The Knocker on Death’s Door
The Knocker on Death’s Door (The Felse Investigations, 10), Ellis Peters. Mysterious Press (ISBN: 9781504027151) 2015, first published in 1970.
Summary: Felse investigates two assaults, one a murder, by a church door that has a legend associated with its knocker.
What is it about that door? Legend had it that the knocker on the newly restored parish door was dangerous to sinners, whose hands could be burned if they touch it. But shortly after the celebration of its restoration, two men are assaulted. One of them, Gary Bracewell, was a freelance writer who had returned to the village to look at the door and its knocker. He was found dead at the base of the door, a hand reaching toward the knocker. A blow to the head killed him. A similar blow concussed the other victim.
Inspector Felse, a friend of Sgt. Moon, the local officer in charge, is in the area and joins the investigation. We learn that the door came from a decaying old house, part of a former abbey. The remnants of the Macsen-Martel family live there. Robert, the elder son, manages the home and cares for his ailing mother. However, Hugh, the younger, lives elsewhere and is a business partner with Dave at an automotive shop. Hugh races cars and is dating Dave’s sister Dinah. Robert discovered that the door, used for their wine cellar, had come from the parish church and arranged for the restoration.
The mystery deepens when Dave, who had repaired the steering on Bracewell’s car returns it to his widow. Because he was curious why Bracewell came back to the door, he learned that Bracewell had first seen the door when he wrote a story on the Macsen-Martel house. But the widow could share no reason for the interest. But he had search through photographs. So Dave searches out the photographer, Alix, and eventually they figure out the reason for Bracewell’s interest in the door and its knocker.
They pass all this on to Felse, which leads to the discovery of another body, accompanied by a suitcase! Felse methodically puts the pieces together just in time to prevent one more murder in the exciting climax to the story.
Ellis Peters (a.k.a. Edith Mary Pargeter) is probably most famous as the author of The Chronicles of Brother Cadfael. I read the whole series, enjoying characters, plotting, and good writing. Now I discover this series, albeit out of order, which didn’t seem to be a problem. I suspect you’ll see more reviews featuring Inspector Felse in the future! (And one spoiler: Dave and Alix get together, a trademark, it seems of an Ellis Peters story.)