Calamity in Kent

Starred review from March 1, 2016
First published in 1950, this reissue of a detective story set in a British seaside resort is an exhilarating example of the impossible crime, or locked-room, mystery. The locked room, in this case, is a lift that carries holiday-goers from the beach, up the steep cliff and back. The lift operator locks the empty lift at the end of the day. Then, one morning, he discovers a murdered man, a knife protruding from his back, in the lift. The lift has been relocked. The witness to the lift operator's discovery that morning is freelance journalist Jimmy London, out for an early-morning stroll. London seizes upon the murder as a chance to own the story and advance his career. Rowland teams London with his longtime buddy, Scotland Yard Inspector Shelley. The combination of London, a pure opportunist who rifles through the dead man's pockets and possessions, with Shelley, who turns a blind eye to London's methods for the sake of the investigation, is a daring one. Rowland shows how a journalist might see what a cop doesn't see, and vice versa, in intriguing ways, as the murder spans out into a black-market petrol conspiracy worthy of Foyle's War. This riveting reissue is part of the British Library Crime Classics series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)