Having enjoyed my first Cyril Hare detective novel, 'When the Wind Blows' (reviewed here in July 2026), I have now devoured two more of his books. 'He Should Have Died Hereafter', published in 1958, again features the retired lawyer Francis Pettigrew (whose wife played in the amateur orchestra in 'When the Wind Blows' and who is the protagonist of a series of five murder mysteries by Cyril Hare). In 'He Should Have Died Hereafter' Pettigrew joins forces with the retired Inspector Mallet (who himself appears in seven Hare novels) to solve a mysterious death on Exmoor. 'An English Murder' published in 1951 (based on a 1948 radio play by Cyril Hare, 'Murder at Warbeck Hall') is a quintessential country house murder mystery in the style of Agatha Christie, with guests gathered for a family Christmas and the house cut off from the rest of the world by snow. It feels like it comes from a previous era with its cast of aristocrats and a very polite butler, but is actually set during the early years of the post-war Labour government. I don't know whether the three books I've read are a representative sample of the works of Cyril Hare but they certainly have some common recurring themes to their plots. Nevertheless, all three have been very readable, funny and clever, while revealing some interesting social history details.
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