Murder Has a Motive (Mordecai Tremaine Mystery, 2)

Author

He seems a lot like Hercule Poirot and the final scene had shades of Christie. But a little more down to earth. A challenging mystery.

This mystery perplexed me. I noticed some clues but missed others. I think I was so eager to find out what happened next that I was not paying full attention to everything as I should have been. I like Mordecai Tremaine, the amateur sleuth, a retired tobacco shop owner.I recommend this golden age mystery to readers who like complex mysteries.

book arrived promptly and was as described.

I loved the surprise ending! In Mordecai, Francis Duncan created an engaging character who is able to solve even the most perplexing murder cases.

A period mystery with an engaging detectiveI would have liked himOne of the best of its time and placeI will read anything this author has written

Good analytical evaluation of community members.

Likely murderer obvious from early on, yet still engrossing. Plenty of red herrings to make one doubt you’ve got it right.

Mordecai Tremaine, retired tobacconist turned amateur detective (and serial visitor of picturesque English villages) arrives to stay with friends in the picturesque English village of Dalmering... the very morning after a murder has been committed. The victim was a lady who was preparing to get married and she was on her way back from an evening with another man (a self-confessed murderer) who was also in love with her.The villagers jump to the obvious conclusion but is it too obvious a conclusion? And what is the connection with the play which a group of 'colonists' (recent arrivals in the village), including the victim before her death, are preparing to put on? It's a play about a series of murders and many of the characters seem strangely similar to people living in the village. Many other members of the cast seem to have secrets to hide and no-one seems to know anything about 'Alexis Kent', the play's author.Mordecai Tremaine is a sort of mild-mannered English amateur Poirot. He's a little more fully formed in this book i think than in the recently republished "Murder at Christmas" and you get more of his back story than in that book. The writing is elegant, just a little self-consciously so, and the intertwining storylines kept me hooked. My one reservation is that in this book as in "Murder at Christmas" i recognised the murderer the instant they entered the narrative. A really major clue is also dropped into the narrative very clumsily.Still, I find myself wanting to read more books in this series.

Although listed as the first in the Mordecai Treymaine series, it is difficult to know whether this is, in fact, the case. When we first meet Mordecai Treymaine in this mystery, it is clear that he has been involved in other murder cases. For those of us who enjoy Golden Age mysteries, this is a wonderful time, with so many authors being re-published. Francis Duncan, the pseudonym for William Underhill, was born in 1918 and his first detective story was published in 1938. This novel was first published in 1947 and, as one of my reading groups has chosen, “Murder for Christmas,” (published in 1949) and, as I dislike reading a series out of order, I thought I would read this first. I am certainly not complaining about the fact so many long unpublished novels are appearing, though and it is a joy to discover so many out of print authors.Mordecai Treymaine, we learn, is a retired tobacconist, who has hobby as his murder. He is on his way to visit friends in the village of Dalmering; local doctor Paul Russell and his wife, Jean. However, on his arrival, he discovers that there has a been a young murder. A young woman, who was due to appear in a play that the amateur dramatic society were about to put on, “Murder has a Motive.” Treymaine’s friends ask him to help find the killer, and, when he discovers that another friend, Chief Inspector John Boyce, is in charge of the investigation, he is keen to oblige.I like the village setting and the various suspects among the group linked to the play. There are various secrets harboured and an unsettling feeling of evil over hanging the idyllic rural community. This is a good read, which has a good sense of place and time. I now look forward to reading on in the series and discovering more novels featuring Mordecai Treymaine.

Well-written and with likeable characters, this book is fairly enjoyable, but the solution was rather obvious, and the villain's absurd plot calculated to fail. It was also disappointing that, as with Francis Duncan's first book, the villain obligingly confesses to the crime as soon as accused, despite there being no significant evidence against them. A barrister would rip the prosecution's case apart.

Brilliant, Really enjoyed it,if u like Agatha Christie you would love it,Mordecai reminds me of him

This book was written when 40yrs old people were considered old. A woman was poor, old and weak if not married. Women blush, gasp, cry, look adoringly up to men, wring their hands and all other possible cliches. The story goes slowly but get a bit more interesting after the first half,therefore three stars and not only two.