Death in Ambush

by Susan Gilruth

Genres: Crime, Mystery
Pages: 288
Series: British Library Crime Classics
Rating:

Synopsis:

In a tranquil Kentish village, Dr Sandys and his wife are preparing for Christmas with their guest, Liane ‘Lee’ Crauford. Festivities start badly when their party is spoiled by an enigmatic widow new to the village, and the atmosphere hits rock bottom when the pompous local nobleman and ceramic-collector Sir Henry Metcalfe unexpectedly dies. Sensing potential villains among Metcalfe’s circle, Lee teams up with Detective-Inspector Hugh Gordon to discover the killer playing merry hell with her holiday in this lost vintage mystery, republished for the first time since 1952.

Susan Gilruth is a new-to-me author not previously published in the British Library Crime Classics series, and Death in Ambush is their Christmas-themed entry for the year. It’s set at Christmas, and there’s some Christmas presents and such at the end, but it doesn’t feel that festive, really; it’s mostly a mystery that happens to be set at Christmas.

Overall, I didn’t fall in love with it, especially because I found it kind of obvious after a certain point, but it was fun enough. The introduction notes a rather weird aspect of it: a fair bit of flirting and romantic tension between the police detective and the POV character, who is married (and whose husband does not appear). Not an element I’ve seen a lot!

It was fun enough, but reminded me more of modern stuff like the Daisy Dalrymple books somehow. I’d read more of Gilruth’s books if they get reissued in this series, but probably not seek them out otherwise.

Rating: 3/5 (“liked it”)