Depart This Life

 Depart This Life (1958) by E. X. Ferrars

Hilda Gazeley has lived with her brother Stephen and niece for the last six years. She came to help take care of Katherine after her sister-in-law died in a car accident. Now Katherine has grown up and is engaged to Colin Luckett--there's just one problem, her father and the Lucketts don't get along. But neither Hilda nor Katherine know exactly why. On the day that Katherine tells her father of her plans, he's murdered--struck over the head in his study. Hilda and Arthur Luckett were talking on a bench not far from the study windows. When they hear a crash and a cry, they immediately rush towards the house--no one came out the front. Stephen's friend Nelson Winguard was painting near the river and coming up the path at the back. He saw no one there either. If all the witnesses are telling the truth, then it seems impossible that Stephen should have been killed. And yet he was. 

And the question is...why? Stephen could be difficult at times, but bad enough for murder? Apparently so, as Inspector Crankshaw digs, he discovers the truth behind the feud between the Lucketts and Stephen. He learns the identity of the mysterious Mrs. Frearson and her sister; two women who have recently taken a cottage on the other side of the river and in whom Stephen had taken a sudden interest. He learns that Stephen liked to know secrets about others and liked the power and control it gave him. Whose secret was worth killing for?

Observations: Not really any characters that I could relate to or root for. Hilda is either the most unaware person on earth or is deliberately fooling herself about her brother. I have no idea why Ferrars made her our protagonist and point of view--she annoyed me from the moment she arrived on the page until the end of the book. Just when I thought she was finally seeing the light on her brother, she'd come out with another "Oh, but that was just Stephen's way. He didn't really mean it." Even when it was blatantly obvious how cruel he had been. 

When we found out what a slimy fellow Stephen was, I was all set to feel sympathetic to his murderer. After all, they were just trying to stop the pressure/blackmail. But then we find out that they weren't exactly the victim we thought they were and were quite willing to sacrifice others to protect him/herself. Committing that second murder and trying to set up an innocent person to take the blame made any possibility of sympathy go right out the window. 

Honestly, the big reveal here is the insight into the murderer and what they are willing to do after Stephen is dead. The identity was no great surprise. Ferrars is usually better at plot than this. Not the best of her mysteries and not the most appealing set of characters. ★★ and 1/4

First line: It was precisely six forty-five when Mrs. Frearson appeared by the river.

Last line: "You'll be needed, Miss Gazeley."

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Deaths = 5 (one shot; two car accident; two hit on head)