This is outrageous. Captivated by
something I read which spoke of 'the greatest crime story ever
written', I scrambled for Flipkart so I could immediately order The
Hands of Mr Ottermole. Turned out to be a 23-page, Rs 438 limited
edition imprint which was wonderfully written, yes, but really, if
the words 'right under (policemen's) noses' gave the game away, it's
a good thing this was written in the 30s – there would be no other
excuse for it!
And horror of horrors, Georgette Heyer
wrote a terrific whodunit, A Blunt Instrument, which has the same
idea at its core. I refuse to believe she stole it, there's no law
that says two writers can't have the same spark of genius. I also
possess evey single book Ms Heyer ever wrote so obviously she can do
no wrong in my eyes. But nevertheless, it was all most
disappointing.
