Death of a Mystery Writer by Robert Barnard

Sir Oliver Fairleigh-Stubbs was a very successful author of mystery novels. In his personal life, Sir Oliver was a difficult person for both his family and for other people whom he came in contact with. He was snobbish, overbearing, and insulting. He tried to control the members of his family with a stern hand, but was not very successful. His wife Eleanor had put up with his tantrums for many years. His older son Mark was an alcoholic who was unable to keep a job. Recently, Mark had declared in the local pub that his father should be shot. His younger son Terrance was into popular music. His only daughter Bella was his favorite child. She worked for a magazine, The Gardening Gazette.

The family had gathered to celebrate Sir Oliver's birthday, and Sir Oliver had promised Eleanor that he would be on his best behavior. In addition to the family, Ben Woodstock, a young author, and his wife had been invited for the occasion. Ben was hoping that Sir Oliver would help him to find a good publisher. The meal had gone well except for Mark who got drunk. Actually, Mark was drunk when he arrived at the dinner table, and proceeded to get drunker.

After the dinner was finished, the family moved to the study for coffee and drinks while Sir Oliver opened his gifts. Mark only moved because Terrance and Bella took firm hold of him and practically carried him to the study, and when Mark got there, he sat in a chair and went to sleep. Sir Oliver offered his guests his favorite liquor, lakka, which was made from Finnish cloudberries. Eleanor described it as disgustingly sweet and everybody turned it down. Sir Oliver drank his lakka, and fell down dead.

An autopsy showed that Sir Oliver had been poisoned. Chief Inspector Meredith arrived to solve the mystery of how poison could have been put in the lakka when the liquor cabinet was kept locked all the time because of Mark's drinking habit. The reading of the will created new hostilities in this disfunctional family. One son inherited just about everything while Lady Eleanor and two of the children each inherited the rights to one of Sir Oliver's mysteries. Lady Eleanor had the rights to a mystery titled The Black Widow. The curious thing was this novel had never been published, and nobody could find a copy of it.

I very much liked Chief Inspector Meredith. He has a pragmatic approach to solving the crime, as he interviews the family, their employees, members of Sir Oliver's publishing company, and even people from Sir Oliver's past.  This methodical approach paid off in finding the murderer and The Black Widow.

This book was published in 1978. In Great Britain the title was Unruly Son. Robert Barnard published his first mystery novel, Death of an Old Goat, in 1974, and wrote over 40 more mystery novels. He was awarded the Cartier Diamond Dagger by the Crime Writers Association in 2003 for lifetime achievement.