orchestral Society, a well-respected, but largely amateur affair. Francis was pressed into service, initially to assist with tax issues, and then as the honorary treasurer of the orchestral society. Shortly after the national anthem, the first concert of the year is interrupted by the murder of the visiting solo violinist, the rather famous Lucy Carless. Seemingly, the entire orchestra had access to the murder site. Against his will, Francis Pettigrew is pulled into the investigation. In the hands of Cyril Hare the orchestra setting is more than window dressing. Critical clues emerge from details of the planned performances. The need for a last minute replacement for a clarinetist appears significant, but it could be a red herring. The ingenious solution involves not only some knowledge of music, but also a subtle point of law (thankfully, Pettigrew was available), and an allusion to Charles Dickens. When the Wind Blows is also published in the US under the title The Wind Blows Death.

The Wind Blows Death is an overlooked gem, a jewel of a mystery, one that is continuously suspenseful, and yet literate and intelligent. Cyril Hare himself is not well known today, but fortunately in recent years many of his mysteries have been reissued by Dover, Harper-Perennial, and most recently by House of Stratus. Cyril Hare is a pseudonym of a distinguished judge, Alfred Alexander Gordon Clark. His earliest mysteries date from the late 1930s; others folowed in the late 1940s and 1950s. One of Cyril Hare's most popular characters, the lawyer Francis Pettigrew, has surprised his friends by marrying (he was, after all, a middle aged bachelor) and then subsequently retiring from his legal practice. His wife, Eleanor, was passionate about music and was a violinist in the Markshire Orchestral Society, a well-respected, but largely amateur affair. Francis was pressed into service, initially to assist with tax issues, and then as the honorary treasurer of the orchestral society. Unexpectedly, shortly after the national anthem, the first concert of the year was interrupted by the murder of the visiting solo violinist, the rather famous Lucy Carless. Seemingly, the entire orchestra had access to the murder site. Against his will, Francis Pettigrew is pulled into the investigation. In the hands of Cyril Hare the orchestra setting is more than window dressing. Critical clues emerge from details of the planned performances. The need for a last minute replacement for a clarinetist appears significant, but it could be a red herring. The ingenious solution ultimately requires some musical knowledge, a subtle point of law (thankfully, Pettigrew was available), and an allusion to Charles Dickens. The Wind Blows Death is also published under the title When the Wind Blows.

This is a wonderfully light and entertaining mystery. Some musical knowledge is an advantage but the Dickens clue is given away in the text, if you can spot it. I didn't guess the outcome but that didn't stop the book from being enjoyable.