Vintage Mystery Challenge – April 2019

Happy Easter!

After writing individual reviews in 2019 for each book I’ve read for the Vintage Mystery Challenge, I’m reverting to something a bit briefer.

The Devil’s Caress by June Wright (1952)

Fulfils “Why – author not from your country”

Wright is the subject of a conference talk by Kate from crossexaminingcrime so I got hold of this as it was the one she had rated most highly here.

Dr Marsh Mowbray is spending the weekend at the home of her boss Dr Kate Waring. Out for an early walk on her first morning there she finds an unconscious man on the golf course. He is brought back to the house where she learns that he is a member of the household whom she had yet to meet and she is asked by Kate to take charge of his treatment. This is resented by many of the other guests who are also medical practitioners.

What was intended as a relaxing weekend before Marsh’s departure for England becomes nothing of the sort as she ends up fearing for her life and wondering if her mentor is a ruthless killer or merely misunderstood.

I didn’t get a huge sense of Australia from this book, but then I do read very quickly and often unconsciously skip descriptive passages. However ti-trees cropped up regularly and one character enjoyed the almost too ridiculously stereotypical name of Bruce Shane.

There is no police involvement in this story and no real detecting as such. Marsh follows her nose and then reacts to events as they spiral out of control but it was a good enough read for me to get hold of the other three titles re-released under the Dark Passage imprint from Verse Chorus Press.

The Mad Hatter Mystery by John Dickson Carr (1933)

Fulfils “Who – a journalist/writer”

Superintendent Hadley has arranged a meeting between Dr Gideon Fell and Sir William Bitton in order that the former may assist the latter in the matter of a missing manuscript (which would be of great interest to the GAD community). Whilst they wait they discuss the hat-thefts of a man the press has nicknamed the Mad Hatter. When Sir William arrives he reveals that he has twice been the victim of the Mad Hatter, once that very afternoon.

These seemingly amusing acts swiftly take on a sinister air when Sir William’s nephew, a journalist who had been following the Mad Hatter Mystery, is found dead at the Tower of London wearing one of his uncle’s hats.

No impossible crime this time but Dr Fell puts together a case, that whilst not airtight, brings together the various key elements into a plausible solution.

Murder by Matchlight by E. C. R. Lorac (1945)

Fulfils “Where – capital city”

A man strikes a match during the blackout and a chance witness sees a face over his shoulder for just a second before murder is done. Apart from that no one has seen or heard anything of the murderer.

From such unpromising beginnings regular series sleuth Inspector Macdonald is able to methodically piece together a case that can survive a bombing raid and the doubts of whether with death and destruction all around it is worth while finding the killer of such a ne’er do well victim.

Lorac’s strength here is in characterisation, particularly of the victim’s fellow lodgers, including the wonderful Mr Rameses, a stage magician. The “how” was revealed too early for my liking but the closing scenes would make for great viewing as various parties are brought together at a restaurant with it being unclear who are the watched and who are the watchers.

Through a Glass, Darkly by Helen McCloy (1950)

Fulfils “Where – at a school”

Faustina Crayle is fired without reason from her job at Brereton, a girls’ school, described as “the American Roedean”. Her only friend, Gisela von Hohenems, had already been concerned about the atmosphere around Faustina, and shares her concerns with her friend, psychiatrist Basil Willing.

He speaks with Faustina and with her permission asks the headmistress, Mrs Lightfoot, to explain the reasons for Faustina’s summary dismissal. What is revealed is both surprising and inexplicable. It is soon found that Faustina knew more than she was letting on: but is she victim, villain, or perhaps just different from the rest of society?

Basil believes that she is in danger but when death does occur it is not Faustina who is killed but could she have had a hand in it?

It’s an interesting book but I’m not convinced it deserves its place on the list of Top 15 Impossible Crimes.

When the Wind Blows by Cyril Hare (1949)

Fulfils “When – during a performance of any sort”

Francis Pettigrew’s life has taken an unexpected turn following the events of With a Bare Bodkin and in peacetime he has left his chambers in London for semi-retirement in the countryside. He has been encouraged to become treasurer of the Markshire Orchestral Society and it is in this capacity that he becomes reluctantly involved in another murder case.

At the Society’s latest concert a guest soloist is murdered backstage whilst the regular orchestra is onstage. Pettigrew is able to supply a possible motive for the crime but it is left to the hard-working Inspector Trimble to find the means.

Lively characterisation of the society’s members and enough twists and turns in the investigation make this a good read and this time the legal niceties behind the solution are much more satisfying than those in “With a Bare Bodkin”.

Death-Watch by John Dickson Carr (1935)

Appropriately for a book set in a clockmaker’s house fulfils “When – timing of crime is crucial”

Gideon Fell is paying a late night visit on Johannus Carver, clockmaker, who has suffered the theft of a pair of hands from a large ornamental clock that he had just completed. He finds the door wide open and on entering finds a man holding a revolver standing over a dead body. However, the corpse has been stabbed, not shot, with one of the stolen hands. A bizarre, but for Dr Fell a typical, start to a case.

