Tour de Force by Christianna Brand
As an early member of the Mystery Writers Association, Christianna Brand is a well-known author of crime fiction who created the Inspector Cockrill series of books. Although Cockrill lacks the personality or quirks of Poirot or Miss Marple, I have to admit that he makes for a very enjoyable detective to read about. The actual story device and occasionally the place in her books are more intriguing than the characters themselves.
Tour de Force by Christianna Brand
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Murder in the Mediterranean shakes Inspector Cockrill’s boring holiday. Inspector Cockrill despises his other passengers from the moment he boards the aircraft. He had planned to escape the dullards of England by travelling to Italy, but they are your average tour group bores. He instantly cancels the trip and hides his face in a mystery book so that no one tries to be his friend. But not long after they arrive in the rocky isle of San Juan el Pirata, he must attend to a murder.
A woman’s body is discovered carefully spread out on her bed, her fingers curled around the dagger that killed her. Cockrill is named as the prime suspect by the corrupt local police department, which is eager to catch the murderer. The detective needs to figure out who would murder a stranger while on vacation in order to get away from the Italian hangman.
He is present, he has the means and the motivation, thus part of the reason he interrupts his vacation and begins the investigation is that he needs to disprove his involvement. Once that happens, it naturally turns into fascinating research all on its own. He didn’t want to go in the first place, but the fact that he is now a suspect in a murder investigation after initially refusing to go further heightens the drama. You’re expected to sympathize with him. Nothing has exactly gone as expected.
