Bloody Instructions by Sara Woods

Written later than most of the Golden Age of Mysteries so many of us enjoy, Bloody Instructions is the appealing launch of 48 books about an attractive young barrister, Antony Maitland, a barrister, who practices with his distinguished (and sometimes curmudgeonly) uncle, Sir Nicholas Harding. Sent on an errand to the firm of solicitors with whom they frequently work, Antony expects nothing more than a cup of tea but is still there when mild-mannered solicitor James Winter is discovered with a knife in his back!

Antony does not expect to get drawn into the investigation of the murder but he is one of several witnesses to what was going on in the office. In addition, one of his friends works for Winter and acted suspiciously on the fatal day. And Dennis Dowling, another of Winter’s employees, has an added complication – his father, Joe Dowling, a noted Shakespearean actor currently playing Macbeth (which is where the title comes from), had an argument with Winter right before his death.

Antony and his wife, Jenny, share a London home with his uncle – separate flats but lots of visiting – so there is plenty of opportunity for them to discuss the murder and resulting investigation. I really enjoyed the relationship between Antony and his uncle, a brilliant courtroom lawyer, who winds up defending Joe Dowling from a murder charge.  Antony worries that police think Joe is guilty and his fame will be used against him:

"I can think of at least three men, offhand - not counting Uncle Nick - who could have the toughest jury believing in a picture of Joe crying, 'Is this a dagger that I see before me,' and rushing off wildly to stick it into anyone he happened to be annoyed with at the moment."

The investigating detectives’ belief that Antony is lying about what he saw add another layer of complications to the proceedings (I found the plot hard to follow at the end but because I liked the characters I didn’t mind too much - maybe there are clues I missed). Although the book was published in 1961, it takes place soon after WWII. Jenny and Antony got married during the war and she drove an ambulance while he fought overseas; she is aware that an injury still bother him although he won’t admit it. It will be interesting to see how she develops in later books: in this one she overcomes her shyness to express a great deal of curiosity about the murder and she also seems to be a stabilizing influence on her more flippant husband and his uncle.

Sara Woods (1922-85) attended Catholic school in Yorkshire and worked as a solicitor’s clerk during the war, which adds authenticity to her stories. She and her husband moved to Canada in 1958, and she subsequently began writing crime fiction. Toward the end of her life, she lived in Niagara-on-the-Lake, which I visited several years ago with my family.  As a lawyer myself, it is entertaining to read about barristers and solicitors.

This is my second book of the year for the Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge. It did not come in time for Dean Street December but it was just as good a read for early January.

Title: Bloody Instructions
Author: Sara Woods
Publication: Dean Street Press, trade paperback, 2024 (originally published in 1961)
Genre: Mystery
Source: Library