Access The Viaduct Murder Author Ronald Knox Shown In Hardcover

entertaining oldstyle mystery that I thought had too many flaws to be termed a masterpiece, For one, it seems needlessly complicated with ciphers and train schedules all playing a part, My biggest gripe is that it's one of those books where amateur detectives this time four men who live and breathe golf find and withhold clues and evidence from the police who hardly appear in the story.
The writing is sometimes very witty, which compensates for the murky plot details somewhat, Originally published in. The Merion Press edition contains a map of the area and even a schedule for trains that stop at the stations on the map.
Also includes a glossary of terms that may not be familiar to current readers, In comparison to his last novel, Double Cross Purposes, which I have just read, this, Ronald Knox' first, seemed relatively short, I was tempted to say "and light" but that would be inaccurate,

It is wittilywritten but on several counts could not be deemed easy reading,
Firstly, it comes across more as a dissertation on, and critique of, the detection process rather than a tale of detection, Secondly, it reeks to me of GK Chesterton whose detective stories I now find rather stodgy, Thirdly it really needs an explanatory apparatus,

I consider myself wellread, and am the product of a sound and classical Scottish education, but I was stumped a couple of times by allusions.
Since there are potshots at nonCatholic theologians and at contemporarypsychology as well as all the English literature quotations and odd bits of Latin, many modern readers will need to access the Internet in order to keep up.


This is a Haycraft/Queen Cornerstone Mystery, but the tale boils down to four golfers discovering a body and subsequently deciding the coroner's finding of suicide is wrong.
It would have made a good short story or novella,

The solution is surprisingly unsurprising and more could, and should, have been done with the main female character,

Interesting for all sorts of reasons, but not a patch on some of the later works,

.stars. Very clever! An old, but excellent read, Since I'm quarantined, I thought I would start reading a mystery series, I chose a series by Ronald Knox because I heard praises of his work, both religious wise and secular,
I was disappointed. His style is not my cup of tea, In fact, I had to look back at when this book was first written because the style reminded me of Sherlock Holmesnineteenth century,
I've always found Holmesian deduction not natural and improbable if not impossible,
The character of RendallSmith is a near waste, She's introduced but not necessary, The other characters bounce sleuthing theories around like a golf ball pun intended, I just felt the characters too nineteenthcentury English I dare say,
Then to have the murderer caught in the beginning after suffering chapters of Holmesian deduction was just a bit much,
That being said, since I believe in second chances and third and, . . I just might read another Ronald Knox mystery,


From one of the creators of the detective story in the Golden Age of mysterieshere Knox has a golf foursome investigate the death of on of the clubs members.
Murder or suicide The “detectives” go back and forth as the clues are developed and clarified, Interesting original mystery novel, with a quartet of amateur detectives that mess things up in a hilarious way, This is truely a vintage mystery written shortly after the end of WWI, A group of for golfing

buddies find a dead body on the links, They decide that they would be smarter and better than the police when it comes to solving this crime, Of course their golfing play must not be neglected,

This was an interesting story with a nice sense of the times, Synopsis: four men are golfing when one of them slices his drive, They discover a body below a railroad viaduct and set out to solve the murder, This is one of the most astonishingly brilliant mysteries of the Golden Age by one of its masters, Before starting this book I read the back cover,
It sounded strangely like the game of Clue,
Mr. Brotherhood, below the railroad viaduct with his hatyards away,

Father Ronald Knox wrote The Viaduct Murder, It was published in, and was the first of his detective novels,

A clergyman, a retired don, a former member of the military intelligence and a vacationing friend were playing golf in a village outside of London when they happened upon a dead body while searching for a golf ball.


Not trusting the police, they decided to do their own investigation into the case,

Written with humor and interesting twists,

Favorite lines:

“Bravo!” said Gordon, “Have another injection of cocaine, ”

“Oh, go throw an important light on your grandmothers ducks, ”

“Good Lord, said Reeves suddenly, “here it is! But I swear it wasnt when I looked before, I say, Carmichael, have you been playing the funny ass with the thing”

“I propose that two of uspreferably you and Gordon, because I am fond of my sleepshould sit up tonight and watch outside the door.
”

. A dog somewhere at the back had a fit of loneliness, and howled cats told their nighty tale of love and hate, Coals fell out of distant grates the woodwork creaked uncannily at intervals, But at no moment was there a step in the passage, .

