Blood on Lake Louisa — Baynard Kendrick

Blood on Lake Louisa, first published in 1934, is a fast-paced murder thriller from the ‘golden-age' of mystery writing. Set in the Florida ‘flatwoods' and marshes, the book opens with the murder of a banker; a popular doctor is soon the leading suspect, but the doctor and local sheriff work together to identify the true killer. From the publisher: “This is a murder-mystery story of an unusual kind. It is laid in a setting of the Florida that neither the tourist nor the resorter know -- the Florida of marshland and woods and eerie back-country lakes. The book rises far beyond the common run of mystery stories in that it is brilliantly written and that its people are real flesh-and-blood characters whom the reader comes to know well. And in achieving a fine quality of drama, horror and suspense, the author resorts to no mechanical aids, long-armed coincidences or other artificial trickery. Blood on Lake Louisa won third place in a contest conducted by a national magazine in which more than 7,000 manuscripts were submitted. It is the best story of its kind which we have ever published and is recommended without reservation.” Baynard Kendrick (1894-1977) was an American lawyer and executive who became a full-time writer in 1932. Blood on Lake Louisa was his first Crime Fiction, and was followed by many other mysteries, most featuring Duncan Maclain, a blind private investigator. Kendrick was also a founding member of the Mystery Writers of America.