Family Matters

Fans of golden-age cozies will be delighted by this engrossing mystery, first published in 1933, from Rolls (the pseudonym of C.E. Vulliamy). The opening sections of this British Library Crime Classics reissue portray the unsettled household of the Kewdingham family in the town of Shufflecester. Most of the stress stems from the family’s eccentric and aggravating patriarch, Robert, who has found himself at loose ends after being let go from his position as an engineer after more than two decades. Instead of looking for new work, however, Robert has spent his time collecting junk and broadcasting his belief that he once lived in Atlantis. Concise but evocative word-pictures of the characters enhance the plot. For example, a doctor speaks with “a studied modulation, picking his words in a delicate though snappy fashion, like a smart little bird picking up grains on the tin floor of a cage.” Although Rolls (Scarweather) takes his time building up to the murder, he rewards readers’ patience with a clever and satisfying resolution. (May)