The Blotting Book

The Blotting Book

Summary

A VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERY
WH Auden, Nancy Mitford and Noel Coward were among his fans... But have you discovered E. F. Benson yet?

Morris Assheton is in love and means to be married. But his happiness is spoilt when he discovers that someone has been whispering poisonous rumours about him to the girl’s father. The culprit is Mills, dastardly partner to the Assheton family's trusted lawyer. Morris vows revenge.

When Mills’ body is discovered, brutally beaten, the ugly quarrel comes to light and suspicion naturally falls on Morris. His innocence is debated in a tense courtroom, as an eager public and press look on.

Murder mystery... Courtroom drama. This is a classic whodunnit from the author of Mapp and Lucia. Crime fiction at its best.

Reviews

  • This novel, one of the progenitors of the classic British mystery, bristles with elegant suspense as it ushers its upper-class characters from their mansions to the harsh reality of a criminal courtroom
    Washington Post

About the author

E F Benson

Edward Frederic Benson was born on July 24, 1867 in Berkshire, the son of a future Archbishop of Canterbury, and one of six children. He studied at Kings College, Cambridge and at the British School of Archaeology in Athens. Benson's first book, Dodo, was published to popular acclaim in 1893 and was followed by over a hundred books, including novels, histories, biographies and ghost stories. In 1920 Benson became a full-time tenant of Lamb House in Rye, which had once been home to the novelist Henry James. Rye provided the setting for the Mapp and Lucia stories and their author served three terms as mayor of Rye in the late 1930s. E.F. Benson died on February 29, 1940.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more