. . Their idea is that Soandso does not murder his grandmother, but he does twiddle his thumbs, They will tell you, consequently, that twiddling your thumbs is a kind of compensation for not murdering your grandmother

He suddenly remembered that a detective ought to have a notebook, and write down facts in it.
He had no notebook, so he said, “Excuse me,” and fetched a sheet of the club notepaper, On this he wrote down in pencil “Miss R, S. Mrs. B. ”
It looked rather silly, somehow, when he had written it,

“But her feelings arent evidence, Im willing enough to trust in what she knows about Davenant: but Im not willing to trust in what she says she thinks she has persuaded herself to think she knows about Davenant.
And that is about the correct description, I should say, for a womans intuition, ”

What was that last part This mystery set in's rural England opens with four gents chatting in the clubhouse prior to starting their golf game.
Chaptercaptures the foursome experiencing an errant shot off the third tee, the golf ball landing somewhere in the shadow of a railroad trestle.
A search of the rough brings a halt to the game with the discovery of a freshly dead body, The novel shifts to the foursome's search for clues about the identify of the disfigured body, whether it was a suicidal fall from the towering railroad trestle or a murder, with a buildup about the foibles of amateur detectives.
Instead of falling off its wheels because the amateurs' convoluted solution to the case, this novel turns literary and recovers brilliantly in the final two chapters, drawing an analogy of false reasoning among the general public.
Author Reverend Knox writes during the era of Arthur Conan Doyle and sprinkles nods to Holmes throughout the novel, Reverend Know is best known for hisCommandments for good mystery writing, My quibble about this book that spans a week is the difficulty in following which day various scenes take place, For example, it's unclear that afternoon chat in the clubhouse Chapter, with one of the foursome having arrived aroundPM that afternoon dovetails into the same afternoon's golf game of Chapter.
Who knew that you could start a round of golf afterPM in a foggy October in England and still get a round of golf in That said, the reader indeed has to work overly hard to discern the day's timeline among the chapters.
One of the seminal works of the genre, The Viaduct Murder was first published in, It was selected by Howard Haycraft to be included in the ultimate mystery list: The HaycraftQueen Definitive Library of DetectiveCrimeMystery Fiction, Two Centuries of Cornerstones.

Marryatt the clergyman, Carmichael the retired don, Reeves the former member of the military intelligence, and Gordon the vacationing golfer are playing golf in Paston Oatvile when Reeves slices his drive from the third tee.
In searching for the ball they come upon the dead body of Mr, Brotherhood below the railroad viaduct, When they find his hatyards away from the body they suspect 'there's been dirty work, ' The foursome set out to solve his murder,
Father Knox has provided us with a witty, clever, and thoroughly delightful, classic British mystery story, A slight but goodnatured mystery that's more about methods of detection than the case itself, It's very dialogueheavy most of the action is recounted in dialogue but it moves along so quickly and cheerfully I couldn't help enjoying it.
Written by Ronald Knox, a British convert to Catholicism who became a priest, theologian, and apologist, and who wrote extensively about the faith in between mystery novels.
Monsignor Ronald Arbuthnott Knox was a Roman Catholic priest, theologian, author of detective stories, as well as a writer and a regular broadcaster for BBC Radio.
Knox had attended Eton College and won several scholarships at Balliol College, Oxford, He was ordained an Anglican priest inand was appointed chaplain of Trinity College, Oxford, but he left inupon his conversion to Catholicism.
Inhe was ordained a Catholic priest, Knox wrote many books of essays and novels, Directed by his religious superiors, he re translated the Latin Vulgate Bible into English, using Hebrew and Greek sources, beginning in, He died onAugustand his body was brought to Westminster Cathedral, Bishop Craven celebrated the requiem ma Monsignor Ronald Arbuthnott Knox was a Roman Catholic priest, theologian, author of detective stories, as well as a writer and a regular broadcaster for BBC Radio.
Knox had attended Eton College and won several scholarships at Balliol College, Oxford, He was ordained an Anglican priest inand was appointed chaplain of Trinity College, Oxford, but he left inupon his conversion to Catholicism.
Inhe was ordained a Catholic priest, Knox wrote many books of essays and novels, Directed by his religious superiors, he re translated the Latin Vulgate Bible into English, using Hebrew and Greek sources, beginning in, He died onAugustand his body was brought to Westminster Cathedral, Bishop Craven celebrated the requiem mass, at which Father Martin D'Arcy, a Jesuit, preached the panegyric, Knox was buried in the churchyard of St Andrew's Church, Mells, sitelink.