What Happened at Hazelwood, Michael Innes. Penguin Books (ISBN: 9780140026504) 1968 (first published 1946).

Summary: The master of Hazelwood Hall is murdered shortly after Australian relatives join a manor of people who hate him.

What Happened at Hazelwood is Michael Innes’ version of a country manor murder mystery. One of the unusual features is that the story is narrate by two narrators in three parts. Firstly, Lady Simney, the unhappy actress wife of the murdered Sir George Simney narrates events up to the murder. Then the assistant of Inspector Cadover (no Appleby!) narrates their investigation. Finally, Lady Simney narrates the denouement, an ending that surprises her as well as many readers.

Sir George Simney is the master of Hazelwood Hall, the ancestral country seat of the Simney’s. Sir George is not well-liked and the household an unhappy one. As a young man, he ventured to Australia, surviving an accident killing his brother Denzell, pulling off a swindle of relatives known as the Dismal Swamp affair, and landing back in England as Lord of the manor. His butler Alfred Owden has a son, Timmy, who looks like a Simney. A widowed sister, Lucy, has a son, Mervyn, who could be a twin of Timmy. There is also an unmarried sister Grace, who in cohoots with the local vicar, wants to stamp out sin in the manor. A younger brother, Bevis is also visiting, with his artist son Willoughby.

A fight breaks out among them at dinner, only to be interrupted by the arrival of Australian relatives. Hippias Simney is accompanied by his son Gerard and Gerard’s wife, Joyleen, who subsequently has a flirtation with George. Immediately, a quarrel breaks out about the Dismal Swamp. And later that night, an encounter with the guests results in Albert dropping a tray full of crystal.

Without going into all the doings of the next unhappy day, the household turns in on a snowy night. Then Alfred enters Sir George’s library, bring refreshment as he is accustomed to do when he discovers Sir George dead from a blow to the back of the head. There is a look of surprise and terror on the dead man’s face.

Cadover’s assistant then picks up the narrative. He renders the account of the household’s whereabouts and movements. There are tracks in the snow to explain as well as a pair of boots in Sir George’s safe (and nothing else). The arrival of an old flame of Lady Simney’s in town adds another wrinkle. The problem is, while there are a lot of subjects, the evidence on hand does not clearly point at any of them.

Lady Simney narrates the final part. One more person dies. Timmy reads a letter. Cadover unravels the manner of Simney’s death. All of this is full of surprises for the readers, and for some of the characters.

This book was uncharacteristic for those of Innes I have read. He takes a long time to unfold the plot. I found implausible a number of elements. The change of narrators seemed a bit clumsy. Yet I liked the conclusion. But it just seemed that the plot to get there was not as elegant as other Innes books.