Gareth Coles and I have enjoyed a long-running debate about the rules of detective fiction over many years. I have written here several times (initially in May 2014) about my own first two rules: 1. The reader should not know any more than the detective and 2. The detective should work out 'who done it' from the clues they unearth, rather than being handed the solution on a plate by a turn of events. I'm very grateful to Gareth for giving me a copy of 'When the Wind Blows' by Cyril Hare - a detective novel that could have been designed specifically with new in mind. A murder mystery very much in the style of the golden age of detective fiction (though published a little later, in 1949), it not only follows my rules but revolves around a symphony concert by a local amateur orchestra. Cyril Hare was the pen name of the judge Gordon Clark. He was a prolific writer of detective stories and 'When the Wind Blows' demonstrates his legal knowledge. Though it deals with a brutal murder, the book has a gentle comic tone that reminded me of 'Three Men in a Boat' by Jerome K Jerome. It unintentionally reveals much about the social norms of they period, some aspects of which feel quite uncomfortably dated now. But, although it is set more than 75 years ago, I can confirm that the description of an amateur orchestra committee meeting remains hilariously accurate!
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