Murder in the Basement by Anthony Berkeley

I haven't read a story-within-a-story and this one is really well done. The problems come when the solution is revealed and the apparent "reasons" for coming to this decision. It's a lot of "this person is icky so it must have been them."

A body is discovered in the basement of a house that some newlyweds have recently moved into. It is that of a woman, but who is she? The niece of the previous owner (now dead) has been found alive so there is no one else in the thirty to forty age range that they can obviously tie to the crime. Eventually, through a coincidence, Chief Inspector Moresby is able to determine that she came from a nearby school. However, she had told everyone she was moving to Australia to marry a sheep farmer. So what happened?

Luckily, Roger Sheringham, the writer, had been at the school in a previous term and had started writing a story about the people at the school that reveals their characters in a way that Chief Inspector wouldn't have been able to uncover.

Three stars

This book came out in 1932 and is being republished December 6, 2023

Follows Top Storey Murder

Followed by Jumping Jenny

ARC kindly provided by Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley

Opinions are my own