The Belting Inheritance by Julian Symons

Written in 1965 with all the charm of a Golden Age mystery, this began with promise but turned from crime into a confusing romantic mystery.

Christopher Barrington came to live at the Belting Estate with his imperious great-aunt Lady Wainwright six years ago when he was orphaned at twelve. He was treated like a son and remains there with his jovial Uncle Miles and his uptight Uncle Stephan. Lady W. had two elder sons, Hugh and David, who died in the war. Our narrator Chris tells how Lady W. is now dying of cancer with weeks to live, when she receives a letter from Paris: David did not die, but was captured by the Germans and then sent to a Russian work camp. He is returning home.

The family is stunned, as the two uncles expected to inherit. David Wainwright arrives and recognizes everyone. He has changed, but it has been years of strife, and he answers all their pointed questions with cool conviction. Chris invites David's old girlfriend Betty and his Oxford chum Dr. Foster to find out if this man is an imposter. Ebullient Betty was once Uncle Miles' wife and had affairs with both Hugh and David. Both say David is not David (so where did he get his information?), yet Lady W. has already reviewed her will. When someone is found shot dead, Inspector Arbuthnot arrives to investigate. It's not his first time to Belting—he was there ten years ago when David was accused of killing a man. The family lied their way out, but the case is still open. The real David would know he should not return. When Chris investigates this at the local newspaper, he meets reporter Elaine, and the two become a team.

Suddenly, David vanishes. Chris and Elaine track him to Paris, where the last third of the book changes tone, turning into an escapade through the city's bohemian nightlife.

I love an imposter mystery, and this had alot going for it, but I felt it fall apart. The move to Paris uncovered the truth, but in a confusing pile of explanations inconsistent with the first half of the mystery. Even Chris describes this as "not your ordinary crime story. A romantic mystery perhaps." As a reader, I found it unsuccessful.

Prolific writer Julian Symons was named Grandmaster of the Mystery Writers of America in 1982, was awarded the Cartier Diamond Dagger in 1990, and he succeeded Agatha Christie as president of the British Detection Club.

1965 / Tradeback / 220 pages