Review – Murder in the Maze

Murder in the Mazeby J.J. ConningtonGenres: Crime, Mystery Pages: 240 Rating: Synopsis: When twin brothers Roger and Neville Shandon are murdered by poisoned darts in Whistlefield's famous hedge maze, Sir Clinton Driffield arrives to restore order. He finds two terrified witnesses - visitors to the estate - and clues aplenty in this brilliantly conceived and meticulously realized country-house mystery. J.J. Connington’s Murder in the Maze is the second book I’ve read by him, if I recall correctly, and I admit I’d expected slightly better from what I remembered of The Ha-Ha Case — though admittedly that was a later book. This is the first one featuring Sir Clinton Driffield, and it suffered from both culprit and detective being incredibly obvious. There are a few efforts at misdirection that just don’t come off because they’re incredibly obvious. I think the story does try to lampshade this a bit by the “Watson” character realising what Driffield’s up to belatedly, but… the reader…