Back to the good old whodunnit

Long before the age of irony the novel meted out just punishment, or at least linked effect to cause. These functions have long since devolved to the murder mystery, which combines gruesome reality with superior logic, leaving logic the upper hand. The rules may have changed, but the stereotypes — the small town with its confected name, the aristocratic sleuth, the unloved victim — are all present in Susan Hill’s strikingly old-fashioned debut novel as a writer of detective stories. A respected and prize-winning author, she has reinvented herself as a purveyor of middle-class, middlebrow mysteries, complete with all the stereotypes listed above. Why she has decided to do this is unclear, but the fact that this novel, which runs to over 400 pages, is the first of a series will delight her faithful readers. It can be read with ease, can encourage only the most limited speculation, and will be enjoyed by those so disheartened by present-day realities that any sign of tradition will be as welcome as a cup of sweet tea after a night of bad dreams.