#1976Club: Home to Roost

Home to Roost by Andrew Garve isn't a straightforward mystery or detective story, more of a suspense novel. This is the first book I have read by this author. I was fascinated by this book, and I will be reading more of Garve's novels. This is the first book I read for the 1976 Club, hosted by Simon at Stuck in a Book and Karen at Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings.

These are the first sentences of the book:

This is an account of how Max Ryland got himself murdered, and what happened afterwards. For obvious reasons, the manuscript will not see the light of day until all the people concerned are dead and forgotten; I have taken steps to ensure that. You may think, dear reader, that as a story it builds up rather slowly but -- so does a hurricane.

Walter Haines narrates this book. He has written an account of his marriage to Laura Franklin and what happens afterward. First he gives us some background of his early life. He starts out as a newspaper reporter, but leaves that to try writing novels, and eventually does well enough to support himself with his writing. Then he meets Laura. They get married, and the early years of their marriage are happy. After a few years their marriage becomes shaky, for a variety of reasons. 

At a cocktail party they meet the charming and well-known actor, Max Ryland. The three become friends, and Walter and Laura visit Max's weekend home on the coast, where he has a sailboat. Soon, Max has enticed Laura to leave Walter. Nothing unusual in that, except that very shortly it is obvious that Max has been using Laura, and she leaves him also. A few weeks later, Walter goes on a vacation to Portugal to attempt to recover from the end of his marriage to Laura. When he returns, he finds that Max Ryland has been found dead at his house on the coast.

It turns out that Max is a real cad and has many enemies, and there are plenty of suspects, but Walter is at the top of the list. Unfortunately, for the police, Walter's alibi is very good. Then another man confesses to the murder, and Walter decides to confess also, saying that he does not want someone else to pay for his crime. He provides proof that he could have carried out the crime. Neither man will withdraw their confession. 

My thoughts:

This is a very short book, under 200 pages, with a very complex plot that can be confusing, but it a concise story with no padding thrown in. I enjoyed it a lot and found many things to like.

Although the subject is serious, the story is told with subtle humor, in the descriptions of Walter's life and the events leading up to the disintegration of his marriage.

At least in this book, Andrew Garve was a very good plotter and could tell a good story, but wasn't strong on developing characters. However, since the story is told in first person, we do get to know Walter Haines, the narrator, very well. 

The ending of this book is ambiguous, and some reviewers criticize that aspect. In this case, that aspect did not bother me at all. I feel that the author leaves it up to the reader to decide, and that worked for me.

Andrew Garve is a pseudonym of Paul Winterton, who wrote over 40 detective and adventure books between 1938 and 1978. This was close to his last published book. Paul Winterton also wrote as Roger Bax. I have more of his books to try, No Tears for Hilda and Murder through the Looking Glass by Andrew Garve, and Blueprint for Murder as Roger Bax. All of those are from much earlier in his writing career.

Also see:

• John Higgins' overview of Andrew Garve's writing at Promoting Crime Fiction. It has a review of this book towards the end which does have spoilers. Just a warning.
• Curtis Evans' overview of Andrew Garve's writing at The Passing Tramp.
• Kate Jackson's review at Crossexamingcrime.

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Publisher:  Penguin Books, 1978 (orig. pub. 1976). 
Length:     182 pages
Format:     Paperback
Setting:     UK
Genre:      Crime fiction
Source:    I purchased this book.