Death at the Dog — Joanna Cannan

Young Inspector Northeast falls under the spell of an unconventional older woman novelist who is the chief suspect in a village murder. The Dog of the title is a pub, which is modeled after the pub in Oxfordshire frequented by the author during the Second World War. Set in the late fall of 1939 during the first anxious months of World War II, this is a fine example of the classic English detective novel. It marked the second and final appearance for Northeast. First published in 1941.