Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (1934)
(in America as The Boomerang Clue)
Blurb:
My review:
The juxtaposition between the sordid reality of murder and a light-hearted game is the central theme of this early Christie novel, for the first murder interrupts a game of golf, sending the corpse's discoverer, young Bobby Jones, and his sweetheart, Frankie, on a most entertaining wild goose chase. The usual plot elements of the time (impersonation to secure inheritances, lunatic asylums, morphine addiction and criminal gangs) abound, but the plot is not complicated, with few red herrings, and those that are present, not easy to swallow: the emphasis is on the Wodehousian detection lark and Derwent do of the young people (and what very good fun it is, too!). There is some muddling at the end, for the criminal has his finger in too many pies at one time, and criminal gangs are rather unfortunately brought in.