Christopher Bush (1) (1885–1973)

Well, I certainly didn’t see *that* coming, so a half-star added for a wicked little twist in the ending.
This is the first of the Ludovic Travers mysteries. I came across them in Lyzard’s thread, always a good source for old and obscure mystery series.
The plot’s fairly complex, involving wealthy men going bust, and the consequences arising from that. Several convoluted clues to hidden money, almost in the form of physical acrostics, muddy the waters further. Travers and his cohort (at show more least in this book) Wrentham are engaging and intelligent without having all that esoteric knowledge that drives a reader mad. I think the author played fair, giving thereader access to all the clues and holding nothing back except that ending twist.
Two drawbacks: although there’s some nicely done subtle humor and the already mentioned good plotting, this one is obviously a first book. And I found the relations between our heroes and the police mostly ludicrous. That didn’t spoil the book, but it did hurt the enjoyment a bit.
I have the next in the series, and I’m hoping the author improves as he goes along. show less

An excellent mystery, this book anticipates the CSI genre by a couple of generations. The forensics are critical, as is the solid timeline methodology of Wharton (the General) of Scotland Yard, and Ludo Travers, the successful economist/financier turned amateur sleuth. The characters are great, the plot is rich and finely woven, resulting in a captivating story and a growing affection for the principals.

This is the only Ludovic Travers story I have read, and it was quite enjoyable in an academic puzzle sort of way. None of the characters had any real depth, although Ludovic and the police chief inspector were likeable enough. I found it hard to distinguish between Samuels and Drew, and the female characters existed only in their capacity as the wives of the male suspects.

One of the murdered men was condemned all round for not being a "gentleman", whereas the butler was "a damn good chap", show more in a peculiarly British way. Entertaining enough, but not memorable. show less

Rather low-key murder mystery, revolving around the question of who murdered an actress and one of her servants? The solution is moderately logical, though I can't shake the feeling of a bit of hide-the-ball. Mercifully free of histrionics, though, except counting a very unlikely West End production.