Seven Dead by J Jefferson Farjeon

Seven Dead by J Jefferson Farjeon ISBN-13: 9781464209086 Paperback Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press Released: Feb. 6, 2018

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description from NetGalley:
Ted Lyte, amateur thief, has chosen an isolated house by the coast for his first robbery. But Haven House is no ordinary country home. While hunting for silverware to steal, Ted stumbles upon a locked room containing seven dead bodies. Detective Inspector Kendall takes on the case with the help of passing yachtsman Thomas Hazeldean. The search for the house's absent owners brings Hazeldean across the Channel to Boulogne, where he finds more than one motive to stay and investigate.


My Review:
Seven Dead is a mystery set in England and was originally printed in 1939. Detective Inspector Kendall was observant and quickly worked out what had happened. The question wasn't so much whodunit but rather who the dead people were and why the murderer had killed them. I enjoyed following Kendall's finding of the clues and working out what they meant.

A journalist happened to see the thief leaving the house and so got to see the crime scene. He became enamored with a girl in a painting, and he traveled to talk with her in France before Kendall arrived. Whole conversations were in French. We're given a sense of what was said, but most mysteries don't use quite that much untranslated French. As whodunit was also there, the journalist was in danger. Answers were found in the end, though whodunit's ending was a bit unusual.

There was no sex. There was some bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this interesting mystery/suspense.


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.


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