Checkmate to Murder
Checkmate to Murder is a 1944 detective novel by E.C.R. Lorac, the pen name of the British writer Edith Caroline Rivett. It was the twenty fifth in her long-running series featuring Chief Inspector MacDonald of Scotland Yard. Originally published by Collins Crime Club, it was reissued in 2020 by the British Library Publishing as part of a group of crime novels from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. Synopsis
On a foggy night during the London Blitz, a special constable arrests a young Canadian soldier standing over the dead body of his elderly great uncle in a rundown house in Hampstead. The only other possible suspects are the inhabitants of the art studio next door, a celebrated painter, his sister and their various guests. However as MacDonald and his assistant  Inspector Reeves begin to investigate a number of other possible suspects and motives emerge, including the special constable himself. References

Bibliography
 Nichols, Victoria & Thompson, Susan. Silk Stalkings: More Women Write of Murder. Scarecrow Press, 1998. Reilly, John M. Twentieth Century Crime & Mystery Writers. Springer, 2015. 1944 British novels
British mystery novels
Novels by E.C.R. Lorac
Novels set in London
British detective novels
Collins Crime Club books