Add a Pinch of Cyanide

 Add a Pinch of Cyanide (1973) by Emma Page (Honoria O'Mahony Tirbutt)

Godfrey and Pauline Barratt have turned the family home into a guest house--a summer retreat for vacationers with a beach nearby and a quiet place in the country to relax on holiday. And odd assortment of people--including Pauline's sister and brother-in-law come to stay and by the end of the week Stephen Lockwood will dead--from a cyanide-laced sandwich. Was the deadly lunch intended for Lockwood--or did the killer miss his mark? It seems that that sandwich may have been meant for his wife. Who could have had it in for either of the Lockwoods? As it happens, a fair amount of people. It's actually kind of odd how many of the guests have ties to Lockwood in one way or another.

~what a dreary lot of characters and isn't it grand that we get to see the thoughts and motivations of each one and how much they misunderstand one another? It's like a murder mystery soap opera. Pauline Barratt doesn't realize how attractive she is. Her husband Godfrey doesn't seem to care--but he's really distracted by the impending bankruptcy of his business. Her brother-in-law Stephen Lockwood is fooling around with his secretary after having wooed her sister Marion away from Godfrey. Marion was the beauty of the family--but her looks have gone to seed a bit. Henry Whitall, the lawyer who looks after Aunt Elinor (who has money to will away to deserving nieces and/or companions), grew up with them all and secretly loved Marion. Whittall has an inferiority complex and resents that Barratt and company look down on him (or so he thinks). And so on.

Vastly different character study from my previous read by Page (Every Second Thursday) and not nearly as interesting. Things do pick up once the murder happens and Inspector Kenwood comes on the scene. The investigation is pretty good. What ultimately saves this book is the final twist in the plot--the wrap-up is everything. ★★ and 1/2

First line: A sunny July morning with a salty stir of breeze among the tall green spears of montbretia in the narrow border under the kitchen window.

Last line: His last emotion on earth must have been that massive appalled surprise.

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Deaths = 2 (one poisoned; one fell from ladder)