A Crime Classic – The Belting Inheritance

Julian Symons’ The Belting Inheritance has just been rereleased as part of the British Library Crime Classics series, and, in the United States, by Poisoned Pen Press. Martin Edwards wrote the introduction to the new edition. You can order it through the Web Store. https://bit.ly/2BUofc2

Here’s the summary of The Belting Inheritance.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MARTIN EDWARDS

‘Cleverly told … brilliant character work and plotting up to the usual Symons standard.’ ““ Observer

Lady Wainwright presides over the gothic gloom at Belting, in mourning for her two sons lost in the Second World War. Long afterwards a stranger arrives at Belting, claiming to be the missing David Wainwright – who was not killed after all, but held captive for years in a Russian prison camp. With Lady Wainwright’s health fading, her inheritance is at stake, and the family is torn apart by doubts over its mysterious long-lost son. Belting is shadowed by suspicion and intrigue – and then the first body is found. 

This atmospheric novel of family secrets, first published in 1964, is by a winner of the CWA Diamond Dagger.

*****

Les Blatt recently reviewed The Belting Inheritance for Classic Mysteries. You can either read his review on the blog, https://www.classicmysteries.net/2018/12/the-belting-inheritance.html or listen to the podcast, https://traffic.libsyn.com/classicmysteries/BeltingInheritance.mp3.