Death at the Door / Anthony Gilbert

No wonder Mereshire was called “The Village God Forgot”! For over it hung like an ominous veil the curse of the Clevelands – the curse that struck generation after generation with sinister force. Always the eldest son of the Earl of Cleveland had an appointment with death – one was drowned, one shot, one poisoned, one killed in battle. And then “it” struck Edmund Oliver, who was found at the bottom of a quarry with his neck broken. Was “it” the curse – or the bloody hands of good-for-nothing Tom Grigg? Then, years later, Tom Grigg ventures back – and is murdered! Are these two deaths, a generation apart, connected in any way? That’s what Arthur Crook, that solid detective, wants to know. The curse is understandable – it was born of greed – but why would anyone want to get rid of a penniless fugitive? Had he known a secret that someone needed to silence? When the police arrest the victim’s elderly aunt, Mr Crook simply has to find out the answers – or eat his brown melon.