Death Makes a Prophet by John Bude is another British Library Crime Classics book and it was first published in 1947. It has an introduction by Martin Edwards. I loved this one which kept me guessing right to the end.
The setting is one of the new ‘garden city’ towns which were set up post World War 2. Welworth Garden City is obviously a bit of a mash up between Welwyn Garden City (I lived there briefly in the 1970s) and Letchworth, both of them in Hertfordshire – southern England.
Welworth has the reputation of being a forward-thinking town which attracted people who were maybe a bit different from most – vegetarians, socialists and in particular people who were followers of unusual new religions. The cult of The Children of Osiris is one of the most popular religions and has attracted several thousand followers with many of them settling in Welworth.
The religion was founded by Eustace K. Mildman who of course made himself the High Prophet of the sect and has thought up lots of odd rites for the followers to take part in, and he has obviously profited from it. The whole religion is being bankrolled by a wealthy woman and there are jealousies and resentments amongst the followers.
Things come to a head which means that Inspector Meredith has to be called in to do his stuff. This is a great read with entertaining humorous touches now and again.
This does sound like an intriguing novel in this collection–and to think that you once lived in the town! Must have made for very interesting reading. Have you read other titles by this author?
Judith,
This is the fifth book that I’ve read by John Bude. Some of the others are too detail heavy for my liking, but I still enjoyed them.
I’ve read two of John Bude’s books – but not this one. It sounds rather odd! I love the covers of these British Library reprints – I wish the BL stated their source.
Margaret,
This is the fifth one I’ve read. Quite often it does say somewhere on the back cover what the front image has been taken from. They’re often from vintage railway posters. This one is apparently from the Mary Evans Picture Library though.
I have two John Bude books on my Kindle, but I haven’t read either of them yet. I don’t have this one.
Joan,
He was keen on writing about particular places hence – The Lake District Murder and The Cornish Coast Murder and such. I think you’ll like them.
This does sound a bit different and I like the post-war setting. I do find books are even more interesting when they are set somewhere I am familiar with.
tracybham,
I do too, it’s very parochial of me I suppose but I like to know what the surroundings are like, not all writers describe the environment or scenery in much detail.