Beggar's Choice by H. C. Branson

Henry Clay Branson was an American mystery writer, whose series character is John Bent. Beggar's Choice is the seventh and last of the Bent mysteries - heavy on character analysis and discerning motivations.

John Bent, a thickset man in his mid-forties, is met at the train station by Leo Murphy. His brother George Murphy is the local District Attorney who has hired Bent to look into a recent death. Augustus LeFever was a sixty-nine year-old man recovering from a heart condition, his doctor saying his health was improving, so it was a surprise when he died in the night. Despite doctor's advice, the family denied an autopsy and he was buried. Now, there are rumours and suspicions he was murdered for his wealth. Bent arrived knowing nothing of this tenuous case, in fact there is no evidence or many facts, just the gossip of the town. Bent is asked to see if there is even anything to investigate.

Bent meets the devoted niece Irene, a tall graceful blonde used to a lavish lifestyle. She has lived with Uncle Augustus since divorcing her husband Doug Miller, who could not keep up with her spending. Her new suitor is Hugh MacDougal who wants to marry as soon as possible, if she deigns to let him. MacDougal's daughter Alice is engaged to Augustus's young nephew John LeFever, who has recently reconnected after many years - just before the uncle passed away.

Irene and John are the main beneficiaries - and so, the main suspects as they will inherit $785,000 each. For Johnny, in his rumpled grey flannel suit, it is a windfall, and for Irene (who we discover is flat broke) the money is a neccessity. Bent spends his time leisurely moving from one large house to another, drinking endless cocktails with various combinations of this group, until he knows enough to proclaim to the police, "I'm afraid you've got a murder case on your hands". This does take 140 pages of questioning, so this is quite a staid mystery.

Shots are fired, a body is found hastily buried in the woods, and there is a dramatic car crash off the embankment into a creek, so the last pages do pick up. The finale and reveal of the culprit was not unexpected when dealing with so few characters, but the resolution was satisfying.

This is an Inner Sanctum Mystery, a classic publishing imprint providing quality mysteries.

John Bent, is a low-key, likeable fellow, easily invited into confidences. It is 1953, so there are constant cocktails, and oddly for the time, Bent wears a beard. Psychology is the focus of this mystery, over action, or even motive. Observant and self-assured, he is an investigator I would read again - though this was a very relaxed atmosphere.

Branson's John Bent novels are: I'll Eat You Last (1941), The Pricking Thumb (1942), Case of the Giant Killer (1944), The Fearful Passage (1945), Last Year's Blood (1947), The Leaden Bubble (1949), and Beggar's Choice (1953).

1953 / Hardcover / 238 pages