‘The Tickler's Jam Murders by Peter Tickler

Published by Oxford e-Books,
29 February 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-91077909-5 (PB) 

The story is set in rural Lincolnshire, just after the First World War. Sir Wilfred Walker is sitting in the seat of his much-loved Silver Ghost Rolls Royce car, in the garage of Crowthorpe Manor, savouring a glass of brandy and a Cuban cigar.  He is feeling content with life and his firm control of everything and everyone around him until somebody enters the garage and hits him on the head with the car’s starting handle. As he regains consciousness, he experiences overwhelming terror as he smells petrol but he cannot escape because he is bound and gagged; more petrol is sprinkled over him and then the garage, car and Sir Wilfred are consumed by fire.

Detective Sergeant Kite has just been transferred from London to the Lincolnshire police force and he would prefer to be in the busy streets of the capital than this desolate countryside. The murder of Sir Wilfred is his first major case and the journey to Crowthorpe Manor is gruelling. Kite is forced to travel as a motorbike pillion passenger behind his subordinate, Detective Constable Sparrow, who claims that he was a despatch rider for the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front. In Kite’s opinion Sparrow drives with wild recklessness through the bitterly cold country roads, although Sparrow assures him that he knows the area well because he was brought up in Crowthorpe. To Kite’s relief they arrive safely, although he is exhausted and suffering from the aftermath of injuries he had received earlier in performance of his police duties.

Sir Wilfred is the owner of Crowthorpe Jam Company, which is the source of the family’s wealth, although throughout the War it has not been as successful as a rival firm, Tickler’s Jam Company. His family consists of his invalid wife, his officer son who has just left the army, his pregnant daughter-in-law and his suffragette daughter. Other members of his household are his secretary and her brother who is Sir Wilfred’s factory manager, the practical and helpful woman who does the cooking and much of the housework and the chauffeur cum handyman. The elderly vicar and his young wife live in a cottage very near to the Manor. All of the occupants of Crowthorpe Manor are forced to answer Kite’s questions but they all insist that if Sir Wilfred’s death was not a terrible accident he must have been killed by a thug from the village.

However, Kite is convinced that the killer is one of inhabitants of the Manor. Sir Wilfred was an unlovable man who made many enemies, and any member of his household could have had reason to kill him. Most of Kite’s suspects try to influence his investigation, either by arrogant bullying or more subtle manipulation, and he knows that he cannot rely on support from his senior officers. The cold winter weather turns into heavy snow and the two police officers are marooned at Crowthorpe Manor. Struggling with his own ill health and increasingly recalcitrant witnesses, Kite attempts to discover the truth behind the murder and whether the motive is personal or connected with business rivalry. He is aware that a ruthless killer is still at large, and he believes that they are close by.

The Tickler’s Jam Murders is the first period novel by an author well known for his contemporary fiction. As implied by the title, the story was inspired by the author’s own family history and the importance of Tickler’s Jam during the First World War, although both the crime and Crowthorpe Jams are fictional. This is a book that skilfully utilises many of the plot points of the Golden Age and has strongly drawn characters, although many of them are far from likeable. It is a compelling read, which I recommend.
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Reviewer: Carol Westron

Peter Tickler has lived in Oxford for over 30 years, and before that he was a university student, reading classics at Keble College.  He says,, ‘it was inevitable that when I started to write crime fiction, it would be firmly based in this milieu’. Peter is a member of the Crime Writer's Association and Mystery People group.

http://www.petertickler.co.uk/

Carol Westron is a successful author and a Creative Writing teacher.  Her crime novels are set both in contemporary and Victorian times. 
Her first book The Terminal Velocity of Cats was published in 2013. Since then, she has since written 8 further mysteries. Carol recently gave an interview to Mystery People. interview 

www.carolwestron.com
To read a review of Carol latest book click on the title
Death and the Dancing Snowman