The hanging captain's death is believed to be a suicide (possibly due to impotence, a desire to frame his wife's lover, or financial difficulties), until a Priestleyish guest proves murder, much to the horror of the Chief Constable, who wishes to hush it all up. There are only two suspects, who, of course, each need a detective to follow their trail: an interesting technique that, dividing the reader's sympathies between the cocky and impetuous Lott and the unimaginatively logical Dawle, focuses the interest on the detection without the need for any silly most unlikely culprit. Despite the central plateau where Lott checks the High Sheriff's theatrical Birmingham alibi, one can only applaud Wade's cunning manipulation of alibis, motives and circumstantial evidence.Why doesn't Lott consider that the Braston tyre mark could have been made before the night of the crime?
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