Late To The Funeral: A Captain James Ryder Mystery

Millions had died in the Great War, yet, six years after the final shot had been fired, the war's influence still made itself felt even in the Yorkshire Dales of Great Britain. When the tranquility of Becksford St. Stevens, a farming village, is shaken by a horrific discovery in the spring of 1924, the fingers of the law reach as far as London and Scotland Yard. Captain James Ryder, a visitor to the village, finds himself embroiled in the investigation.
Once himself an admired Inspector of the Yard before the war, he resigns his position as an Oxford lecturer on Richard III and draws from his earlier experience to join forces with his brother-in-law, Charles Pritchard, Superintendent of Police for the surrounding countryside.
When another murder occurs in distant London, a seemingly innocent invitation found with the victim hints at a connection with the events in Yorkshire, Captain Ryder's colleagues from Scotland Yard soon converge on the sleepy village.
Is the death in the city indeed connected to the earlier discovery? Will there be others? Why do all the findings harken back to the mud and death of wartime France and Belgium?
Follow along with Captain James Ryder as he makes his way through the era made familiar to all mystery lovers by the likes of Lord Peter Wimsey, Hercule Poirot and others. In a time when communications were limited to telegrams, trunk line telephone calls or a hand written letter; Captain Ryder and his fellow detectives work in a world of primitive forensics and guesswork. All this in the search of justice ... and, perhaps, at least some of the truth.

Author: John J. Dix

Publisher: Independently Published

Publication Date: Nov 24, 2022

Number of Pages: 490 pages

Binding: Paperback or Softback

ISBN-10: NA

ISBN-13: 9798365401433