At the Sign of the Clove and Hoof

“This has come straight from the murderer, don’t you realize that? Hot from his bloody hand. Don’t just stand there dithering, man. Don’t you realize you hold the key to everything?”

The locals at the Clove and Hoof are convinced that the stranger who appeared at Sunday service is a detective, investigating the unpopular vicar of Larcombe, Ernest Pratt. But the next morning Pratt is found dead at the bottom of a cliff and the stranger has disappeared. Soon afterwards anonymous letters painted in blue watercolour arrive, household items go missing and odd pranks are played. Things take a more sinister turn when more deaths occur; the only connection between the victims seems to be that they all frequented the village pub. Two policemen with very different approaches to solving crime lead the professional side of the investigation, accompanied by Christian Peascod, dilettante of the arts and amateur detective. A Golden Age detective novel with an offbeat sense of humour and a cast of colourful characters.

Zoë Johnson (1914–92) received a degree in Modern Languages from St Hugh’s College, Oxford. She wrote two detective novels, At the Sign of the Clove and Hoof (1937) and Mourning After (1939). After the Second World War, she and her husband Vernon resided in St Austell, Cornwall.