Death Walks in Eastrepps

A series of murders disrupts the tourist season in the East Anglian town of Eastrepps. The local authorities look into the first murder, but Scotland Yard’s Inspector Wilkins is called on to lead the investigation after a second murder. The murders continue despite police patrols. What evil is stalking the town?

Even though the author of this Golden Age mystery doesn’t play fair with readers, but withholds clues and other vital information, I had no trouble identifying the killer midway through the book. I wouldn’t have minded so much if the investigation had proceeded in a satisfactory way. However, the killer initially succeeded in framing someone else for the murders, who was subsequently hanged. The true killer was eventually show more identified not by Scotland Yard, but by a witness for the defense who knew that her lover had been wrongly convicted. show less

A serial killer is on the loose, terrorizing a small resort town in East Anglia, and the police are having a great deal of difficulty catching the killer; in the meantime, the man that perpetrated a notorious swindle nearly a generation before (which ruined many in that town), is conducting a clandestine affair in that town, and you know it won't end well for him. The book has some interesting characters, and some very good set-pieces, like the trial sequence and a fascinating interlude on the floor of the House of Commons. The negative is that the solution does "clank" a bit, and even with the detailed explanation at the end (no suicide, here: the killer is hung), it doesn't completely satisfy. Still, on balance, an interesting read. show more (Worthy of note: a war relic is of some importance in the book, and one of the authors, Saunders, fought on the Western Front in World War I and likely was familiar with the weapon.) show less

Corresponding to the regular clandestine visits of a man to a married woman, a serial killer appears to target the victims who lost money in a venture. The whole town becomes fearful with regular patrols of the street. On the night of one such venture, an up-and-coming Scotland Yard sergeant makes an arrest. The evidence, while circumstantial, appears solid to those reviewing the rest. While the man admits to other crimes, he denies the murders. I spotted the solution pretty early in the novel, but the author did a pretty good job at making readers who came to that conclusion second-guess themselves. This classic golden age mystery provides readers with an interesting case.

A wonder of a mystery with an agreeably high body count and moving courtroom scene. Has something to appeal to all mystery readers.

Eastrepps is a small English seaside town which is the scene of a series of brutal and totally unexplained murders. The victim of the first is a Miss Hewitt,who is killed on her way to church,where she takes flowers on a regular basis. This murder is the beginning of a number of similar slayings,which become known as 'The Eastrepps Evil'. After the local police make a wrongful arrest,Inspector Wilkins of Scotland Yard is sent for.
This was once described as one of the ten best detective novels of all time,and I would certainly concur with that. it is difficult to understand why is is now virtually unknown.

Mystery, A series of murders in the small town of Eastrepps, According to Vincent Starrett (author of The private life of Sherlock Holmes) Death Walks in Eastrepps is one of the ten greatest detective novels of all times, Beeding pseudonym of Hilary St. George Saunders & John Leslie Palmer.
First edition, London, Hodder & Stoughton, 1931, Hardcover; First USA edition, New York, Mystery League, 1931, Hardcover, 12mo, pp. 284