The Chianti Flask

Marie Belloc Lowndes, Martin Edwards

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English

British Library Publishing
10 May 2021

Fiction & Literature; Classic fiction (pre c 1945); Classic crime

Series: British Library Crime Classics

“[Belloc Lowndes] brings to the making of a mystery a literary sense and an imagination that puts life into the tale and into the readers.” – The Observer

An enigmatic young woman named Laura Dousland stands on trial for murder, accused of poisoning her elderly husband Fordish. It seems clear that the poison was delivered in a flask of Chianti with supper, but according to the couple’s servant in the witness-box, the flask disappeared the night Fordish died and all attempts to trace it have come to nothing. The jury delivers its verdict, but this is just the end of the beginning of Marie Belloc Lowndes’ gripping story.

First published in 1934, this exquisitely crafted novel blends the tenets of a traditional mystery with an exploration of the psychological impact of death, accusation, guilt and justice in the aftermath of murder.

By: Marie Belloc Lowndes
Introduction by: Martin Edwards
Imprint: British Library Publishing
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Volume: 91
Dimensions: Height: 190mm, Width: 130mm,
ISBN: 9780712353298
ISBN 10: 0712353291
Series: British Library Crime Classics
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 10 May 2021
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Journalist, suffragist, and best-selling novelist Marie Belloc Lowndes (1868-1947) was the only daughter of French barrister Louis Belloc and British feminist campaigner Bessie Rayner Parkes. Her early writing income helped subsidise the education of her younger brother, the writer Hilaire Belloc. Many of her works were crime novels, which combined clever plotting with psychological exploration of their women protagonists, including the first novelisation of Jack the Ripper, The Lodger, which became an early movie success for a young Alfred Hitchcock.