Excellent English mysteries

Although I don't read many mysteries, the reviews of Rennie Airth's RIVER OF DARKNESS were so good I decided to give it a try. Almost immediately I was caught up in the setting and atmosphere of the novel. It takes place in post-World War I Britain and the protagonist is Inspector John Madden, a veteran whose war experiences make him uniquely qualified to investigate the horrible killing of a local family. The book is tense and the pages fly. The world-weary Madden is a great character and his struggle to recover from the horrors of war mirror his investigation, both of which are played out against the the larger canvass of Britain's post-war struggles. THE BLOOD-DIMMED TIDE also features John Madden, this time in the early 1930's, as the Nazis rise to power in Germany. These two novels by a lesser-known author are well worth reading.