Everything to Hide by K V Martins

 

The night was dark and stormy …

The year was 1933. Guests had assembled in Roland Cuthbert Barry’s mansion on his private island in the Hawkesbury River for his sixtieth-birthday dinner.  On the outside, back in the real world, Australia’s ordinary citizens were struggling to survive the Great Depression while the Barry family lived on their island like kings and Roland, impresario, entrepreneur and amateur Egyptologist was free to indulge his passion for the study of mummification.

Detective Senior Sergeant Harold Chesterfield was attending the party incognito to investigate the source of a series of death threats which Roland Barry had received.

Everything to Hide is a hugely entertaining novel. K V Martins has created a suitably eerie atmosphere: heavy rain and lightning strikes cutting off electric power to the island, and the Hawkesbury River flooding, preventing guests from getting back to the mainland. The guests are all beautifully illustrated, in several cases by comparing their likenesses to film stars of the day. DS Chesterfield narrates the story and, to my delight, he shares his thoughts on the proceedings with Ben, an English Pointer whose spotty coat makes him look like a Dalmatian, and whom he is minding while Ben’s owner is overseas.

A crime is committed and the detective interviews each suspect separately. The interviews are all enlightening and I very much enjoyed getting to each one, although the endless cups of tea were making me feel waterlogged. Ben the dog sleeping by the fire through all the interviews added a cosy touch to an otherwise bleak day. Fortunately, the mansion had a large stock of candles, awaiting the restoration of electric power.

Congratulations on a terrific read, K V Martins! I’ll have to go back now and try to find Detective Chesterfield’s earlier adventures.

Published by Aroona Group Press.