Death on the Oxford Road

I see that, at the time I write this, this book is available 'new' starting at a price of somewhere north of £700 on Amazon. Which suggests that when books like this briefly re-emerge in print, a select band of chancers buy up a few, wait for the available print run to disappear, and then attempt to cash in.Don't be fooled; it's printed on cheap paper, with cheap covers, so save your money -- it's worth nothing like 700 nicker. But for the five or six quid that I paid for a new paperback copy a couple of years ago (also on Amazon) it was money well spent.It's an evocative 'golden age' detective story, up to the standard of Christie, Allingham, et al. It made me want to go back to an earlier era when cars driving the 'Oxford Road' could crash and then have to wait some time before another vehicle appeared. Nowadays on the A40 it's the endless stream of vehicles that won't disappear which causes the crash.

I like E C R Lorac’s novels and was looking forward to this one. I haven’t even got as far as reading it yet but already I have a major gripe about the quality of the print, which is nowhere near the standard of the likes of the British Library reprints. The paper quality is poor and the pages almost look like they’ve been photocopied from another book. The print itself isn’t terribly clear either. Beware.

I agree with another review that this book is certainly not ECR Lorac's best novel and that her later novels are much much better - one such title is Ask a Policeman (1955) which was by far superior to this novel - obviously she (the author) improved with age and experience. However saying all this it isn't a bad novel and it's readable - but if you are new to Golden Age Crime Classics I wouldn't start with this one for this author. Most of this authors titles pre 1941 are exceptionally difficult & expensive to buy with the exception of The Black Beadle & The Devil & the CID & Slippery Staircase which have all been re-printed and are readily available. If any one from the British Library Crime Classics is reading this her pre 1941 are much sort after by Golden Age Crime Classic fans and would be more than welcome as part of your series.

This is an early Lorac and rather different in style from her later works. There is less psychology and more action than would be the case in such masterpieces as "Shroud of Darkness". Nevertheless, the book is valid on its own terms and should be of interest to all Lorac fans.

I asked and received this as a Christmas Present and it was a really enjoyable read and has now stimulated my interested in this previously unknown, to me, author.

This has a nice twisty mystery, but not as much local color/atmosphere as some of her other books (Fell Murder, Crossed Skis). Still worth reading if you’re a Lorac/Carnac fan, but if you’re just getting introduced to ECR Lorac, I might start with another.

While I had no issues with the story itself (though as several reviews point out, it’s not one of Lorac’s best), I DO have issues with the print quality…..or rather lack thereof. It’s an oversized paperback format with professional quality binding, but once you open the pages you find that it is obviously a photocopy reprint of an original mass paperback sized book.The text does not fill each page, rather it is contained within a smaller light grey rectangle center in the center of each page, and while that is distracting and slightly uncomfortable enough to read on its own, it’s only made worse by the fact that the text itself is a slightly darker shade of grey rather than a more legible jet black. It was a chore to actually get through the whole book as the grey on grey text on background tint was very hard on the eyes.Having been in the printing industry myself and having knowledge of how to photocopy a preprinted work properly, this lack of attention to quality is distressing to say the least. There is also no copyright information from the original book, which I would think is rather suspect and possibly illegal.

Lorac wrote over 40 novels featuring Chief Inspector MacDonald, and she was a member of the Detection Club, suggesting she was no slouch. However, Death on the Oxford Road is the fourth Inspector MacDonald novel, and compared to the later stories, it shows. MacDonald is driving from Oxford with a journalist friend and they come upon what seems to be a fatal auto accident. Suffice it to say that all is not what it appears to be. In any event, the journalist friend helps MacDonald with the ensuing investigation. So far, so good, but way too much of the action takes place off the page and is simply recounted in conversations late at night at MacDonald's flat. The plot also seems to have been cobbled together as if one was blindly grabbing Erector set (Meccano set) pieces out of a box and attempting to assemble something. The result is passable, but not an inducement to looking for more novels. Fortunately, Lorac's writing improved; try "Murder by Matchlight" or "Slippery Staircase" as your introduction to Lorac, and you'll be hooked (as I am).One more observation: Swallowtail Books, the publisher of this reprint, only released 5 or 6 titles before disappearing; this was the only one by Lorac.

The quality of the print is very low. Makes it difficult to read. Also, no copyright info. What’s up with that?