Sometimes, Martin Edwards’ notes about a book for the British Library Crime Classics are almost as interesting as the mystery itself. According to his introduction, this novel in the Crime Classics series is published now for the first time. Evidently, Lorac wrote this story in the last couple years of her life, and never published it. It’s been “lost” for over sixty years. She set the story in a different area of England than her usual ones, on the south coast of England. It’s set in January 1956 or 1957, and introduces a likable new detective, Inspector Waring, from the county C.I.D., the Criminal Investigation Division.

It’s a foggy night, and two bachelors, ex-naval commander Nicholas Brent, and barrister Ian Macbane drive to the annual Hunt ball at Fordings, but they don’t return together. Brent drives back with Dilys Maine, the belle of the ball. When they come across a body in the road, Brent urges Dilys to run home via a path so she can get home before her father returns, and he hurries to the nearest house, Michael Reeves’, to call the police. Brent is forced to break into the house, and after calling the police, he tussles with someone who attacks him in the dark.

Nothing goes right for the local police when they investigate. Two men identify the victim found in the road, but their identification is wrong. And, everyone in the community seems to have something to hide, so they lie or only provide some of their information. By the time Inspection Waring shows up, the case is already a mess with doubts about Brent’s fight at the house and uncertainty about timetables and alibis.

While the mystery itself is fascinating, it’s Inspector Waring who is the most interesting character in the book. Introduced at about the halfway point, he’s aware of “All these people, associated somehow, hiding something, worrying about something.” Waring has a sense of humor, and he listens carefully to everyone’s responses. He often knows when someone is hiding information. His supervisor sees Waring as “imaginative, aware, sensitive: able, by some quirk of his lively mind, to obtain confidences and acquire impressions.” In just a short time, he gathered information, “an awareness of human beings and the sort of society they made, through all its various strata.”

That observation of society is so important to the Two-Way Murder. I’m a new fan of E.C.R. Lorac, but I’m happy that this book was discovered and published. It’s another excellent mystery by an accomplished author.

Two-Way Murder by E.C.R. Lorac. Poisoned Pen Press/Sourcebooks, 2022. ISBN 9781464215780 (paperback), 229p.

FTC Full Disclosure – The publisher sent a copy of the book, with no promises of a positive review.