Spotted Hemlock (1958)
This
is good Mitchell—a skilful and zestful depiction of
an academic setting, complete with humorous and mysterious
ragging, which turns out to have a bearing on the murder of one
of two girls poisoned with the 'spotted hemlock' of the title,
the body deposited in a stage-coach. The confused identities
allow for some good misdirection (I must confess that I was
expecting this to be a re-working of Laurels are Poison)—in
general, there is a good spread of suspicion; and the solution,
with paradoxical clues, is, on the whole, quite surprising, even
though the murderer is one of the prime suspects. The merits of
the solution are, however, let down by an overdose of methodical
questioning, but the reconstruction of the 'headless horseman' is
first-class.