Miles Burton (1884–1964)

Strangers are not welcome in the East Anglian village of High Eldersham, nor do they ever seem to prosper there. For a time it seems that Samuel Whitehead, the retired police sergeant who has taken over the lease of the 'Rose and Crown', is an exception---until he is found dead with a knife wound in his back... Arriving on the scene, Detective-Inspector Robert Young of the CID is soon aware of a strange atmosphere in the village. A slightly shamefaced Constable Viney recounts to him various show more odd occurrences involving newcomers to High Eldersham - the persistent ill-health of one, the contamination of another's dairy production - all of which Young takes with a large grain of salt. A local man with a grudge against Whitehead seems a likely suspect, but investigation reveals Ned Portch guilty of nothing worse than unauthorised pig-killing; an activity that alibis him for the time of the murder. Though his efforts seem to clear Portch, Young's attention is caught by an odd detail: the presence in Portch's house of a crude wax doll with a long pin driven through it. Feeling that he is getting out of his depth, Young sends for a friend of his, an ex-Naval Intelligence officer called Desmond Merrion, whose wide experience has been helpful in the past. Without revealing his own suspicions, Young arranges for Merrion to have a few minutes alone in Portch's living-room, from which Merrion emerges having drawn the same conclusion - and, furthermore, able to report that the label on the pin driven through the doll reads "Samuel Whitehead"...

Having established himself as a successful writer of mysteries with his Dr Lancelot Priestley series, published under the name "John Rhode", in 1930 the prolific author Cecil Street adopted another pseudonym, "Miles Burton", to embark upon a second series of mysteries focused upon the intelligent and urbane amateur detective Desmond Merrion. The Secret Of High Eldersham is an auspicious debut, mixing together clever detective work and action scenes, with an atmosphere of the supernatural thrown over the whole - and a lightly sketched-in love story, to boot.

Though holding hard to the thought that it was certainly no unearthly presence that drove a knife into Samuel Whitehead, Young accepts that hidden forces are at work in High Eldersham; and while he pursues conventional paths of inquiry, he gives Merrion the task of conducting a more esoteric one. Merrion's research into the history of witchcraft convinces him - in spite of PC Viney's sudden, inexplicable illness - not that the people of High Eldersham are actually using dark powers to chase away strangers and revenge themselves on their enemies, but that someone in authority has revived "the old ways" to gain power over the villagers and to create a smokescreen for various criminal enterprises. A problem for Merrion is that the obvious suspect is Sir William Owerton, the local magistrate, who has a reputation for arcane scholarship, and to whose daughter, Mavis, Merrion finds himself strongly attracted. For the girl's sake, Merrion keeps his suspicions about Sir William from Young.

After his manservant and helper, Newport, observes a midnight ceremony in the local graveyard, Merrion determines to be an eyewitness of the next gathering of the coven; knowing full well that, even if the villagers' dark practices do not constitute a danger in themselves, as he firmly believes, he is nevertheless dealing with people willing to kill to keep their secrets. Further investigation suggests that the meeting will be held upon a wood-ringed promontory of land jutting into the river that winds around High Eldersham. Approaching silently by water, Merrion manages to conceal himself in some bushes behind the stone altar around which the coven gathers, from where to his horror he witnesses not only the initiation of a new member, but the baptising of a wax doll with the name "Mavis Owerton"... show less

This is the fourth of John Rhode's Dr. Priestley detective novels. This is the first one that I have read. It certainly had a different rhythm than I expected. Dr. Priestley did not appear until Part 2, which was the second half of the novel. So far, he is an unremarkable "consulting detective." Rhode seems to hint more toward Priestley's eccentricities than show them. In hindsight, I was expecting a character along the lines of Dr. Gideon Fell.

I solved the mystery very early, but enjoyed show more reading the "how"--as far-fetched as it was. My plan is to start at the first novel and see how Rhode sets up Dr. Priestley. My hope is that overtime there will be more character development among the primary and secondary characters. show less

Warning: This review may contain spoilers.

High Eldersham is somewhat reminiscent of Sanford from Hot Fuzz -- a village that looks idyllic but harbours unsavoury secrets. The idea of a witchcraft cult is ridiculous, but Burton carries off this story with aplomb. His hero, Desmond Merrion, strikes the right balance of clever amateur and recognizer of police authority, and the story is well paced and kept me turning the pages, even as I predicted certain elements of the plot. For a first in show more series, it works very well indeed, and I'm looking forward to more of them. show less

It’s a locked-room mystery on the rails: Sir Wilfred Saxonby is found dead on the 5:00 p.m. from Cannon Street, shot presumably while the train was screeching through the Blackdown Tunnel. All signs initially point to suicide, but once Inspector Arnold and his friend Desmond Merrion start digging, the case becomes a lot more complex than either of them would have believed.

I found this a surprising amount of fun and finished it at a rapid pace. I liked the extensive discussions of the train show more infrastructure, and Merrion wasn’t too annoying with his leaps of logic—he was ready to admit when he was wrong and where his theory was missing some key points, rather than just assuming he was better than Inspector Arnold. (I had similar views of his character when reading the first book in the series, The Secret of High Eldersham.)

I would recommend this to enthusiasts of Golden Age mysteries who like their mysteries with trains in them. show less