Heads You Lose by Christianna Brand

Stephen Pendock was entertaining guests at his home, Pigeonsford, in Cornwall.  Lady Hart, who had been a friend of his family for years, was there with her two granddaughters Fran and Venetia. Henry Gold, Venetia's husband, was also there as was James Nicoll who was a rather sleepy looking young man who was in the British Army and spending his leave with Pendock.

Grace Morland was on the porch of the house painting yet another picture of the church tower in the snow. Grace rented a cottage from Pendock, and was in love with him. Fran came out of the house to look at the picture, and she exclaimed that Grace was painting a picture of the woods where a kitchen maid had been killed the previous summer. The poor girl had been beheaded with a large scythe, and the murderer had never been found. Grace hated Fran because Pendock, who was fifty, was in love with Fran who was lovely and only in her twenties. Indeed, Grace disliked everybody in the party except for Pendock.
 
 The group moved into the house to have tea, and Fran showed off her new and stylish hat. Grace had reached the end of her patience at this point and her jealousy of Fran showed when Grace said that she "wouldn't be seen dead in a ditch" in that hat. After this comment, Grace left the gathering and returned home. The group had dinner and played cards until ten thirty, and then apparently all went to bed.  Late in the night, Bunsen, the butler, returned from visiting his sick sister and found the body of Grace Morland, dead in a ditch and wearing Fran's hat. Grace had been decapitated.

Enter Inspector Cockrill, "a little brown man" who was said to have a heart of gold under his gruff exterior. He was know to the residents of the village as Cockie.  He had know Grace Morland for many years and thought of her as a "sentimental goat". The day after Grace was murdered, a young woman who had been staying with Grace showed up at Pendock's house. She was Pippi Le May who was Grace's cousin, and a slightly successful character actress on the West End stage. That evening, Miss Le May was also murdered and decapitated.

We now have six people who could be possible murderers, Pendock, Fran, Venetia, Henry, James, and Lady Hart. The butler, Bunsen, had been eliminated from suspicion.  None of them believed that any of the others could have committed the crimes. Both Pendock and James are in love with Fran, would like to marry her, and fear very much for her safety. Family secrets are exposed as the investigation contines.  Cockie and the members of the group come up with ways that the murder could have been committed; all of these are in one way or another unsatisfactory. I found the solution of the murders to be somewhat unsatisfactory, but it was unexpected.

This book was written in 1940, and is currently available an an ebook.  It was the first appearance of Inspector Cockrill. In this book, he is so relaxed, and so accepted by the group, that he seems to be more of a friend of the family than a police detective.

I have read this book for the 2015 Vintage Mystery Bingo Challenge in the category of a book set in England or the US.