Scarweather - (British Library Crime Classics) by Anthony Rolls (Paperback)

About the Book

Originally published in 1934 by Geoffrey Bles.

Book Synopsis

Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder

"Readers will be rewarded with a suspenseful read, rich in setting; characters; details about WWI and its aftermath; and a horrific resolution worthy of Hitchcock." --Booklist

'My friend Ellingham has persuaded me to reveal to the public the astounding features of the Reisby case. As a study in criminal aberration it is, he tells me, of particular interest, while in singularity of horror and in perversity of ingenious method it is probably unique.'

1913. John Farringdale, with his cousin Eric Foster, visits the famous archaeologist Tolgen Reisby. At Scarweather--Reisby's lonely house on the windswept northern coast of England--Eric is quickly attracted to Reisby's much younger wife, and matters soon take a dangerous turn. Fifteen years later, the final scene of the drama is enacted.

This unorthodox novel from 1934 is by a gifted crime writer who, wrote Dorothy L. Sayers, 'handles his characters like a "real" novelist and the English language like a "real" writer--merits which are still, unhappily, rarer than they should be in the ranks of the murder specialists.'

Review Quotes

Dorothy L. Sayers loved the writing of Anthony Rolls, so I went into this with expectations. And the writing was excellent - I enjoyed the way Rolls (that is, Colwyn Edward Vulliamym using the pen name Anthony Rolls) strung words together. Believable characters, believable dialogue, tension and humor both....the writing was excellent, everything you could ask of a solid Golden Age mystery.

--Tracey Stewart "Library Thing"

Figuring out whodunit was just a matter of putting the clues together, and it's not intended to be difficult. The point was rather to follow Ellingham as he slowly but steadily worked to uncover the truth--even if it took 15 years! It's an interesting story even if not a typical mystery style.

--Deborah White "Goodreads"

Readers will be rewarded with a suspenseful read, rich in setting (an isolated house in the north of England near a Bronze Age burial ground); characters (the three friends become acquainted with a wildly eccentric archaeologist and his too-young wife); details about WWI and its aftermath; and a horrific resolution worthy of Hitchcock.

--Connie Fletcher "Booklist"

This entry in the British Library Crime Classics series appeals as much for its evocative glimpse of its period and witty depiction of archeologists' quirks as for its suspense.

-- "Publishers Weekly"

About the Author

ANTHONY ROLLS was a pseudonym of C.E. Vulliamy (1886-1971), a biographer, soldier and archaeologist of distinction who also wrote ten crime novels, four of which were published during the golden age of British detective fiction between the world wars.