Death is No Sportsman

Originally published in 1938, Death is No Sportsman is an early novel by Cyril Hare, one of the best-loved Golden Age crime writers. The banks of the river Didder in the summertime seem, at first glance, idyllic: the sun is shining and the trout are rising. But then the body of a local landowner is discovered, and the peaceful surface of the countryside is shattered. It soon becomes apparent that there are quite a few local people who disliked the deceased man, but which one of them actually murdered him? Inspector White, always deeply suspicious of the country, is brought in from Scotland Yard. Although quick to disentangle the complex relationships linking the suspects and the victim, it is only by mastering the subtleties of fly fishing that he uncovers the evidence to lead him to the killer. Lovers of crime novels and fishing alike will delight in Hare's ingenious mystery, and the Daily Mail enthused upon original publication that 'the identity of the murderer is really a surprise'.