He Who Fights: A Golden Age Mystery

‘Lord Gorell shows himself once more a genuinely resourceful juggler in the realms of detective mystery’ The Daily Telegraph‘Lord Gorell has discovered something new in detective fiction’ The TimesLord Gorell, a leading light of the ‘Golden Age of Crime’ and co-president of the Detection Club with Agatha Christie, has been rather overlooked, probably as his books are so incredibly rare. Martin Edwards selected his first book, In the Night, as one of the hundred classics in The Story of Classic Crime in 100 BooksThis 2026 Spitfire Publishers ebook and paperback edition represents the first republication of this classic of the ‘Golden Age of Crime’ in almost a century
Great Tor Lodge rises from the mists of Dartmoor, its imposing stone walls sheltering the Dallington family and a gathering of guests, each with secrets. Practical, sharp‑witted Barbara Dallington and her glamorous mother Cynthia are joined by Christopher Frayne, whose earnestness masks quiet tensions. Nearby Pengley Park guards its own traditions of loyalty and honour, soon shaken when a man dies in a suspicious fire and an innocent fugitive is hunted across the moor. Drawing-rooms whisper, servants watch, and the wild tors keep their counsel. Into this closed world steps Lucien Guitard, the celebrated French detective, whose theatrical charm disguises a mind of merciless clarity. As Guitard moves between country houses, he unpicks jealousy, criminal conspiracies, and fatal misunderstandings buried beneath civility. Elegant, ironic, and steeped in atmosphere, this murder mystery blends classic detection with Dartmoor menace, proving that the most dangerous fires burn behind respectable doors.

About the Author

Lord Gorell was born Ronald Gorell Barnes in 1884, the second son of the first baron Gorell. Both Ronald and his elder brother, Henry, served in the First World War, Ronald earned the Military Cross whilst his brother was killed at Ypres in 1917, elevating Ronald to the third baron Gorell. As well as performing his duties as a British peer, he was a journalist for The Times, longtime editor of the Cornhill Magazine and played thirteen seasons with the Marylebone Cricket Club. He wrote crime fiction intermittently, his first, In the Night, was published in 1917, his last, Murder at Manor House, in 1954. He was co-president of the Detection Club with Agatha Christie from 1956 to 1963. Miss Evelyn Temple was perhaps his most interesting series character; a twenty-something woman of the upper classes with ‘a quick brain and a perceptive eye’ who starred in In the Night and Red Lilac. Lord Gorell died in 1963.

Praise for Lord Gorell

‘Had me guessing completely… I don’t think anyone could possibly have solved that mystery. Very deftly done’
Arthur Conan Doyle

‘A country-house murder mystery of the kind that became highly popular during the Golden Age… this novel surely ought to be better known’
Martin Edwards, The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books

‘At last something new has come from the mystery makers’
Times Literary Supplement

‘Lord Gorell has a nice ear for dialogue’
Dorothy L.