Two-Way Murder

By: E.C.R. Lorac

Narrated by: Kris Dyer

It is a dark and misty night, and bachelors Nicholas and Ian are driving to the ball at Fordings, a beautiful concert hall in the countryside. There waits the charming Dilys Maine, and a party buzzing with rumours of one Rosemary Reeve who disappeared on the eve of this event the previous year.

With thoughts of this mysterious case ringing in their ears, Dilys and Nicholas strike a stranger on the drive back home, launching a new investigation and unwittingly reviving the search for what really became of Rosemary Reeve. All the hallmarks of the Golden Age mystery are here in this previously unpublished novel by E.C.R. Lorac, boasting the author's characteristically detailed sense of setting and gripping police work.

©2021 The Estate of Edith Caroline Rivett, introduction Martin Edwards (P)2021 Soundings

Two Way Murder

What a great story. One of her best! Efforts. I’m glad the story was found and published.

Worth a listen

A little slow at first, but it was good once the story picked up pace. This the 2nd E.C.R. Lorac book I've listened to and I liked both. On to search for another Lorac book.

Details

The pace and good characterization. I really like this author and the readers have been very good.

A Real Treasure

This is said to be the her last book, unfortunately not published. So glad it has finally reached us. I enjoy the classic series, and appreciate E. C. R. Lorac, wish I had known about her years ago but am taking delight in listening to her now. The editors notes describe the story so no point in rewriting it here also the prologue covers the same material.

I liked the voice of the reader. The characters were appealing and interesting.

Not much that I didn’t enjoy. Maybe a tad Pollyanna-ish? Nice that there wasn’t any bad language.

some repetition but a good story

murder in the English countryside with a plot twist. newly published book written shortly before the author's death, could have done with more aggressive editing, but a good mystery. recommended

Very Dissappointing

Easy to understand why ECRL did not publish this book; reading it felt like listening to GoogleMaps, on steroids; too much attention to description of driving, roads and traffic, too little attention to plot - a clear case of "you can't see the wood for the trees" - avoid.

First and Worst

I've listened to 5 Lorac books so far and enjoyed all but this one. Apparently it was a very early work, edited and published posthumously, and the introduction admits it was incomplete. It's sophomoric and there are a couple of places in the recording that repeat very short segments. Recommend you put this one at the end of your Lorac list unless you are primarily interested in her development as a writer.

Interesting to note the strong opinion voiced by a character in Post After Post-Mortem: "It was mistaken sentiment to give to the world the experiments and trivial scraps which the living auhtor would have consigned to the wastepaper basket had he lived to do so. Literature should be judged on its merits alone and to believe it to be a pious duty to publish all the trifles that a great writer might leave behind him was a disservice to his memory."

I think I know why this was never published.

It's not very good. Certainly not up to her standard. So much was repetitive and too much time was spent trying to set the red herring up as the murderer. Points, however, for how the murder was done.