Checkmate to Murder

Checkmate to Murder
First edition
AuthorE.C.R. Lorac
Cover artistJ.Z. Atkinson
LanguageEnglish
SeriesChief Inspector MacDonald
GenreDetective
PublisherCollins Crime Club
Arcadia House (US)
Publication date
1944
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media typePrint
Preceded byFell Murder 
Followed byMurder by Matchlight 

Checkmate to Murder is a 1944 detective novel by E.C.R. Lorac, the pen name of the British writer Edith Caroline Rivett.[1] It was the twenty fifth in her long-running series featuring Chief Inspector MacDonald of Scotland Yard.[2] Originally published by Collins Crime Club, it was reissued in 2020 by the British Library Publishing as part of a group of crime novels from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.

Synopsis

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On a foggy night during the London Blitz, a special constable arrests a young Canadian soldier standing over the dead body of his elderly great uncle in a rundown house in Hampstead. The only other possible suspects are the inhabitants of the art studio next door, a celebrated painter, his sister and their various guests. However as MacDonald and his assistant Inspector Reeves begin to investigate a number of other possible suspects and motives emerge, including the special constable himself.

References

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  1. ^ Nichols & Thompson p.476
  2. ^ Reilly p.260

Bibliography

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  • Nichols, Victoria & Thompson, Susan. Silk Stalkings: More Women Write of Murder. Scarecrow Press, 1998.
  • Reilly, John M. Twentieth Century Crime & Mystery Writers. Springer, 2015.