Originally published in 1932, The Gilt Edged Mystery by E. M. Channon is a clever mystery that follows two story lines and two murders that eventually mesh together in a cleverly contrived and slightly melodramatic manner. The settings vary from Geneva, Switzerland to the Peak District as a Cambridge mathematics scholar gets involved in both plot lines.

Alured Dalmaine meets and falls in love with a school mistress in Geneva and agrees to check on her sister, who married an Englishman and now lives in the Peak District. The sister hasn’t been heard from in a while and there is concern that she may be unhappy or in some kind of trouble. He also becomes involved with a fellow traveller, Samuel Hooper, who has inherited a fortune, which did not sit well with his many cousins who were left out of the will. When Alured discovers Hooper with a slit throat, there is no shortage of suspects.

This was lively mystery that offered up plenty of red herrings along with some very strange character names and while the ending was a little over the top, I enjoyed my read of this golden age mystery. ( )