The Black Stage by Anthony Gilbert

 Oh, comforting - killing night!
Black stage for tragedies and murder fell!
                       - Shakespeare

 
Alistair and Anne Vereker returned home from fighting in World War II to find a situation which treatened the stability of their home and the lives of all its occupants.  Alistair had been in the military, and Anne had been a driver for military personnel in the Balkans. Four Acres, their home, was the residence of Tessa Goodier, their aunt, who was one of those helpless females who seemed incapable of understanding the more practical things of life. Her affairs had been managed by Mrs.  Dutchley, a reliable and practical woman who was the housekeeper. In Alistair's absence, the estate had been managed by the rather incompetent Mr. Bledsoe. Also living in the house, was cousin Alicia who was young and totally untrained for any occupation whatsoever.

Upon their arrival, Alistair and Anne met the two new guests of the house. There was James Goodier who was the brother of Tessa's late husband. James had spent the war years in the safety of South America and had returned to England to get the money from Tessa which he felt that he should have received in his brother's will. The greatest threat came from Lewis Bishop. Tessa said that she was in love with Bishop and that she was going to marry him. She was already giving Bishop full rights to manage Four Acres and to decide its future. Bishop wanted to sell Four Acres to an industrial concern, and after the sale, he and Tessa would move to London. Alistair felt that Four Acres should be his, Mrs. Dutchley and Alicia would lose their home, Mr. Bledsoe would lose his job, and Anne, who had know Bishop during the war, realized that he was holding a dreadful secret about her. It is no wonder that someone killed Bishop. The police found out about Anne's secret, and arrested her for the murder.

Alistair went to the lawyer, Arthur Crook, hoping that he could find a way to defend Anne. Crook believed that the only was to establish the innocence of a client was to find the guilty party, and began an investigation.  Crook wears a rather disreputable brown suit, enjoys drinking beer, and sometimes resorts to unscrupulous methods to solve crimes. He is quite middle class, and the other characters in the book tended to look down upon him. I found this book  to be well written with good plotting and intelligent conversations.

Anthony Gilbert was the pen name of Lucy Beatrice Malleson who was an early member of the Detection Club.  Her first novel featuring Crook was Murder by Experts and was published in 1936. The Black Stage was published in 1945.  Her books are no longer in print, and I found this copy at Alibris. I hope that some publisher brings her works back into print.