Murder Strikes Pink is the third and final book in the (Chief) Inspector Flecker mystery series. Unlike Gin and Murder and They Died In The Spring, the horse element is the most strongest out of the 3. It was first published in 1963, though the image shown is an 1990 reprint. It was republished in 2016 by Greyladies and was available as an ebook in 2017 by Endeavour Press. Sadly that ebook is unavailable but the entire series was made available in a boxset entitled Home Counties Mysteries in 2025 by Lume Press.
The blurb reads:-
Rich and embittered Theodora Thistleton, constantly brow-beat her secretaries. Where she found fault she not only judged, but tried to punish. Perhaps she deserved to die? At least one other person thought so strongly enough to kill her, and it was the task of Detective Chief-Inspector Flecker to find the murderer. Miss Thistleton had inspired hate in all who came into contact with her, and the more Flecker's investigations progressed, the more he was inclined to sympathise with the murderer.
The first chapter sets the scene by taking place at a horse show. Theodora Thistleton or T.T. has a string of people riding her horses. She is taken ill at the horse show and subsequently dies.
The next chapter starts with a Detective-Superintendent called Jackson who starts the case. The cause of death is revealed. A Marion Keswick is investigated; she was T.T.'s driver to the show. It is also revealed that she has recently spilt up with her husband, an Lawrence Keswick who coincidentally is a beneficiary of T.T's will as they were cousins. Lawrence Keswick is interviewed, too. Then a piece of evidence is found in the horsebox used in the show; it is found to belong to a Marion Keswick. It seems to be all sewn up that the killer is indeed Marion Keswick.
The next chapter introduces Chief Inspector Flecker's involvement in the case. He sets about interviewing the suspects. This takes up a fair amount of the book, during which another potential murder weapon is revealed. Eventually the killer is revealed, without giving too much away, it is not Marion Keswick. There is more to the story however.
To me it was less controversial in some waya than the previous offering. It touches on subjects such as adoption and single motherhood, which were frowned upon at the time of writing. Generally everything is sewn up albeit the ending is a bit abrupt. Not a bad effort overall.
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