Fire in the Thatch
Fire in the Thatch is a 1946 detective novel by E.C.R. Lorac, the pen name of the British writer Edith Caroline Rivett.[1][2] It is the twenty seventh in her long-running series featuring Chief Inspector MacDonald of Scotland Yard.[3] Originally published by Collins Crime Club, it was reissued in 2018 by the British Library Publishing as part of a group of crime novels from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.
 First edition | |
| Author | E.C.R. Lorac |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Series | Chief Inspector MacDonald |
| Genre | Detective |
| Publisher | Collins Crime Club |
Publication date | 1946 |
| Media type | |
| Preceded by | Murder by Matchlight |
| Followed by | The Theft of the Iron Dogs |
Synopsis
The novel is set in South Devon in the last year of the Second World War. Colonel St Cyres, a landowner and farmer of Devon Cattle, rents a thatched cottage on his estate to a new tenant. Recently discharged from the Navy the new arrival plans to operate as a market gardener. This is greatly to the annoyance of his daughter-in-law June, a spoilt Mayfair woman living with him while her husband is in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. June had hoped that her friend Tommy Gressingham would take the property, as part of his plans to build a luxury hotel on the site. When the new tenant is found dead in the burned-out cottage, MacDonald is called in from Scotland Yard to investigate the possibility of murder.
References
- Nichols & Thompson p.476
- Hubin p.254
- Reilly p.260
Bibliography
- Cooper, John & Pike, B.A. Artists in Crime: An Illustrated Survey of Crime Fiction First Edition Dustwrappers, 1920-1970. Scolar Press, 1995.
- Hubin, Allen J. Crime Fiction, 1749-1980: A Comprehensive Bibliography. Garland Publishing, 1984.
- Nichols, Victoria & Thompson, Susan. Silk Stalkings: More Women Write of Murder. Scarecrow Press, 1998.
- Reilly, John M. Twentieth Century Crime & Mystery Writers. Springer, 2015.