Post by Calenture on Mar 4, 2009 23:38:48 GMT
Post Mortem by Guy Cullingford
First published 1953; Penguin 1956
Gilbert Worth, the narrator of this unusual mystery is investigating a murder---his own. He's a ghost. An author, living with his family in a strange turreted house, he had already survived two attempts on his life---so circumstancial that they could be dismissed as mischief or accidents caused by simple carelessness.
As with most detective stories there is no shortage of suspects: Gilbert has been conducting a barely disguised extramarital affair with a secretary whose strong point is not her typing. He has plans for the futures of his two sons and daughter, which are not consistent with their own. An old bachelor friend dotes on Worth's wife. Released prematurely from life, Worth drifts incorporeally
through the story, eavesdropping on conversations. And like most eavesdroppers, he hears little to please him.
A highly readable book, and one which, with its setting solely within the bounds of the old house, as Worth is unable to stray beyond it, it has a curiously timeless quality---it might have been set at almost any time during the last century. Like Gilbert Worth, the author prefers to remain a ghost of a kind; the book was written pseudonymously.
I found this information on the author here
'Guy Cullingford' was the pseudonym of Constance Lindsay Dowdy. She was born in Dovercourt, Essex. In 1928 she started her writing career with poems, stories and articles for several periodicals. In 1930 she married and her writing disappeared into the background. In 1948 her first crime novel appeared, Murder with Relish.
Four years later, with her children grown up, she spent more time on writing. The director of her publishing firm decided to publish her novels under the male pseudonym of 'Guy Cullingford'. Her real identity became known after she joined the 'Detection Club', 'Crime Writers Association' and 'Writers Guild of Great Britain'.
Post Mortem was her third novel.