A Night of Errors by Michael Innes (1947)

After the disappointing re-read of The Weight of the Evidence and the unspectacular and unreviewed “Appleby’s End” this re-read was a definite return to form for Innes.

In 1933 Ellery Queen gave us twins and a fire; here Innes ups the ante and gives us triplets and multiple conflagrations. The opening section is quite leisurely but from the point that the recently retired Appleby is called in as a consultant in the middle of the night it is all go-go-go.

Appleby’s reasoning is not flawless and he is surprised on occasion but ultimately he is able to untangle the threads of the mystery and present the real story of the Dromio Affair.

I had forgotten the solution and whilst the clues are there it would be quite hard to pull them together but nevertheless I found it very satisfying.

Vintage Mystery Challenge

Fulfils “When – Time/date in the title”