Thursday, November 11, 2021

"A Lover Too Many" by Roy Lewis


Peter Marlin is an attorney, a partner in a law firm is a small English town. The inquest into his wife’s death has returned a verdict of “murder by person or persons unknown.” Not surprisingly, the coroner, and a number of other people as well, have cast suspicions in his direction. But he has an alibi; his secretary knew he was working at the office late the night of the murder, because she was working as well. There was also the small matter of an affair Peter had, during the seven months his wife had suddenly pulled up stakes and left him. But she returned, and Peter broke off the relationship.  

He’s asked to leave the firm by the senior partner. He’s trying to complete a financial transaction involving an acquisition, including the shares he manages as a trustee. He’s sailed close to the wind with buying his own shares in the acquiring firm. A lot is riding on the completion of the takeover.

 

Then Peter discovers letters written to his deceased wife, and he now thinks he knows who’s killed her. He hires a private detective to investigate. What he should have done was go directly to Inspector Crow, brought in from Scotland yard to investigate the murder of Peter’s wife.

 

Roy Lewis

A Lover Too Many
 by Roy Lewis is the first in the Inspector Crow detective series. It is an entertaining story, full of twists and turns, with a plethora of suspects, tangled motives, and hidden passions. 

 

Lewis is the author of some 60 other mysteries, novels, and short story collections. His Inspector Crow series includes A Lover Too ManyMurder in the MineThe Woods MurderError of Judgment, and Murder for Money, among others. The Eric Ward series, of which The Sedleigh Hall Murder is the first (and originally published as A Certain Blindness in 1981), includes 17 novels. The Arnold Landon series is comprised of 22 novels. Lewis lives in northern England.  

 

The surprise about A Lover Too Many is that, while it’s an Inspector Crow mystery, Inspector Crow plays a relatively small role. The chief character is Peter Marlin, at once appealing and having conflicted motives. Nevertheless, it’s an entertaining story, one in which justice will ultimately be done.

 

Related:

 

A Cotswolds Murder by Roy Lewis.

 

The Sedleigh Hall Murder by Roy Lewis.

 

The Farming Murder by Roy Lewis.

 

The Quayside Murder by Roy Lewis.

 

The Diamond Murder by Roy Lewis.

 

The Geordie Murder by Roy Lewis.

 

The Shipping Murder by Roy Lewis.

 

The City of London Murder by Roy Lewis.

 

The Apartment Murder by Roy Lewis.

 

The Spanish Villa Murder by Roy Lewis.

 

The Marriage Murder by Roy Lewis

 

The Wasteful Murder by Roy Lewis.

 

The Phantom Murder by Roy Lewis.

 

The Slaughterhouse Murder by Roy Lewis.

 

The Tattoo Murder by Roy Lewis.

 

The Football Murder by Roy Lewis.

 

The Tutankhamen Murder by Roy Lewis.

 

The Zodiac Murder by Roy Lewis.

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