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The Second Shot (A Roger Sheringham case)

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Cyril Pinkerton, a stick in the mud virgin at 36, has been invited to the Hillyards' house to act as a distraction for poor little rich girl Elsa Verity, who is the subject of the attentions of Eric Scott-Davies. Scott-Davies is fortune hunting, and a notorious womaniser. Ethel Hillyard has also invited Eric's last lover Mrs de Ravel(plus husband) to make up the party, in the hope that she will snap at the sight of Eric's attentions to Elsa, putting an end to it.

In fact the plan goes awry. Pinkie is seen as a serious contender for Elsa by nobody, and Elsa and Scott-Davies announce their engagement on the morning that the houseguests are due to play a murder game, with Scott-Davies as the victim, Pinkie as the killer, and motives for the other guests that are uncomfortably close to home. After the play-acting of the game, Pinkie returns to the woods to investigate shots coming from there, and discovers Eric dead, in the same circumstances as those of the murder game - and naturally the police decide that Pinkie is probably the culprit!

Written in the form of Pinkie's manuscript diary, we laugh at his attempts to act as gallant lover to Miss Verity (who plainly is not in the least interested), and then suffer with him as the police make it pretty clear that he is the principal suspect. The other guests all think he did it too, and poor Pinkie has to suffer everyone thanking him for doing the deed! Finally, he calls in Roger Sheringham the great detective to help him out of this pickle. As ever, Sheringham breezes in, demonstrating brilliance and fallibility in equal measure, to solve the case.

Thank heaven for the Langtail Press reviving the Anthony Berkeley novels. They are pacy and amusing, and the solutions brilliant.