The Singing Masons - Vivian Francis

He shone the torch into the depths of the well. There was water at the foot of the shaft. Something dark and mis-shapen was huddled against the brickwork.

What Old Heatherington doesn’t know about bee-keeping isn’t worth knowing. But the behaviour of the bees that day was extraordinary—they swarmed to a new hive where no hive should have been, and which was damp to boot. There was the smell of cyanide; and in an abandoned well below the hive, was discovered the dead body of local philanderer, Gerald Batwell, a canister of the poison in his pocket.

Inspector Knollis, brought into the case, soon learns that Batley had incurred the ire of numerous men whose wives he’d seduced. Or is the murderer the wealthy Daphne Moreland, motivated by jealousy? Or the unusually unlucky Maynards, a young couple who stood to gain financially by Batley’s death? Only the bees, the “Singing Masons” of the title, know for sure—until Knollis, with his customary acuity, breaks the case.

The Singing Masons was originally published in 1950. This new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

“Francis Vivian skips all tedious preliminaries and is commendably quick off the mark; we meet his characters with lively pleasure.” Observer

“Mr. Vivian neatly fits everything in its place.” Times Literary Supplement