Inspector Mallett

Tenant for Death (1937) was the debut crime novel by 'Cyril Hare', nom de plume of Alfred Gordon Clark and one of the best-loved names in English 'Golden Age' crime writing.

Two young estate agent's clerks are sent to check an inventory on a house in Daylesford Gardens, South Kensington. Upon arrival, they find an unlisted item - a corpse. Furthermore, the mysterious tenant, Colin James, has disappeared. In a tale which uncovers many of the seedier aspects of the world of high finance, Hare also introduces his readers to the formidable Inspector Mallett of Scotland Yard.

Upon the novel's first publication the Times Literary Supplement praised Tenant for Death as 'a most ingenious story' while the Spectator celebrated its 'wit, fair play, and characterization' and also declared that 'a new star has risen'.

The banks of the river Didder in the summertime appear idyllic: the sun is shining, the trout rising. But when the body of a local landowner is discovered, the peace of the countryside is shattered. It soon becomes apparent that quite a few local people disliked the deceased.

Inspector Mallett is brought in from Scotland Yard to find the killer; and, though quick to disentangle the complex relationships linking suspects and victim, Mallett must master the subtleties of fly-fishing in order to uncover the incriminating evidence he seeks. 

Inspector Mallett's stay at the country house hotel of Pendlebury Old Hall has been a disappointment. Room, food and service have been a letdown and he eagerly anticipates the end of his holiday. His last trial is to sit and listen when an elderly and boorish man, whose family once owned the house, joins his table. The next day the man is dead and Mallett unwittingly finds himself investigating the suspicious 'suicide'.