Murder On Holiday by Barbara Malim

This Golden Age mystery features what you want on a holiday: a seaside resort in Sussex, a group of vacationers with secrets to hide, and a cold-blooded murder.

Simon Chard was surprised to see head waiter Robson still there since he visited the Three Mermaids years ago. With a lifetime of service, of course Robson remembers him. Awaiting after-dinner guests in the lounge, Chard finds the seated figure of renowned scientist Dr. James Lucas - with a dagger in his back. New manageress Helen Ashley directs her guests to the broad terrace as local Dr. Willis examines, and the authorities are alerted. Helen's new fiancé Richard Pennington steps in and asks Chard to help with inquiries, as Chard's company Ask Toby does general information and amateur detection. The guests include Helen's friends Alix and Boostie Brocklebank, French hat designer Madame de Solange and her manager Major Reed, Lucas' ward Eve Courtney, and the American couple Culver Michigan and his harried wife. Detective Inspector Gale of Scotland Yard arrives to restore confidence, Chard's old friend from previous cases. Over the next week, they investigate, interview, and reconstruct the night. The dagger belongs to the Americans, Robson remembers a crossing with Lucas where a grifter tried to cheat a debutante, and Chard installs his shrewd spinster operative Miranda Piggott in the hotel to spy incognito. She is the first to report Eve being pushed/falling out of an upper window. As Chard would say, it's a right mare's nest.

Before the week is finished there will be blackmail, grift, forgery, a body lowered over the terrace, and murder. Chard is on the scene and smart as a cartload of monkeys; he will find the scoundrel.

I would love to read other mysteries from Malim, especially starring Chard, if they can be found. Death By Misadventure is listed here. I could find nothing about Barbara Malim online save one mention of her other novels, and could not find a cover image for this book. I made my own cover here, for this review only, from a cover by Profile Books.

Do you have any information, or is her work being lost to history?

My hardcover copy published by John Murrary is courtesy of the D. & S. MacDonald library.

1937 / Hardcover / 346 pages