When the Wind Blows by Cyril Hare

It was a great loss to the world of classical music when the excellent violinist Lucy Carless was murdered shortly before she was due to perform the Mendelssohn violin concerto with the Markshire orchestra.

Francis Pettigrew was a lawyer who had retired from the bustle of London to the town of Markhampton. His wife Eleanor was an amateur violinist who had joined the Markshire symphony orchestra. Francis was drafted to be the honorary treasurer of the orchestra committee even though he had no financial skills, and only a mild interest in classical music. It was in this position that he witnessed the events leading up to the murder. Clayton Evans, the conductor of the orchestra, proposed a program for the season's first concert which would include a Handel organ piece, the Mozart Prague symphony, and the Mendelssohn concerto. This was quite agreeable to the orchestra committee though there was some doubt about the ability of the organist, Mr. Ventry, to perform the organ piece. There was also a problem with the woodwinds. The orchestra was mainly composed of amateur performers who were mainly string players. It was thus necessary to hire brass and woodwind players for concerts, and the orchestra was short a clarinet player. It was decided to hire a Polish refugee, Mr. Zbartorowski, who had been playing with a local popular music group.

Problems started developing when the orchestra committee held a reception before the concert to welcome Lucy Carless to Markhampton. It turned out that Mr. Dixon, a member of the orchestra committee, had been Lucy's husband before they divorced. Both had since remarried and their new spouses were also at the reception. Also Lucy Carless was Polish, and she and Mr Zbartorowski had a violent argument, and he refused to play in the concert with her. Now the orchestra was again short one clarinet player, and arrangements were made to hire one from a nearby town.

Then the day of the concert arrived and things went totally wrong. The concert was supposed to start with the Handel, but Mr. Ventry did not arrive in time so the program was reversed and started with the Mozart symphony. The new clarinet player did arrive but was  a bit late. When it was time for the violin concerto, Lucy Carless was discovered to have been strangled in the room off stage where she had been waiting to perform.

Now the police took over the investigation. Inspector Trimble was new to the district, and was a bit insecure. He was assisted by Sargent Tate who was experienced and who believed that Trimble was incapable of doing any thing correctly. Trimble feared that the Chief Constable, Mr. MacWilliam, did not believe that he was capable of solving the crime. Indeed, Mr. MacWilliam didn't, and asked Francis Pettigrew for assistance. He knew that Pettigrew had helped the police in other investigations, and he asked Pettigrew to look over the evidence but to never let Trimble find out that he was helping. The relationship of these investigators with each other was one of the most interesting points of the book.

The murderer is, of course, found with both Pettigrew and Trimble contributing to the solution. The reader with a knowledge of Mozart symphonies, of Dickens, and of British law may be able to work out the solution. The actual commission of the crime was rather intricate and involved. I had trouble with two witnesses who could have provided much needed information but who had "poor eye sight".  There are rather few mysteries which involve the world of classical music, and this book is an interesting addition to this group.

Cyril Hare is the pen name of Alfred Alexander Gordon Clark. Clark was a lawyer and eventually a judge. He started writing mystery novels in 1937 with the publication of his first mystery Tenant for Death. This book was published in 1949, and is no longer in print. Used copies are available.