Judgment of Murder (A Rex Graves Mystery)

Author:  C. S. Challinor
Genre:  Mystery

Paperback, Ebook
ISBN #:  9780738750095
Midnight Ink Publishing
216 Pages
$13.27; $9.49 Amazon
November 8, 2016

Five Stars

It's a dark day for Scottish barrister Rex Graves when he learns that Lord Gordon Murgatroyd has passed away.  Referred to as "Judge Murder" by Rex's colleagues, the famously severe judge supposedly died of natural causes - but his daughter Phoebe thinks otherwise.

Wanting to honor the man who'd always been uncharacteristically kind to him, Rex thinks it would be a good idea to follow up on Phoebe's suspicions...until a meeting with a suspect leaves him drugged and beaten within an inch of his life.  With a target on his back and a child abduction case gripping the region, Rex fears that the judge's death won't be an isolated incident.

********

Rex Graves, a charming Scottish barrister, reads one morning about the death of a judge who was not well-liked by many, but who always had been kind to him and mentored him.  He decides to call the judge's daughter to offer condolences.  Although the judge was elderly and it appears he passed away in his sleep, Rex is surprised to learn that Phoebe thinks her father was murdered, and since she knows of Rex's success in solving murders, asks his help to prove it.  

He reluctantly agrees to travel to Canterbury to see her, and the evidence indeed is quite flimsy - there is a missing watch and an album of stamps, as the judge was a philatelist, although only by hobby.  Yet who would kill an old man and remove a watch and a stamp album that isn't worth very much?  With very little to work with, Rex sets out to discover the answers to those questions.  While still in Canterbury, he also learns about the mugging of another elderly man who resided there; and of course there is the disappearance of Leslie Poulson, a teenage girl from Dover, and finally there's the case of Richard Pruitt, who sent the judge a stamp for his collection in thanks for his 'not proven' verdict which set him free...  

So Rex decides to meet with Pruitt because he finds this tenuous connection to the judge.  It seems many years ago Judge Murgatroyd convinced a jury not to convict Mr. Pruitt in the murder of a young girl, as he didn't believe there was enough evidence to do so.  Yet after all these years, Pruitt has the suspicion still hanging over his head, and has been trying to find the real murderer in order that he may be vindicated at last. 

But when Rex arrives at Pruitt's home to talk with him about the crime, he has no clue that in doing so he may very well have sealed his own fate.  After drinking some tea he begins to feel fuzzy, and it it is shortly thereafter he is trussed up and very nearly murdered himself.  When he recovers he realizes that something sinister indeed is happening, and it now involves him as a part of the equation...  

 I can say no more about this book without giving it all away, but it is truly wonderful to observe  Rex's brilliant mind work as he begins to take each piece and put it together until he has the puzzle complete.  This formidable and intelligent Scottish barrister is as much fun to see in action as Sherlock Holmes; as he begins to take each occurrence and connect them together to form the solution and find the murderer.

In the end, the reasoning behind the murder is rather twisted and sad, yet when the murderer is caught (as we know the person must be), it is a gratifying conclusion and nothing appears contrived or hurried; we are given a convincing conclusion to a very good tale indeed.

Ms. Challinor has given us another delightful Rex Grave mystery; her ability to weave a story is akin to watching a beautiful tapestry be woven right before our eyes.  We are given first one thread and then another, and eventually they are all bound together flawlessly. This is a story that is pleasant and enthralling; and I anxiously await the next in the series.  Highly recommended.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Judgment-Murder-Rex-Graves-Mystery-ebook/dp/B01APSYQ06/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1723909006

More on C. S. Challinor's books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/c-s-challinor/    

Murder Comes Calling (A Rex Graves Mystery)

Author:  C. S. Challinor
Genre:  Mystery, Suspense

Paperback; ebook
ISBN #:  9780738745480
Midnight Ink
216 Pages
$11.95; $11.99 Kindle
August 8, 2015

Five Stars

When a spate of murders takes place in the quiet riverfront community of Notting Hamlet in South-Central England, Scottish barrister Rex Graves is called upon to lend his investigatory expertise.  For the first time in his sleuthing career, Rex finds he has good reason to fear for his life.

********

Rex Graves is a Scottish advocate (barrister) who has traveled from his home in Edinburgh to the small community of Notting Hamlet in England to help his friend from college, Malcolm Patterson, a retired pathologist.

It seems Malcolm was called on by a neighbor when she went calling on another, Ernest Blackwell, 81, and saw his feet sticking out from his piano through the window of his home and feared something had happened to him.  Something had happened indeed.  Ernest had been murdered, nearly decapitated by a piano wire.  Shortly thereafter, three more bodies were found - Barry Burns, 79; Vic Chandler, 55; and Valerie Trotter, 47 - all murdered, and all in different fashion.  Odder still was the fact that all four had their homes up for sale and were planning to move from Notting Hamlet.  The chief suspect in the murders is their real estate agent, Clint Walker, his footprint having been on the mat of Mr. Blackwell, although no prints were found inside.

But the reason Malcolm called Rex to help - Rex being very good at solving murders in the past - was because of what Malcolm had found on the victims' foreheads:  The letters MNP, his initials, written in the victims' blood.  Fearing someone was out to frame him, he erased the letters and told no one of their existence.  He was afraid that the police may have the wrong man, and he needs Rex's help to find the true murderer.

So when Malcolm tells Rex of this development, he is naturally upset and insists that Malcolm go to the police with this information, telling him it is a serious crime to tamper with evidence and that he has now brought him into it.  After agreeing to do so, Malcolm tells Rex one more thing that didn't make sense; the letter N was backwards, and he wondered if Mr. Walker, if he indeed committed the crime, was dyslexic.

So Rex now has the beginnings of a mystery to solve, and indeed it is quite a mystery:  Four victims, all murdered, and in different fashion.  There is no one M.O. to indicate it was the same person, they had nothing in common except the fact that they were going to sell their homes.  Or did they?  For as Rex digs deeper and finds ways to talk to the residents of Notting Hill, he soon finds that there may be more to the murders than just wanting to sell their homes, and he begins to doubt that the agent may have committed the murders.

And before he discovers the killer or killers, he may inadvertently - with the unwitting help of his old friend Malcolm - put himself and Malcolm in danger from being the next victims in Notting Hill.

This mystery was all I could have asked for, and more.  Rex Graves, Scottish lawyer with a penchant for solving murders, has a wonderful ability to take bits of information and figure out how they piece together, adding snippets of conversations and things he, with his wonderful mind, finds out on his own by doing heavy research.  He never forgets the details; and it is the details that make all the difference in finding out the truth.

I must admit that Ms. Challinor threw in a couple of red herrings, which I followed, unfortunately, and would have brought me to the wrong conclusion in the end.  But isn't this the way a mystery should be?  If you find out the murderer too soon, you've spoiled the book for yourself.  I love a good mystery that makes me think right along with the protagonist, and this was such a book.  Highly recommended.

http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Comes-Calling-Graves-Mystery/dp/0738745480/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1346065258