I loved "Death of a Doll" by Hilda Lawrence, and this was equally readable. This one uses a lot of classic crime elements, such as a lonely country house, amateur elderly spinster detectives, and a dynamic and still mysterious private eye in the character of Mark East. The fact that it's set in the US in 1944 gives it a lot of really fascinating period detail, and the plot is very slowly revealed - dramatically by the detective to a room full of suspects at the end., which is always fun!

Sadly, Hilda Lawrence (1906 – 1976) only wrote three novels featuring her series detective, Mark East, and his two mature lady assistants, Miss Beulah Pond and Miss Bessy Petty. Blood Upon the Snow, first published in 1944, introduces them.

Mark has been hired as a secretary by Mr Stoneman, who claims he needs help to write his latest book on archaeology whilst wintering with friends in Crestwood, a hamlet with seven houses and one railway station. Nearby Bear River must be larger as it has a sheriff and shops. Although Mark is a private detective, Stoneman claims he thought Mark’s agency was a secretarial one and that he was hiring a secretary. Mark is unconvinced because Stoneman is obviously nervous; probably frightened; and seems to want a bodyguard but won’t admit anything’s wrong. However, Mark agrees to stay on and perform the role – that’s when the bodies start to pile up.

I really enjoyed the book. The elderly spinsters are integral to the story and provide humorous moments, often following other moments involving alcohol. Although Crestwood is a small closed community, the author cheats by bringing in extra characters from Bear River when required to further the plot. There are two children in the story: Ivy, a two-year old toddler , and Anne, an eight-year old. Anne’s demeanour is that of a sixteen year-old – one instance where I think the author gets the characterisation just plain wrong.

Lawrence has been criticised for trying to write an Agatha Christie or a John Dickson Carr novel and failing to deliver either. I think that’s unfair. Just enjoy this book by Hilda Lawrence.

Having read Death of a Doll last year, my first novel by American crime writer Hilda Lawrence, I have been looking forward to more of her books being reissued so I would have the opportunity to read another one. Death of a Doll was the third of only three novels Lawrence wrote featuring the detective Mark East, so I was delighted to find that the first in the series, Blood Upon the Snow – originally published in 1944 – has now been made available again too.

The novel opens with Mark East’s arrival in the small town of Crestwood on a dark, snowy evening, having been hired by the elderly historian Joseph Stoneman who is staying with friends, the Moreys, in a remote country house in the mountains. After making his way up to the house to meet his new employer, Mark is surprised to find that Stoneman believes he is a private secretary, not a private detective. However, the old man’s shaking hands and uneasy manner tell Mark that Stoneman knows exactly who he is and what he does. Intrigued, Mark agrees to stay on in the role of secretary for a while, hoping that eventually Stoneman will tell him what is going on and why he has secretly summoned a detective.

As Mark gets to know the other people living and working in the house, he becomes even more convinced that something is not right. What – or who – are the servants so afraid of? What is wrong with the pale and nervous Laura Morey? And was Stoneman’s fall on the cellar stairs a few days before Mark’s arrival really an accident? Then a woman dies under suspicious circumstances and suddenly Mark’s skills as a detective are required after all.

I found this book quite different from Death of a Doll, but equally enjoyable. While Death of a Doll is set almost entirely within the walls of Hope House, a women’s refuge in New York, Blood Upon the Snow has a very different setting – one that I loved from the opening descriptions of a remote ‘one-lane town’, ‘lying at the foot of Big Bear Mountain and surrounded by a dark forest’.

The cold, snowy winter weather provides atmosphere and the portrayal of a small community where everyone knows everyone else’s business increases the sense of suspense and danger as the people of Crestwood become aware that the killer must be someone they all know. I didn’t guess the solution and, to be honest, I wasn’t completely convinced by it; it certainly wasn’t something the reader could be expected to work out from the clues we are given. Mark East tends to keep his thoughts to himself too and doesn’t give us a lot of hints as to how he is progressing with solving the mystery – although now and then he does confide in Beulah Pond and Bessy Petty, two spinsters he meets in the town shortly after his arrival in Crestwood.

I remembered Beulah and Bessy appearing halfway through Death of a Doll and being a bit confused as to who they were and how they knew Mark, so it was good to see the beginnings of that relationship and to have my questions answered! The two women are fans of crime fiction and Beulah in particular likes to do some amateur detective work, which adds a bit of light-heartedness to the story even if it doesn’t do much to move the actual plot forward.

Now that I’ve read the first book in this series and the last, I will be looking out for the middle one, A Time To Die. What a shame Hilda Lawrence only wrote three of them.

Something Sinister At The Manor.....
The first book in the Mark East mystery series. Mark East, private investigator, is spending some time at the country manor house of Crestwood. Snowed in following a storm the house suddenly takes on a feeling of dread and despair. When deaths begin to occur Mark knows that he must act fast. Entertaining with a somewhat complex plot, a cast of colourful characters, including amateur sleuth pair Miss Bessy and Miss Beulah, and with a fitting sinister air throughout the tale. A very worthy reissue from Agora Books and part of their ‘Uncrowned Queens Of Crime’ series.