Some Die Eloquent — Catherine Aird

CAN INSPECTOR SLOAN NAB A KILLER AND STILL MAKE THE BIRTH OF HIS FIRST CHILD?

"It is a truth universally acknowledged," said the doctor drily, "that a middle-aged woman in possession of a fortune will attract people anxious to part her from it." All the evidence suggested that the diabetic chemistry mistress died from natural causes. Yet, there was the matter of the quarter of a million pounds in her bank account, a sum not likely to have been accumulated by a grammar school instructor. Several of her relatives and associates stood to inherit a portion of that fortune. Inspector Sloan of the Calleshire Police figured it was motive enough for murder. Only it seems no one was aware of the money. When the nephew who stood to inherit the lion's share disappears, the police focus their attention on him. Still, his sister had motive as well. She stood to inherit her aunt's house and an eighth of the now sizable estate. But, more importantly, her aunt opposed her marriage, for the time being, to a young doctor. And then there's the matter of the dog who, as in The Hound of the Baskervilles, did not bark in the night. It's a ticklish problem, made even more so because Margaret Sloan is about to make her husband a father.