Carol Carnac is a pen name of Edith Caroline Rivett.She was a prolific mystery writer from 1931 until her death in 1958. As a child she lived in both England and Australia. She is credited with creating fictional detectives Chief Inspector Robert Macdonald, Inspector Ryvet, Chief Inspector Julian Rivers, and Inspector Lansing. Some of the books overlap, featuring more than one of these characters.
Her books follow the style of the Golden Age of Mystery. They are difficult to find, and I'm still trying to determine which 18 feature Inspector Lansing. A few have been re-published as British Classics. Based on the two I have read, I'd love to find more
So far, I've only read this one book, but I give it a very high rating for plot, characters, and locations.
Crossed Skis (1952)
The book begins with a group of young people who have loosely banded together to take a ski holiday to Austria by ferry and train. Sixteen people, most of whom don't really know one another travel to the ski resort.
Meanwhile, Rivers and Lansing are attempting to solve a puzzling murder in London that occurs in a boarding house. The neer-do-well son of the owner seems to be key to the solution. One of the flats caught fire, and the body of the lodger was found thrust into the gas flame so that his face and hands are too disfigured for identification. The police suspect the body is not that of the lodger.
On the ski holiday, strange events begin to happen, and the members of the party suspiciously begin sorting out who they think they can and can't trust.
The book culminates with a dangerous ski chase in a blizzard.
Impact of Evidence (1958)
This is set in the farm country of Wales in the winter. Life is harsh, and the book does a convincing job of portraying that condition. You really can feel the hills and the snow and the horrible flood that cuts the small settlement off from the rest of the country for days.
During that time of isolation, an old man who probably shouldn't be driving is broadsided by another car when he recklessly drives in front of that car. The impacted car is pushed into the river where it is lodged. The driver of the other car, though injured, stumbles down to the closest farm to get help.
When a group of men rally under nearly impossible weather conditions to rescue the old man from the car in the river, he is determined to be dead. The huge surprise is that there is another man dead in the back seat.
The story unwinds methodically with many a suspect and potential motive. In the classic mystery tradition, the guilty party is not revealed until the very end.
