The Youth Hostel Murders

by Glyn Carr

First published in 1953, this is the third book in this classic English detective series to feature the Shakespearen actor and mountain climber Abercrombie Filthy Lewker who stumbles across a murder... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0915230984
• ISBN13: 9780915230983
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Rue Morgue Press
• Length: 158 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.3" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A relaxed style that makes this mystery an enjoyable experience.

Glyn Carr is actually a pseudonym for Showell Styles used for his Abercrombie Lewker mysteries, featuring a Shakespearian actor/mountain climber. Styles' first Lewker mystery, entitled DEATH ON MILESTONE BUTTRESS, which was published in 1951, was such a success that his British publisher Geoffrey Bles, immediately signed him on for more. The net result was fourteen more mysteries, until Styles ran out of ideas. Lewker gets to travel to Switzerland, the Himalayas, Austria, Scandinavia, and Majorca, as well as Cumberland fells, the setting of THE YOUTH HOSTEL MURDERS . As well as his credentials as a noted Shakespearian actor, Abercrombie Lewker, deceptively short and stout, also served in Department Seven of the Special Commando Branch of British Intelligence during World War II. He and his lovely wife, Georgina are a devoted and playful couple. Georgie calls Lewker Filthy, but not for matters of hygiene. Lewker and Georgie are headed to stay with Sir Walter Haythornthwaite in Birkerdale near Gosforth. Almost at once they begin hearing stories about the place, which eventually will lead Lewker into a murder investigation of two young climbers: "'Ay.' The landlord, leaning across the bar with a cautious eye on the shadows by the fireplace, spoke in a confidential whisper. 'There's some folk hereabouts says 'twas witchcraft as sent my truck off that road. Coffin's Pike's an evil place, they say-'twas why the lead mines failed. I'm not one to believe in such things, but it's got about as witchcraft made that young fellow fall to his death, too. Old Ben says-'" Carr/Styles goes to great lengths to describe the mountain village, as well as the art of climbing, in this compelling whodunit. Lewker is an unlikely hero, but his obvious talents and the magnetic force of his personality endear him to the youth hostel where he goes "undercover." Styles' talent for the "red herring" jumps out at the reader. He tucks his murderer so far into the plot that the reader spends an inordinate amount of time guessing and revising guesses as to who and where the murderer lurks. Characters are entertaining; the plot and action are non-stop; and yet there is a relaxed style that makes this mystery an enjoyable experience. Shelley Glodowski Senior Reviewer