Welcome Death

 Welcome Death (1954) by Glyn Daniel

Poison pen letters plagued the village of Llanddewi in Wales during the war and then tapered off a bit. But now they have started up again. Miss Mary Cherrington invites her nephew, Sir Richard Cherrington to come and put a stop to it. Cherrington has often shown an interest in little detective puzzles. She doesn't need him to figure out who is doing it--she's sure she knows the culprit--but she wants him to find a way to get the culprit to stop before real harm is done. He arrives on the evening the village plans to celebrate its returned war heroes--the last two, Bryn Davies and David Morris, having just arrived home from the East. But before the evening is over the investigation will become more serious...from poison pen to murder. 

Evan Morgan was a philanderer who had caused grief to more than one woman in the village. It's rumored that he had seduced Bryn Davie's sister Daphne (whom David Morris had planned to marry) and that her death was the result of a botched abortion. On the night of the Welcome party, he had planned to announce his engagement to Janet Anderson--the girl Bryn had loved before setting off for war. But these events don't just affect Bryn and David and there are plenty of people with reason to hate Evan Morgan. With a new marriage,  Evan's long-time mistress Ellen Williams will be displaced as the consistent woman in his life...and they say there's no fury like a woman scorned. Add to that, the fact that Evan planned to change his will and practically cut out Ellen and his two sons, Rees (by his first wife) and Mervyn (by Ellen) in favor of the new wife and any future progeny. The Andersons aren't thrilled to learn that their daughter plans to marry a man old enough to be her father and the Davies are still upset about Daphne's death.

It was Mr./Ms. X in the library with the knife.

So, when Evan is found stabbed to death at his desk, no one is really surprised and most of the village really wouldn't mind if the killer is never caught. But the police mind and so does Sir Richard. Killing mustn't go unpunished...no matter how much the murderee seems to have deserved it. But there are several questions that will need answered before they can find the culprit. How did the murderer overpower two ex-commandos (Bryn & David)--leaving one tied up in the Manor and knocking one out cold? Do the anonymous letters have anything to do with the murder? Did anyone know that Evan planned to sign his new will the very next morning? And...was there a single villager who wasn't in or near the Manor that night? And why didn't any of them see anything of interest?

Daniel does an excellent job of portraying British village life where everyone knows everyone and their business. Supposedly, the circumstances of Daphne's death was hushed up and "no one" knows what happened. So, of course, this means that everyone knows. Given the tensions that are running under the surface, there are plenty of suspects for the murder and the investigators have too many to choose from. Just when it looks like they know who did it, they discover that another of their suspects has been telling lies and was on the spot near the time of death. 

While this is an entertaining mystery and it has something I always like--an academic amateur sleuth, to be honest, the plot is just a bit too complicated. I'm still not certain that I've got the timings down and I don't quite see how all those people could have been running about and not run into each other. I'm also not sold on Sir Richard as an amateur sleuth. He's not all that engaging and the reason for his being in the village is flimsy at best--especially when his aunt tells him straight up that she already knows who is behind the letters and just wants him to put a stop to it. Not sure how she thinks he's going to do that. And, finally, I would have been much more satisfied with the solution as given in one of the confessions (yes, there's more than one) than the one we are ultimately left with especially given the subtle hints inserted in the text that would make it perfectly plausible (highlight apparent empty space, if you're curious): we're told on a few occasions that people with nothing left to fear may take the risk of murder if they know they'll die before being hanged. There would have been a certain rightness to Daphne's mother exacting a revenge for her daughter's death. 

Overall, a decent mystery and I'm definitely curious to give Daniel's other mystery, The Cambridge Murders, a try. ★★★ and 1/4

First line: "Order, order. I call the meeting to order."

Last line: And that night for the first time his dreams were not disturbed by memories of Llanddewi.

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Deaths = 6 (one natural; one blood poisoning; one accident; one stabbed; one fell from height; one overdose)