Laurels Are Poison is a 1942 mystery detective novel by the British writer Gladys Mitchell.[1][2] It is the fourteenth in her long-running series featuring the psychoanalyst and amateur detective Mrs Bradley.[3] It was Mitchell's own favourite among her novels[4] and has been considered her best by other critics.[5] It introduced the character of Laura Menzies who became recurring assistant of Mrs Bradley in subsequent novels.
Author | Gladys Mitchell |
---|---|
Language | English |
Series | Mrs Bradley |
Genre | Mystery |
Publisher | Michael Joseph |
Publication date | 1942 |
Publication place | United Kingdom |
Media type | |
Preceded by | When Last I Died |
Followed by | The Worsted Viper |
In 2000 it was adapted for an episode of the television series The Mrs Bradley Mysteries starring Diana Rigg.
Synopsis
editMrs Bradley arrives at a women's teacher training college to take up a post vacated when the previous occupant disappears at the end of term dance. But soon a series of often violent practical jokes lead to suspicions that there is a fugitive lurking somewhere in the grounds of the college. Then the body of the cook is found in a local river.
References
editBibliography
edit- Hanson, Gillian Mary. City and Shore: The Function of Setting in the British Mystery. McFarland, 2015.
- Klein, Kathleen Gregory. Great Women Mystery Writers: Classic to Contemporary. Greenwood Press, 1994.
- Miskimmin, Esme. 100 British Crime Writers. Springer Nature, 2020.
- Reilly, John M. Twentieth Century Crime & Mystery Writers. Springer, 2015.
- Walton, Samantha. Guilty But Insane: Mind and Law in Golden Age Detective Fiction. Oxford University Press, 2015.