Tragedy at Law (1942)
Blurb:
My review:
Someone
obviously agreed with Mr. Justice Barber’s statement that “the reckless
motorist…is better out of this world,” for, having hit a man—but not
killed
him, Mr. Justice Barber began to receive anonymous death-threats,
poisoned
chocolates and ominous parcels, and suffer midnight attacks and
attempts on his
life, culminating in his murder outside the Criminal Courts. Until he meets his demise, however, the
reader is entertained by the background of the life led by a Circuit
Judge,
surrounded by ritual; enthralled by the amusing and vivid characters,
deftly
touched in with genuine sympathy—the story is to the fore without
diminishing
the impact of the detection; and bamboozled by an ingenious and
complicated
plot relying on an osbucre legal point, disclosed by the disillusioned
and
disappointed lawyer Francis Pettigrew, a most unlikely, yet very human,
(anti)-hero.