Wed 24 Dec 2014
by Marv Lachman
CYRIL HARE – Tenant for Death. Faber & Faber, UK, hardcover, 1937. Dodd Mead, US, hardcover, 1937. Softcover editions include: Dover, 1981; Perennial Library, 1982.
Even better [than Francis Beeding’s Death Walks in Eastrepps, reviewed here ] is Cyril Hare’s first mystery, Tenant for Death. Hare generates the kind of intellectual excitement that used to be present in so many mysteries. The facts are presented to the reader and, if the puzzle is not as complex as Ellery Queen in his heyday, there is still much for the reader who wishes to compete with the detective.
Hare’s sleuth is Inspector Mallett who, after appearing in Hare’s first three books, began playing second fiddle to the author’s later detective, Francis Pettigrew. Mallett is a detective we can respect and identify with. I can visualize a subdued Leo McKern (of Rumpole fame) playing him on the screen.
There is humor in Tenant for Death, and it is reasonably subtle. Hare has a good ear for language and introduces (and demolishes) a few pompous individuals. There is not a great deal of description, and that is good because too much tends to slow a mystery down. There is just enough for the reader to supply his own imagination and set his own scenes.
December 25th, 2014 at 2:27 am
Could not agree more about Hare, though I liked Pettigrew more than Mallet. The classic British mystery about as well done as it gets.
December 25th, 2014 at 6:59 pm
I also agree. The book by Hare that I’ve read most recently was THE CHRISTMAS MURDER, which I reviewed here:
https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=516
That book came along in 1951, well after the Golden Age of Detection, but it has all of the flavor of the classics, including a group of family and friends all comfortably snowed in together when murder happens.
December 25th, 2014 at 7:55 pm
What I think of when I think of Hare is that cool playful but intelligent approach to murder that characterizes so much of the best of the British school.
I agree he has the touch of the Golden Age, but he is never less than modern.
December 27th, 2014 at 5:01 pm
Tenant for Death is indeed a good mystery.
Need to reread this one!
June 26th, 2019 at 8:38 am
[…] for Death has been reviewed at Mystery File, gadetection, and crossexaminingcrime. Besides Bitter Tea and Mystery and Past Offences have also […]