Dark Garden

''The Dark Garden'' by E. R. Punshon (d. 1956), public domain. This classic whodunit centers on a murdered lawyer, a cauldron of repressed feelings in his office, and Inspector Bobby Owen's frantic, macabre pursuit of the killer through a dark, brooding landscape. The story kicks off when Osman Ford a disagreeable local farmer publicly threatens to kill Anderson, his wife's solicitor. When Anderson is found shot in the back, Ford immediately becomes the prime suspect. However, the investigation reveals a tense, toxic law office where few mourn the lawyer's death. Inspector Bobby Owen (who is in charge of the rural Wychshire county office while his superior is on sick leave) must untangle family secrets, lies, and repressed passions. He is particularly wary of the dark and brooding clerk, Anne Earle, who embarks on a near-melodramatic and fatal quest for justice against the man she believes to be the real murderer.