Death of an Airman by Christopher St. John Sprigg

Death of an Airman by Christopher St. John Sprigg ISBN-13: 9781464204821 Paperback: 260 pages Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press Released: 1934; Aug 4, 2015

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description from Goodreads:
When an aeroplane crashes, and its pilot is killed, Edwin Marriott, the Bishop of Cootamundra in Australia, is on hand. In England on leave, the Bishop has decided to learn how to fly, but he is not convinced that the pilot's death was accidental. In due course, naturally, he is proved right. The Bishop and Inspector Bray of Scotland Yard make an appealing pair of detectives, and ultimately a cunning criminal scheme is uncovered.


My Review:
Death of an Airman is a historical mystery set in 1934 in England. It's actually a reprint of a story that was written as a contemporary mystery. It's in the style of Christie; as in, the focus is on finding the clues rather than developing characters, but the characters still come across as real people.

There were three viewpoint characters: the Bishop, the local detective, and the Scotland Yard detective. The detectives were clever. They tracked down reasonable leads, asked good questions, and would quickly realize when the various scenarios they came up with didn't match the clues. We learn the clues as each character finds them, so we have a chance to guess new scenarios before the detectives do.

It's not easy to make all the clues fit together. Like the detectives, I would guess, realize that doesn't quite work, but how about this, but no... I had a good idea of whodunit and how shortly before the detectives. They were still missing critical information that the reader knows. I like it when you can guess just before the detectives, but they're still clever fellows. Nice!

There was no sex. There was a fair amount of bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this intriguing mystery.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.