Fri 30 Dec 2022
An Archived Review by Maryell Cleary: ANNE HOCKING – Poison Is a Bitter Brew.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[10] Comments
ANNE HOCKING – Poison Is a Bitter Brew. Chief Inspector William Austen #6. Doubleday Crime Club, hardcover, 1942. Originally published in the UK as Miss Milverton (Geoffrey Bles, hardcover, 1941).
Two heirs to a fortune and a landed estate die of poison, one after the other. The first is passed off by an elderly friend of the family doctor as food poiscn1ing; the second; handled by his locum, is examined more carefully. The verdict in both: murder.
Miss Milverton, sixthy-ish proprietor of the estate until her death, is shocked. The final heir, her nephew Charles Temple, was on the scene both times and has an excellent motive, but he doesn’t act like a murderer. Chief Inspector Austen and Sergeant Pendarvis investigate.
This is a good, old-fashioned between the-wars British mystery. Why would a genteel, well-brougbt-up, upper class Englishman or woman commit murder? Not only for wealth, we find. A good read.
December 30th, 2022 at 7:19 pm
Anne Hocking wrote about 30 detective novels between 1932 and 1968 with Chief Inspector/Superintendent William Austen as the leading character. About a dozen more were standalones. Back when I was selling books by mail and when books by authors such as Anne Hocking could be found in used bookstores, whenever I came across one of hers, I knew I could resell it again almost immediately.
Nowadays I’m sure you could say, and with some confidence, that’s she a Forgotten Writer.
If some industrious publisher specializing in reprinting Forgotten Writers is looking for a candidate to reprint next, you need not look any further.
December 30th, 2022 at 8:54 pm
Several writers from that era have resurfaced in eBook form recently, perhaps Hocking will get a chance.
December 30th, 2022 at 9:14 pm
No eBooks so far, but maybe I’m looking in the wrong places.
December 30th, 2022 at 9:03 pm
Hocking’s books have become very scarce which is a little surprising because quite a few of her novels in the 1940s and 50s were published in the US by Doubleday Crime Club. She’s one of the authors I look out for, and what’s out there runs pretty expensive to boot.
I agree she’d be a very good candidate for reprinting!
December 30th, 2022 at 9:16 pm
Yes, her books are extremely scarce — unless you can read either French or Spanish. I found lots of them on abebooks.com. I wonder why.
December 31st, 2022 at 9:59 am
If they are reprinting (as they are) George Bellairs and ECR Lorac, why not Hocking?
Inquiring minds etc.
December 31st, 2022 at 10:09 am
For another and more in-depth (and very close to a rave) review of this very same book, check out John Norris’s blog here:
https://prettysinister.blogspot.com/2014/10/ffb-poison-is-bitter-brew-anne-hocking.html
January 4th, 2023 at 9:36 am
An earlier Mystery*File review by William F. Deeck:
https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=51631
January 4th, 2023 at 9:45 am
Thanks, Bill!
November 17th, 2023 at 7:58 am
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