The Murder in Romney Marsh was originally published in 1929 and author Edgar Jepson takes a straight forward murder mystery and turns it into a diverting and lively story about catching drug smugglers. When Detective Inspector James Carthew of Scotland Yard is sent to the tiny village of St. Joseph’s on Romney Marsh he soon realizes that the victim was a scoundrel who was involved in bringing cocaine into England. He is planning on leaving the police force soon to open his own detective agency and decides that capturing the drug smugglers is far more apt to bring him the kind of publicity he is seeking.

Young, clever and ambitious, Carthew manages to also help a young woman and an old army acquaintance and along the way makes judgments and decisions that may not necessarily be in the best interest of the law. He comes across rather smug and has a superior attitude, but I liked him and enjoyed having the story unfold through his eyes. This is the first mystery that I have read by this author, but I certainly would not hesitate to pick up another as this one was both entertaining and different. ( )