Reading in Reykjavík

Year of publication: 1942 Series and no.: Detective Inspector Mallett #4 Genre: Mystery Type of mystery: Threats, murder Type of investigator: Police Setting & time: England, 1939-1940 A slightly drunk High Court judge hits a man with his car and thus starts a series of events that end in murder. As a mystery this story should satisfy any reader who enjoys legal mysteries. It is full of twists and red herrings and it's a challenge to keep up with the detective. The character descriptions and development are skilful and the interactions between the characters are complex enough to satisfy anyone’s demands for realism. There is a subtle, slightly mocking tone running through the whole narrative, so that one is constantly on the alert for a punch-line to crop up, but it never does. The writing is polished and knowing that Hare was personally acquainted with the legal environment the story depicts, having been a barrister and worked as a judge's marshal on the circuit cou...

Year of publication: 1985 Genre: Mystery Type of mystery: Murder Type of investigator: Amateur (a law historian) Setting & time: London, England and Corfu, Greece; contemporary Story: Professor Hilary Tamar tells the story of how she (or is it he? – it is not clear from the text) became involved in solving a murder connected to a legal case being handled by her/his barrister friends and ex-students. The heirs to a considerable fortune wanted to change an entail arrangement so that the main heiress wouldn’t have to pay inheritance tax. The case was successful but when one of the heirs in the tail (i.e. she will only inherit if the main heiress dies) falls off a balcony and dies, the barrister representing her thinks it may be murder, but neither Hilary nor the police can see how it could have been done. Then two of Hilary’s young friends go to Corfu for a holiday and are invited to stay with the family, which includes the heiress and three others who are after her in the tail ...