The Middle Temple Murder

by J. S. Fletcher

Other authorsNigel Moss (Introduction)
Hardcover, 2019

Publication

Collins Crime Club (2019), 288 p.

Original publication date

1919

Description

Classic Literature. Fiction. Mystery. HTML: A late-night stroll turns up a shocking discovery when a pedestrian stumbles across a dead body in what many presumed to be a virtually crime-free neighborhood. The close-night Middle Temple community is thrown into disarray�??and an unlikely duo set out to decipher the single, cryptic clue found near the body and crack the case.

User reviews

LibraryThing member antiquary
To me, this is interesting for its London legal setting --an area where I used to do research (when the Public Record Office was still on Chancery Lane) and like a precursor of other legal mysteries such as MIchael Gilbert's Smalbone Deceased or the works of Cyril Hare.
LibraryThing member Eyejaybee
A very enjoyable novel which I chose purely by chance from Amazon's range of free Kindle editions.
It is set in and around Middle Temple in 1912 and starts with the discovery of a recently-killed body in Middle Temple Lane. By chance journalist Frank Spargo, the novel's main protagonist, happens
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upon the scene almost immediately after the body is discovered, and accompanies Detective Sergeant Rathbury throughout his early investigations. There is no indication as to the idetity of the corpse, whose pockets are completely empty apart from a scrap of paper bearing the names and chambers address of an aspiring young barrister. An intriguing investigations ensues, embroiling a prominent M.P., two renowned philatelists and the leading burghers of a small West Country market town.
As might be expected of a novel written in 1919 there is very little emphasis on graphic violence, and everything is conducted with an almost eerie courtesy.
Similarly, although Spargo writes for a sensationalist newspaper, The Watchman, he is trusted without qualification by the police and allowed access to the mortuary and to every stage of the investigative process.
Very eloquently written and thoroughly engrossing - I am surprised that the name of Joseph Smith Fletcher has fallen into such obscurity.
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LibraryThing member Vesper1931
1912 and an investigation is started into the body found in Middle Temple, deemed to be a Mr John Marbury, recently arrived from Australia. D.S. Rathbury investigates with the help of Frank Spargo, sub-editor of the newspaper The Watchman.
An enjoyable and interesting mystery
LibraryThing member hailelib
This was a Dover edition from 1980 of an unabridged book first published about 1918. As a mystery it holds up pretty well and reminded me of some of the ones from the '20s and '30s. Frank Spargo, who works for a London newspaper, is nearby when a body is discovered in Middle Temple Lane and decides
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to follow the story and do some investigating of his own. By sharing information with the policeman assigned to the case the two of them do solve a very puzzling case. I thought it was pretty good and the solution was fair if a bit unexpected.
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Language

Original language

English

ISBN

9780008283049

Physical description

288 p.; 5 x 1.3 inches

Pages

288

Rating

½ (27 ratings; 3.5)
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