Before Grantchester, there was Father Brown. And before Miss Marple’s poison pen letter, there was Ethel Lina White. Joan Brook, a lady’s companion, is finally happy. Her friend, a novelist from London, comes to visit the quiet idyllic English country village. Then someone begins sending anonymous letters to its inhabitants, threatening to expose long-buried secrets.
The Rector picked up the letter briskly. It was printed in block letters, on paper of excellent quality, and was correctly composed and spelt. it began with the sentence—“You presumed to sit in judgment on unfortunate women whom you dragged out of the gutter, probably against their own wish, but are you, yourself better than the lowest of these?” It continued in the same strain, each line covered with the slime of insinuation, as though a slug had crawled over the pages.
Central to the intrigue is the Rector, entrusted with so many of the embarrassing confessions of his flock. Many of the unlucky recipients share their letters in hopes he can find commonality as well as offer some assurances that he doesn’t for a minute think the accusations are true. But as the embarrassment becomes fear, and then outright distrust, the Rector asks his friend and amateur sleuth to join him and perhaps solve this mystery for the townspeople.
For me, the fun of this book is less about discovering the identity or motive of the letter writer, and more about watching how the fear and guilt wormed its way through the small town. Characters are worried about receiving a letter, even if they never do, and they become paranoid about the what others will think of them. Of course, everyone is too busy thinking about themselves to truly mount an attack of suspicions against anyone else.
The narrative choice to bring in Ignatius the Rector’s friend, an outsider, is a smart one. He acts as the reader’s guide, learning the villagers and their picadillos. As he himself notes, “I’m in the position of a water-diviner. I hold my twig over buried human nature. And I never know when it is going to twitch.” As are we all in Ethel Lina White’s novel of misgivings.
Thanks to Sourcebooks/Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced review copy. Read via NetGalley.
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication date: March 11, 2025
Print length: 352 pages (English)
ISBN-10: 1464230498