Bush, Christopher - Dead Man Twice (1930)

Review by Nick Fuller

4/5

The reader who, like this critic, loathes sport in whatever form it takes, should not be put off by the excess of boxing at the beginning of this story. Once the double murder of the same man, which claims another victim, is committed, involving a coincidence as hard to swallow as cyanide - laced whiskey, a good solid investigation is underfoot that demonstrates Bush’s mastery of the onion technique. Franklin comes across as a jolly idiot, Wharton is ingenious (notably in Chapter XVII), and Travers is only peripherally involved. Although the murderers are obvious well before the end, interest does not flag; and the final solution, solved by Wharton and Travers simultaneously yet working from different angles, involves a good mechanical device, of the sort that would work.