The Widow of Bath

by Margot Bennett, Martin Edwards (Introduction)

Overview

When an old flame comes calling, Hugh Everton is powerless to resist.

Hugh Everton was intent on nothing more than quietly drinking in the second-rate hotel he found himself in on England's south coast—and then in walked his old flame Lucy and her new husband and ex-judge, Gregory Bath. Entreated by Lucy to join her party for an evening back at the Bath residence, Hugh is powerless to resist, but when the night ends with the judge's inexplicable murder, he is pitched back into a world of chaos and crime—a world he had tried to escape for good.

When Lucy's husband dies of mysterious circumstances, Hugh finds himself questioning whether she is responsible for the untimely death, and if so, how she managed it.

First published in 1952, The Widow of Bath offers intricate puzzles, international intrigue, and a richly evoked portrait of post-war Britain, all delivered with Bennett's signature brand of witty and elegant prose. This edition includes an introduction by CWA Diamond Dagger Award-winning author Martin Edwards.

"What lingers most in the mind is the arch dialogue, which is so relentlessly witty that some readers will lick their lips with incredulous gusto."— Kirkus Reviews

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781728261096
Publisher:	Sourcebooks
Publication date:	07/05/2022
Series:	British Library Crime Classics
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	382,682
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Margot Bennett was a Scottish crime and thriller writer and CWA Gold Dagger award winner for Someone from the Past in 1958. Many of her novels were adapted for television, with Bennett writing several of the screenplays herself. 

Editorial Reviews

"[T]he postwar details and astute character sketches make this a worthwhile read." — Booklist

"Those who love it will be eternally grateful to the British Library Crime Classics for digging it up." — Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2022-04-12
A disgraced underling of the British Embassy meets up again with his betrayers—but this time the danger’s not to him.

While he was stationed in Paris during World War II, Hugh Everton refused a proposal from Freddy Ronson that he do a bit of illegal smuggling in return for some cash that Everton needed very much. Next thing he knew, he’d been fished from the Seine and was on his way to prison. Now, reviewing hotels for a travel agency back in England, he runs into Lucy Bath, the bewitching woman who’d touched him for a loan, leaving him short back in Paris, and her retinue, which includes her husband, retired judge Gregory Bath; the judge’s niece, Jan Deverell, who’d befriended Everton in Paris; Lucy’s friend Gerald Cady; and hotel owner Col. Atkinson, who looks an awful lot like a freshly groomed Freddy Ronson. Yielding to Lucy’s pressing invitation, Everton accompanies the party back to her place, where, shortly after an intimate dialogue with Everton, her husband is killed. Bennett’s novel, originally published in 1952, turns up the cleverness at every turn. The plot behind the judge’s murder is mind-bogglingly complex, the subsequent developments a series of canny bait-and-switches, the observation of the familiar character types acidulous, and the killer deftly hidden till the very end. What lingers most in the mind is the arch dialogue, which is so relentlessly witty that some readers will lick their lips with incredulous gusto while those craving greater realism make for the exits.

A polarizing find, but those who love it will be eternally grateful to the British Library Crime Classics for digging it up.

Kirkus Reviews