The Secret of High Eldersham

About This Book

First published in 1930, The Secret of High Eldersham is a detective novel by Miles Burton, the pen name of Cecil John Charles Street (1884–1964). It is the first book in the long-running Desmond Merrion series, which would eventually span more than sixty titles. When Samuel Whitehead, the landlord of the Rose and Crown in the remote English hamlet of High Eldersham, is found stabbed to death, Detective Inspector Young calls on his old friend Desmond Merrion — a wealthy, erudite amateur with a gift for obscure knowledge — to help crack the case.

As the investigation unfolds, the outsiders discover that the close-knit villagers are guarding secrets far stranger than a single murder. Ancient rituals, unexplained gatherings, and an atmosphere of collective silence point to something darker running beneath the surface of rural English life. The novel blends classic Golden Age detection with elements of the thriller, moving at a brisk pace unusual for the period.

Street, a former Royal Artillery officer and military historian, wrote over 140 novels under several pseudonyms, with Miles Burton and John Rhode the most prolific. The philosopher Jacques Barzun praised The Secret of High Eldersham as one of the finest mystery novels of the twentieth century. The book is in the public domain.

Excerpt

Nobody knew better than Mr. George Thorold, the senior partner of Thorold and Son, the well-known Gippingford brewers, that in these days of highly-taxed beer it would not be an easy matter to find a tenant for the Rose and Crown.— Opening of The Secret of High Eldersham

What Critics Say

The tale is neatly contrived and well written— The Sydney Morning Herald, 1931

Publication Details