Death at Swaythling Court

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Death at Swaythling Court
Death at Swaythling Court.jpg
Author J.J. Connington
Country United Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
GenreDetective
Publisher Ernest Benn
Publication date
1926
Media typePrint

Death at Swaythling Court is a 1926 mystery detective novel by the British writer Alfred Walter Stewart, published under his pseudonym J.J. Connington. [1] [2] [3] It was Stewart's first attempt at a detective novel, having previously produced works including the 1923 science fiction novel Nordenholt's Million. It is a stand-alone novel, revolving around a country house mystery. The following year the author published Murder in the Maze , the first of seventeen novels featuring the Golden Age detective Sir Clinton Driffield, for which he is best-known.

Contents

Synopsis

A newly wealthy man, who secretly funds his lifestyle as a blackmailer, moves into a rural district where he is deeply resented as an newcomer. When he is murdered, his neighbour Colonel Sanderstead sets out to solve the case moved partly in sympathy for those who may have committed the killing.

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Sir Clinton Driffield is a fictional police detective created by the British author J.J. Connington. He was one of numerous detectives created during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, making his first appearance in Murder in the Maze in 1927. He appeared in four subsequent novels by 1929 when Connington apparently wished to write him out following Nemesis at Raynham Parva. However, his replacement Superintendent Ross failed to gain the same level of popularity over two novels and Sir Clinton returned in the 1931 mystery The Boathouse Riddle. He went on to appear in a further eleven novels. The last entry Common Sense Is All You Need was published the year of Connington's death in 1947 and is set in wartime Britain.

References

  1. Bernthal p.283
  2. Reilly p.346
  3. Hubin p.90

Bibliography