What follows is a whirlwind of ideas as Fell and the police learn of a murder that has been planned but not committed, a connection to shop-lifting and a separate murder, and historic police corruption, not to mention skylights, roof-top trysts, gilt paint, and a watch shaped like a skull.

Upon completion this felt like a cross between a specific Agatha Christie plot coupled with the devious mind behind Ellery Queen’s The Greek Coffin Mystery.

The only downside – which I’d seen mentioned in a previous review – is a completely unnecessary deception on the part of the author which adds nothing to the story and could easily be removed.

 

 

 

#31 – Appointment with Death

“You do see, don’t you, that she’s got to be killed?”

Poirot overhears these words from the window of his Jerusalem hotel and assumes they are a quote from a book or a play. It is only later that he realises they were spoken in all seriousness…

The Boynton family are holidaying in the Middle East: Raymond, sister Carol, half-sister Ginny, brother Lennox and his wife Nadine, and step-mother Mrs Boynton, who has an unnatural control over all four siblings. Raymond and Carol wish to break free and both talk to Dr Sarah King before being forbidden from seeing her.

They make the lengthy trip to Petra and it is here that Mrs Boynton is found dead one evening. Heart failure seems to be the likely cause until Sarah King’s estimate of the time of death contradicts Raymond’s witness statement and Dr Gerard says that a syringe and some digitoxin have been stolen from his supplies.

Re-enter Hercule Poirot who promises the local authorities that he can solve the case within twenty-four hours but as each member of the family benefitted from Mrs Boynton’s death has he bitten off more than he can chew?

By interviewing all those who took in the excursion he is able to cut through the many lies that he is told to reveal a final sequence of events that is vastly different to that initially presented to him.

A very strong book in my opinion and fits in well in with the overall high quality of Christie’s work during this period.

Recurring character development

Hercule Poirot

Has been brought up to believe that “all outside air is best left outside, and that night air is especially dangerous  to health”.

Takes a “little shoe-cleaning outfit and a duster” everywhere he goes.

His “large grotesque turnip of a watch” first mentioned in The Murder on the Links belonged to his grandfather.

Signs of the Times

Reference is made to Anthony Trollope agreeing to kill off one of his characters after overhearing his fellow passengers say that “he should kill off that tiresome old woman”.  This is particularly appropriate given that Mrs Boynton is, at the very least, a tiresome old woman. Trollope’s character is the awful Mrs Proudie who dies in “The Last Chronicle of Barset”.

Raymond says “people would say we were crazy – not to be able to just walk out”. It is only recently that is has been recognised amongst the wider public how insidious abusive, controlling behaviour impacts its victims and why they do not just walk away. In 2015 controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship was made illegal in England and Wales.

Dr Gerard thinks that Nadine Boynton looks like a “Luini Madonna”. Bernardino Luini (c.1480-1532) was an Italian painter, said to have worked with Leonardo da Vinci, which has lead to their workings misattributed to each other at various times.

Dr Gerard reads a copy of Le Matin. This French daily newspaper was first published in 1884 and edited by Alfred Edwards. Maurice Bunau-Varilla became its president in 1901 and the paper closed in 1944 shortly after his death. Gaston “The Mystery of the Yellow Room” Leroux worked for the paper during its heyday.

Drs Gerard and King go to Petra with Messrs Castle, the tourist agent. I can’t find anything about their history online, which is why I didn’t reference them when reviewing The Secret of Chimneys where Anthony Cade is working for them at the start of that novel. Presumably as they are mentioned in a second book they were a real company.

Reference is made to a Liberal government being unexpectedly in power. This is a fiction as the last Liberal government of the UK was Lloyd-George’s between 1916 and 1922.

Lady Westholme and Dr Gerard discuss the League of Nations and the Litvania boundary dispute. Litvania was a name sometimes used for Lithuania, which following the First World War had a long-running border dispute with Poland.

Going down into camp at Petra, Dr King thinks “down into the valley of death”. This from Tennyson’s “The Charge of the Light Brigade” previously referenced in Lord Edgware Dies.

Dr Gerard’s quote “So I returned and did consider all the oppressions…” is Ecclesiastes 4:1-3.

Miss Pierce is reading “The Love Quest”. I can’t find a contemporary book of that name but the title has been used by Anne Cumming for her 1991 volume of autobiography.

Dr Gerard refers to Kopp’s experiments with digitoxin. This could be a reference to Emil Kopp (1817-1875) a French professor of toxicology and chemistry.

Dr King asks Poirot if his enquiries are “a case of a Roman Holiday”. I’d heard of the Audrey Hepburn film before but never seen the expression used anywhere else. I thought it might be like a Busman’s Holiday (as Poirot is on holiday) but actually it means deriving entertainment from the suffering in others, arising from the gladiatorial contests staged on Roman holidays.

Mahmoud’s rushed quote is the first line of Keats’ “I had a dove and the sweet dove died”.

