Just Finished Reading: Death in the Tunnel by Miles Burton (FP: 1936) [221pp] 

It was suicide – obviously. What else could explain Sir Wilfred Saxonby’s death? After all, he was on a moving train in a single private carriage, alone. A single gunshot to the chest had finished him off, the gun was found a few feet away. What else could explain it? But Inspector Arnold of Scotland Yard has his doubts. No one can think of a reason why Sir Wilfred would have taken his own life – not financial or personal. Then there was the mystery of just why the train had stopped momentarily in the tunnel. The crew had reported a red stop light, but no one was working there, and no fault had been reported. So, what, or who, had caused to train to halt. Then there was another mystery that bothered the Inspector – where was Sir Wilfred's ticket, the one he needed to hand over at his destination? It seemed to be a trivial matter, but it bothered him. He would need to talk it over with his friend Desmond Merrion who was a gifted amateur in Criminology. It was during this chat that they decided to check the tunnel for anything out of the ordinary. Searching in the blackness they caught a glint of something, metal, glass, something that reflected their torches back at them. It was a lamp with lenses of green and red. Someone had stopped the train alright, and the 'suicide' of Sir Wilfred started to look very much like murder... 

I must admit that I loved this mystery almost from the first page. I’m a great fan of mental puzzles – especially where human behaviour is concerned – so I really liked the way this novel was structured. We are presented with a sudden violent death and an apparent ‘obvious’ cause but are quickly introduced to some contrary evidence that points in a quite different direction. Then the investigation starts for real – examining the tunnel and the carriage where the event took place, examining the body and effects, the mystery of the missing ticket – all giving lovely food for thought and opportunity to build theories. Throughout the rest of the novel, we are presented with interviews of those involved in one way or another, forensic evidence including ballistics and the opinions of handwriting and typewriter experts. Each piece of additional evidence or testimony adds to or modifies theories of whodunnit and why – finally after much debate and a red-herring or two - points to the who and the why. I did, at least, suspect the person who had the final finger pointed at them. I couldn’t really say with any great confidence why exactly I suspected them of being a baddie, but they seemed to be in the right place at the right/wrong time a little too often. I’m guessing that I would have finger pointed correctly eventually! The ending, when it came, was completely satisfactory and I honestly closed the book with a smile on my face. If you like evidence led police investigations and chewing over theories with the investigators themselves this is definitely the book for you. One of the best of the BLCC books I’ve read, and I’ll definitely be looking out for more books in this detective's series as well as more by this author. Highly recommended to all Classic crime buffs.