Trial and Error (1937)

My review:

“If one goes out to commit murder one can hardly expect easy situations afterwards,” reflects Mr. Todhunter halfway through Berkeley’s classic.  Not only must Mr. Todhunter, having discovered that “the greatest good a man could do is to eliminate a selected evildoer whose death must fulfil the condition of changing misery into happiness for a larger or smaller group of persons,” first find the unfortunate individual, but (after a false start) having committed the murder, prove himself guilty of the murder of Jean Norwood.  It is difficult to put a new wrinkle in the judge’s wig, but Mr. Berkeley, ever a successful experimenter, has achieved it—and the result can only be called superb.  The clues our old friend Mr. Chitterwick, consulted by Mr. Todhunter, discovers are masterly, including a lovely one of the oil on a gun; the humour and characterisation are worthy of the author to whom the book is dedicated; and the twist at the end, although not new for Berkeley, is nothing short of genius.

To the Bibliography.

To the Berkeley Page.

To the Grandest Game in the World.

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