''Fell Murder'' is a 1944

detective novel Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as specu ...

E. C. R. Lorac Edith Caroline Rivett (6 May 1894 – 2 July 1958) was a British Murder mystery, crime writer, who wrote under the pseudonyms E. C. R. Lorac, Carol Carnac and Mary Le Bourne during the golden age of detective fiction. Life and career Childhood ...

, the

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

of the British writer Edith Caroline Rivett. It was the twenty fourth novel of her long-running series featuring Chief Inspector MacDonald of

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...

.Reilly p. 260 Originally published by

Collins Crime Club Collins Crime Club was an imprint of British book publishers William Collins, Sons and ran from 6 May 1930 to April 1994. Throughout its 64 years the club issued a total of 2,012in "The Hooded Gunman -- An Illustrated History of Collins Crime ...

, it was reissued in 2019 by the

British Library Publishing The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

as part of a group of crime novels from the

Golden Age of Detective Fiction The Golden Age of Detective Fiction was an era of classic murder mystery novels of similar patterns and styles, predominantly in the 1920s and 1930s. While the Golden Age proper is usually taken to refer to works from that period, this type of f ...

. The novel takes place in

rural In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry are typically desc ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After Robert Garth, the patriarch of the Garth family, is found dead,

sends MacDonald north to investigate.

References

Bibliography

* Nichols, Victoria & Thompson, Susan. ''Silk Stalkings: More Women Write of Murder''. Scarecrow Press, 1998. * Reilly, John M. ''Twentieth Century Crime & Mystery Writers''. Springer, 2015. 1944 British novels British mystery novels Novels by E. C. R. Lorac Novels set in Lancashire British detective novels Collins Crime Club books {{1940s-novel-stub