Death on Heron’s Mere (1941) by Mary Fitt

Today I am reviewing my book club’s choice for September. I haven’t read anything by Mary Fitt since 2021 and even then, I have only really dabbled with the odd title or two. I loved Three Sisters Flew Home (1936), but I was less impressed with Requiem for Robert (1942). Death on Heron’s Mere falls between these two books I feel. I was curious to see how the industrial espionage element worked out, as due to the government and military links mentioned, it put me in mind of the later novel, The Key (1944) by Patricia Wentworth. Regarding Death on Heron’s Mere, The Saturday Review of Literature opined that the book had ‘flawless writing and believable characters’ but the ‘action [was] leisurely except for strenuous climax.’ I hadn’t really appreciated how many mysteries Fitt wrote, but apparently there were 29. In addition, there appears to be a ‘collection of Superintendent Mallett “cat mystery” short stories’ called The Man who Shot Birds.