Martin, LW and Lynravn, NS (1912-1970) -- Murder on Mount Capita

According to the National Library of Australia:

NORMAN SÖREN LYNRAVN (1912-1970), librarian and author, was born on 26 April 1912 in South Melbourne, fourth child of Jens Sörensen Lyng, draughtsman, and his Victorian-born wife Gertrude Eleanor, née Burrowes. Jens had come to Australia from Denmark in 1891, worked in turn as a newspaper editor and public servant, and published several books, two of them on non-British immigrants in Australia. Norman was educated at the Central School, Caulfield North, Melbourne High School and Canberra University College (B.A., 1937). In 1929 he joined the Federal Capital Commission, Canberra, as a junior clerk and in the following year transferred to the Parliamentary Library of which the Commonwealth National Library (later National Library of Australia) formed part.

Lincoln William Martin was born in March 1908 in Boulder, Western Australia.

Murder on Mount Capita is their only collaboration and apparently Martin's only venture into fiction.

The book is set in wartime Australia and has plenty of local colour. A newly-recruited Ambulance Corps is training at an army base in rural NSW. Captain Sylvester takes his squad of eight men on a tough hike to the top of a nearby mountain. They camp overnight near the top and set off next morning for the summit; but Sylvester, in the lead, stumbles, acts wildly for a moment, then plunges to his death. Reports that Sylvester had been drinking lead the camp commander to call for a post-mortem examination; and when this reveals poison, the Sydney CID is summoned, in the shape of Inspector Ashton.

Ashton does a thorough and reasonably competent job, and apart from a surprising abundance of motives, the book is plausible and entertaining. The characters are well-drawn, save for an occasional touch of melodrama, and the unfolding history of the murdered man never becomes too unlikely. The regional setting and the scenes in the army base -- Laurence's contribution? -- also help to set it apart from other mysteries. Very solid and competent for a first attempt: what a shame there wasn't a second.

Jon.