Murder Must Appetize

A monograph of Golden Age detective fiction from H.R.F. Keating, doyen of classic detective writers.

Murder Must Appetize is an affectionate return to the halcyon days of the detective story when Hercule Poirot and Lord Peter Wimsey were young and a touch of arsenic was still the ultimate deterrent. Apart from old friends like Dorothy L. Sayers and Agatha Christie, we meet the less well remembered pioneers of detective fiction, including E.C.R. Lorac (alias for Edith Caroline Rivett) and her bookworm hero Inspector Macdonald; E.R. Punshon and his water swilling Chief Constable: not to mention Beatrice Lestrange Bradley, Gladys Mitchell''s ''cacklingly reptilian psychiatric adviser to the Home Office'' and many others.

H.R.F. Keating''s unashamed nostalgia is blended with the critical eye of a master of the detective fiction craft. He is uniquely equipped to act as guide and philosopher on this enthralling tour of Britain''s rich heritage of fictional murder. No self-respecting escapist reader should fail to climb aboard.