The Chessman

Starred review from October 26, 2015
The Sussex village of Croxton Ferriers, the setting for Gordon-Smith’s stellar ninth mystery set in post-WWI England (after 2014’s After the Exhibition), is rocked to its core when a badly mutilated body turns up in the local church. One of the two women who discovered the remains in a cupboard is Isabelle Stanton, a cousin of amateur sleuth Jack Haldean, a fighter pilot during the war who soon gets on the case. The other is Isabelle’s friend, strikingly beautiful
Sue Castradon, whose husband, Ned, was badly disfigured in the war and who bears grudges against everyone in general but one person in particular: Sir Matthew Vardon, a greedy, scurrilous old rascal, whose son, Simon, is smitten with Sue. A chess piece left in the church cupboard may be a vital clue. Plausible red herrings abound as Jack and the village
residents ponder the case and all its incongruities over tea in the drawing rooms of Croxton Ferriers. Some readers will stay up all night to finish this fine traditional mystery.

December 1, 2015
Fans of Golden Age grande dames Christie, Allingham, and Sayers will delight in this quintessentially British murder mystery, set in 1920s England and featuring a wealth of suspects and motives, and enough twists to keep even seasoned readers guessing. When the badly mutilated body of a man is found in a church in the tiny village of Croxton Ferriers, Major Jack Haldean is called in to assist the local police in finding the killer. Not only does the dashing Haldean have previous experience in such cases, but it was his cousin Isabelle who discovered the body. The most baffling and chilling aspect of the case is the black chess piece found beside the body. Haldean is still puzzling over what the chess piece meanswhat message is the killer trying to deliver?when another body turns up, with a second chess piece beside it. Understanding that he has no time to lose and that the killer is devilishly clever, Haldean finally unearths both the motive and the shocking truth about the killer's identity. For readers who complain that nobody writes like Dame Agatha anymore.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)