Enter the Crimes Circle, an exclusive club of murder enthusiasts determined to solve the case–not necessarily for justice, but rather their own fascination with crime and bragging rights…mostly bragging rights. The Investigation: The police are at a loss, eventually settling on the unsatisfying conclusion that a madman must’ve dunnit. Bendix dies and her husband is taken ill, both of them having been poisoned with nitrobenzene. Uninterested in acting as a Masons guinea pig, he gives them to fellow club member Graham Bendix who, in turn, takes them to his wife. The Problem: Sir Eustace receives a sample box of Masons chocolate liquors in the mail. It focuses almost entirely on summation, but manages within its artificial boundaries to accomplish everything we want in detective fiction. Anthony Berkeley’s The Poisoned Chocolates Case is an absolute delight.
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