The area around St. Brynneys on the English side of the Welsh borderlands has been snowed in for days. It has finally started to thaw, and that has brought flooding to the valleys like the residents have never seen before. Up at St. Brynneys, the Lambton family is safe from floods and working hard on their dairy farm when they hear old Dr. Robinson go out in his car. The doctor is a menace on the road, being deaf and nearly blind, but it is his habit to drive to the top of Hollybank and back, a short distance. This time, however, they all hear a crash.
It’s a while before they can get the old Ford going, but when they do, they head to the accident, meeting Mike and Sue Dering coming home on their bikes. They all find the doctor’s car in the stream and Bob Parson standing nearby all bloody with his Jeep wrecked. Bob tells them he was driving fast down the road to get up the next hill when the doctor emerged without stopping from the side road.
The Lambtons, the Derings, and Ken, Lambton’s young hand, manage to haul Dr. Robinson’s body out of the water. But Ken notices another body. This man is a total stranger.
The phone is out and driving still dangerous, so after delivering the concussed Bob and the two bodies to the farm, Henry Lambton and Mike Dering decide to walk to the magistrate Colonel Wynne’s house to notify him of the accident. Since the area is now isolated because of floods, Colonel Wynne rides his horse the next morning to the nearest constabulary. Eventually, Chief Inspector Julian Rivers and Inspector Lancing are dispatched to find out who the second body is, when he arrived in the area, and why he was apparently in Doctor Robinson’s car.
Carol Carnac is another pen name for E. C. R. Lorac, who always writes beautiful descriptions of the local landscape. With quite a few suspects but most of them likable, I was never sure where this one was going to end up. The culprit was a complete surprise. I liked this one a lot.
whatmeread 
I loved the way she depicted the impact of the flood in this one – she’s the best of the vintage mystery novelists when it comes to rural life, I think.
I agree.
I enjoyed this one too and loved the way she described the isolated setting.
Yes, she’s great at her countryside settings.