Dr. and Mrs. Hale-Storford, newlyweds of six months, are entertaining guests at their house on the Devonshire coast near Polferry. A violent storm has struck. Dr. Hale-Storford is downstairs with two male guests; his wife Eve, his young male cousin, the housekeeper, Eve's sister, and Eve's friend are sleeping upstairs. When the doctor and his guests go upstairs, they find Eve dead, her throat slashed, and no weapon in sight.
Cut to several months later. No one has been arrested in Eve's death. And more tragedy has struck: the young cousin has died when the doctor's sailboat sinks under him, and Eve's sister has fatally driven off the cliff road near the doctor's house. Are these deaths coincidence? Some think not, and Colonel Anthony Gethryn has been called in to resolve the case.
Also published as The Polferry Riddle, The Choice was one of Philip MacDonald's enjoyable Golden Age mysteries. Part problem in detection and part thriller (a significant part of the book involves a frantic search for Eve's friend, who has disappeared in a taxi), The Choice offers present-day readers a step back in time.
As a nod to its publication under two different titles, I am assigning this mystery to the category "A Mystery by Any Other Name" for the Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge.
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