4 June 2026.
ISBN: 978-1-91754324-8 (PB)
Originally Published in 1947.
The main character in this, the third novel in Coggin’s ‘Lady Lupin Quartet’ (first published in 1947), Lady Lupin Hastings is young, attractive, chaotic, apparently dim and the wife of a clergyman as well as being the daughter of an earl. The story takes place almost entirely in a village where some of her friends live. In many ways the main character is Penelope (‘Pen’) Stevenson, a maiden youngish lady who has devoted herself to looking after her father – who, it must be observed, doesn’t give the impression of having any particular need of being looked after. She has turned down offers of marriage to remain close to her father. Increasingly she gets on the nerves of her married brother and his wife, particularly after her father dies when she announces, unasked and unwanted, that she will remain equally devoted to them and their baby. This leads to problems in the marriage. Pen is quite a bit older than her brother and has long considered herself as a mother figure to him ever since their actual mother died when he was very young.
It takes until almost halfway through the novel before Pen is found shot dead in the garden (this is no spoiler as the blurb on the back tells us that she is the victim). I didn’t exactly jump out of my chair shouting ‘yippee!’ at that moment, but there is no doubt that I was delighted to see the back of this sanctimonius character. Initially suicide is suspected, but this is ruled out when no fingerprints are found on the gun and Pen was not wearing gloves when found. As a consequence, relationships past and present between local residents and others come increasingly under scrutiny. Revelations are made which provide any number of potential suspects with reasons for wanting Pen out of the way. She has left a trail of disruption to the lives of others, often under the unconvincing guise of unselfishness.
In my review of the novel’s predecessor ‘The Mystery at Orchard House’ I wrote that I found Lady Lupin rather irritating. If I found her less so in this story, it is possibly because I struggled to feel any sympathy for most of the dramatis personae, although there are one or two for whom one feels sorry (there are some ghastly cousins of the Stevensons who provide comic relief). I am reluctant to be too critical as I’m aware that I could have been unconsciously in an unreceptive mood when reading (it happens). I confess that my sympathies improved in the later stages. Lady Lupin may be fat-headed at times, but she does, in that often rather damning expression, ‘mean well’, and she can be perceptive (‘Lady Lupin is not a clear thinker’, says one observer, ‘but there is not much that escapes her’).
However,
the denouement, whilst perhaps not a particular surprise, is neat and
plausible, the writing is always lively and there are some wry descriptions. As
a period piece ‘Why Did She Die?’
will be enjoyed by lovers of Golden Age stories. Don’t let me put you off
reading it!
------
Reviewer: David Whittle
Joan
Coggin (1898 - 1980) aka Joanna
Lloyd, was born in 1898 in Lemsford, Hertfordshire, the daughter of the Rev.
Frederick Ernest Coggin. Her mother, who was the daughter of Edward Lloyd,
founder of Lloyd's Weekly London Newspaper, died when she was eight, and
the family moved to Eastbourne, where Coggin lived until her own death in 1980.
She was educated, together with her sister Enid, at Wycombe Abbey, a setting
she would later use for her girls' school stories, written under the pseudonym
Joanna Lloyd. Leaving Wymcombe in 1916, Coggin became involved in the war
effort, working as a nurse at Eastbourne. After the war she worked with the
blind, and returned to her schoolgirl interest in Guiding. She suffered from a
mild form of epilepsy, but aside from the inability to drive, it did not
greatly impact her life. Her first novel, And Why Not Knowing, was
published in 1929, and was followed by a series of mysteries featuring the
amusingly inadvertent detective, Lady Lupin Lorrimer.
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