Checkmate to Murder by E.C.R. Lorac
The author wrote it while the war was still in progress, and she had no idea what would happen or how it would turn out. It is not a wartime mystery that was written from the comfort of the 1960s looking back. That is something I find incredibly thought-provoking.
It is set during a blackout, as you mentioned. One evening, a group of friends congregate in the workshop of an artist. The artist has finally persuaded an actor friend to come and sit for a portrait, the artist’s sister is preparing dinner in the kitchen, and a few others are engaged in a game of chess. This is where the word “checkmate” in the title is taken from.
Checkmate to Murder by E.C.R. Lorac
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A governmental servant and a government scientist are playing chess while the effects of World War II are being felt all around them. At the other end of the room, a portrait artist is painting a colourful subject who is dressed in a Cardinal’s robes. The artist’s sister is entertaining the miser next door’s con artist in the kitchen.
It doesn’t take long for Scotland Yard’s Inspector Macdonald to arrive at the scene of the gruesome murder of the miser once his nephew learns of it, confronted with baffling alibis and with the young man’s future in his hands. In order to identify the murderer, Macdonald and his team of investigators must determine whether any of the studio party guests were somehow connected to the victim’s death or if another odious neighbour could be to blame.
Because they are all physically close to one another, they might all theoretically attest to the other, making this a classic murder mystery scenario. But when you begin to figure things out, concerns emerge, such as: Did the portrait painter actually witness the chess players? During the entire time, was his sister in the kitchen? Those sorts of things.
The studio is located in the backyard of this dilapidated home in North London. The entire street has been set aside for reconstruction, but one elderly guy has clung to his home and refuses to leave. With the exception of that one house, the entire street is therefore deserted. In a single room, an elderly man lives alone. Most of the time, he is sleeping. And this evening, he is fatally shot. Apart from this bunch outside in the garden studio, there doesn’t appear to be anyone else in the area. This is the setup.
