Murder in a Walled Town: The Private Memoirs of Wayne Armitage

‘Murder in a Walled Town’ by Katherine Woods … is Miss Woods’ first novel, although she has previously written a travel book describing the beautiful French chateau country, with which she is thoroughly familiar. The scene of this mystery novel is an old French town, no doubt a real one under a fictitious name, which is completely off the beaten track of American tourists. In this town are a small group of Americans who have gone there because living is comparatively cheap, and the resources of each of the group has been depreciated on account of the departure of the United States from the gold standard, and the consequent fall in the value of the dollar. The old inn at Neyrolles offers comfortable living quarters at moderate prices. There is Wayne Armitage, a young teacher whose vacation threatens to be curtailed by the fall of the dollar. Coming to the inn at Neyrolles he meets Mrs. Wilde, who poses as a poor invalid, but who is neither very poor nor seriously ill; her charming daughter, Christine, who is a slave to her mother’s caprices; and Margaret Hamilton, a spinster, whose slender resources have been much impaired by the reduced purchasing value of the dollar. Five other Americans appear later in the story and are added to the personae of the drama that swiftly develops into tragedy. There are two murders in the book but before they occur we are given ample time to become acquainted with the characters and the delightful background of the story. It is an intelligent story, with a baffling mystery and a satisfactory solution. (1934 newspaper review)