Lewis, Lange - Murder Among Friends (1942)

published in the UK as Death Among Friends (1950)

Admirable debut by this writer of fair play detective novels. Her interest in the academic world shows up at least three times in her work.  Here we have a story of a medical college and a close group of students who all knew murder victim Garnet Dillon, the secretary to the Dean of Students, a bit too familiarly. The students and professors all ring true and though the book is clearly the product of the 1940s it nonetheless has a sharp modern feel.  Lange shows a prescience for what would soon become the contemporary trend of focussing a detective novel on the life of the victim rather than the clues surrounding the actual crime. The victim in the end is rendered as a tragic figure. Only the most unfeeling of readers will find her plight lacking in poignancy.

Full review at the blog Pretty Sinister Books here.

J F Norris