No Wind of Blame

Inspectors Hannasyde & Hemingway 5

A weekend shooting party gathers together a rich assortment of characters including Wally Carter and his wife Ermyntrude, the precocious schoolgirl Vicky, the quick-witted Mary, Sir William Dering, and Alexis Varasashvil, a Russian prince. Interests clash and a whiff of a scandalous blackmail letter hangs in the air. Unfortunately, it seems that on this occasion, the marksmen's quarry is destined to be human.

Tragedy befalls the Carter family when Wally was killed. No one cared that Wally Carter was dead. Pity. But someone had cared enough to shoot him through the chest. Who the devil could it be?

The superlatively analytical Inspector Hemingway is confronted by a murder that seems impossible -- no one was near the murder weapon at the time the shot was fired. But everyone on the scene seems to have a motive, not to mention the wherewithal to commit murder, and alibis that simply don't hold up. The inspector is sorely tried by a wide variety of suspects, including the neglected rich widow, Ermyntrude, the neighbor who's in love with her, her resentful daughter, and a patently phony Russian prince preying on the widow's emotional vulnerability and social aspirations. And then there's the blackmail plot that may -- or may not -- be at the heart of the case... The inspector reveals his unnerving talent for solving a fiendish difficult problem, like such as how to shoot a man crossing a narrow bridge without being near the murder weapon when it is fired.