E.C.R. Lorac

The Organ Speaks

Sampson Low, Marston & Co., 1935.

Turning up towards the Inner Circle, Westray soon stood by the great iron gates which led to the portico of Waldstein Hall...What could be the explanation of that ghostly, hideous wail which carried through the stone walls?

The Hall, designed by Nash for a German nobleman as a venue for concerts and operas, has now reverted to the Crown Commissioners and a fierce public debate is under way as to whether it should be preserved or demolished.

Such thoughts were in the mind of Hamilton Westray, the journalist, as he strolled round the Outer Circle of Regent's Park one frosty evening in the cold spring of 1934

The wailing is soon explained: the organist is discovered slumped over the console, electrocuted, and Chief Inspector Macdonald takes charge. A length of wiring has been removed; various musical folk are suspected.

Leaving the Waldstein Hall, Macdonald walked round the shady curve of the Inner Circle deep in thought. When he reached the turning leading towards York Gate, he stopped on the bridge over the lake and filled his pipe, looking down at the ducks on the water. It was just at this spot that a coil of flex had been retrieved by the men who had dragged the lake...

Murder By Matchlight

1945. Ian Henry Publications, 1977.

He had turned into the Outer Circle at Clarence Gate, and crossed the road, and now he stood at the approach to the iron bridge which spans the lake...He stood in the searching damp chill of a black November evening just because it gave him pleasure to be reminiscent. As a schoolboy he had learnt to scull and to punt on Regents Park Lake, and he had learnt to skate there as well. On summer afternoons in the holidays he and Peter and Pat had taken picnics to eat in their skiffs under the shady trees of the islands

Bruce Mallaig's job as an analytical chemist at the Ministry of Supplies has exempted him from military service. But civilians too can meet sudden death in wartime, and not just from enemy bombs. Walking east along the path by the lake he hears - but cannot see, in the blackout - someone approaching.

Just before the gateway which led into the York Gate there was a little wooden bridge. Beneath this bridge a path in the College gardens led to the lakeside. The newcomer had paused on the bridge, and stood there for a few seconds. Then, rather cautiously, he flashed a dim torch light around

The man conceals himself beneath the bridge; dark deeds ensue and Mallaig finds himself arrested as an accomplice. Chief Inspector Macdonald, an old hand at Regent's Park murders (The Organ Speaks), inspects the scene and later returns with Mallaig for a re-enactment.