TANSOR, England -- In the land of Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie, it has fallen to a taxidermist to uncover whether foul play is to blame for the corpse found floating in a lake here late last month: Benson, the legendary 52-pound carp whose untimely death has captivated a nation's anglers.

For years, Benson was a catch-and-release attraction in Bluebell Lakes, a private fishing complex. Benson was a normal-size carp when she was placed in Kingfisher Lake 16 years ago. The lakes' owner, Tony Bridgefoot, noticed Benson's propensity to pack on the pounds and groomed her for stardom. For years, Mr. Bridgefoot was able to claim that Benson was the U.K.'s largest common carp, her appeal bolstered by bright-orange scales that seemed painted on and perfect lips.

The result was a plus-size phenomenon. Fishermen from as far afield as Germany trekked to this lake hoping to hook a fish the size of a family dog. Benson was caught and put back in the lake 63 times, hitting a high weight of 64 pounds two years ago.

But at 2 p.m. on July 28, Mr. Bridgefoot, at his holiday home in Norfolk, took a disturbing call from his grandson, Jimmy: a large fish body had been found floating in one of his lakes.

"You'd better get back here, it looks like it's Benson," Mr. Bridgefoot remembers being told. Mr. Bridgefoot got in his car and drove home. Sure enough, Benson was sleeping with the fishes, so to speak.