One character planned to commit murder using a method taken from an English detective story. This is “Unnatural Death” by Dorothy L. Sayers because I originally read that after this book and the method there is a central part of the plot and I thought it couldn’t be what it was as that was so obvious from having read this book first. Advice to parents – introduce your children to GAD fiction in strictly chronological order!

Dr Gerard refers to the Weissenhalter reaction. The only online reference I can find to this is where the same term is used in a similar context in a piece of “X-Files” fan fiction.

References to previous works

Poirot has a letter of introduction from Colonel Race to Colonel Carbury which references Cards on the Table.

Nadine Boynton refers to Poirot having accepted an official verdict in regards to Murder on the Orient Express when pleading her case. Poirot wonders how she knows the truth of that matter, which implies that the official verdict is still widely accepted, and makes it strange that he revealed the solution to a virtual stranger in Cards on the Table.

Miss Pierce lived near Doncaster at the time of The ABC Murders.

Vintage Mystery Challenge

Fulfils “When – during a trip/vacation”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#31 – Appointment with Death – WITH SPOILERS

“You do see, don’t you, that she’s got to be killed?”

Poirot overhears these words from the window of his Jerusalem hotel and assumes they are a quote from a book or a play. It is only later that he realises they were spoken in all seriousness…

The Boynton family are holidaying in the Middle East: Raymond, sister Carol, half-sister Ginny, brother Lennox and his wife Nadine, and step-mother Mrs Boynton, who has an unnatural control over all four siblings. Raymond and Carol wish to break free and both talk to Dr Sarah King before being forbidden from seeing her.

They make the lengthy trip to Petra and it is here that Mrs Boynton is found dead one evening. Heart failure seems to be the likely cause until Sarah King’s estimate of the time of death contradicts Raymond’s witness statement and Dr Gerard says that a syringe and some digitoxin have been stolen from his supplies.

Re-enter Hercule Poirot who promises the local authorities that he can solve the case within twenty-four hours but as each member of the family benefitted from Mrs Boynton’s death has he bitten off more than he can chew?

By interviewing all those who took in the excursion he is able to cut through the many lies that he is told to reveal a final sequence of events that is vastly different to that initially presented to him.

A very strong book in my opinion and fits in well in with the overall high quality of Christie’s work during this period.

Recurring character development

Hercule Poirot

Has been brought up to believe that “all outside air is best left outside, and that night air is especially dangerous  to health”.

Takes a “little shoe-cleaning outfit and a duster” everywhere he goes.

His “large grotesque turnip of a watch” first mentioned in The Murder on the Links belonged to his grandfather.

Signs of the Times

Reference is made to Anthony Trollope agreeing to kill off one of his characters after overhearing his fellow passengers say that “he should kill off that tiresome old woman”.  This is particularly appropriate given that Mrs Boynton is, at the very least, a tiresome old woman. Trollope’s character is the awful Mrs Proudie who dies in “The Last Chronicle of Barset”.

Raymond says “people would say we were crazy – not to be able to just walk out”. It is only recently that is has been recognised amongst the wider public how insidious abusive, controlling behaviour impacts its victims and why they do not just walk away. In 2015 controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship was made illegal in England and Wales.

Dr Gerard thinks that Nadine Boynton looks like a “Luini Madonna”. Bernardino Luini (c.1480-1532) was an Italian painter, said to have worked with Leonardo da Vinci, which has lead to their workings misattributed to each other at various times.

Dr Gerard reads a copy of Le Matin. This French daily newspaper was first published in 1884 and edited by Alfred Edwards. Maurice Bunau-Varilla became its president in 1901 and the paper closed in 1944 shortly after his death. Gaston “The Mystery of the Yellow Room” Leroux worked for the paper during its heyday.

Drs Gerard and King go to Petra with Messrs Castle, the tourist agent. I can’t find anything about their history online, which is why I didn’t reference them when reviewing The Secret of Chimneys where Anthony Cade is working for them at the start of that novel. Presumably as they are mentioned in a second book they were a real company.

Reference is made to a Liberal government being unexpectedly in power. This is a fiction as the last Liberal government of the UK was Lloyd-George’s between 1916 and 1922.

Lady Westholme and Dr Gerard discuss the League of Nations and the Litvania boundary dispute. Litvania was a name sometimes used for Lithuania, which following the First World War had a long-running border dispute with Poland.

Going down into camp at Petra, Dr King thinks “down into the valley of death”. This from Tennyson’s “The Charge of the Light Brigade” previously referenced in Lord Edgware Dies.

Dr Gerard’s quote “So I returned and did consider all the oppressions…” is Ecclesiastes 4:1-3.

Miss Pierce is reading “The Love Quest”. I can’t find a contemporary book of that name but the title has been used by Anne Cumming for her 1991 volume of autobiography.

Dr Gerard refers to Kopp’s experiments with digitoxin. This could be a reference to Emil Kopp (1817-1875) a French professor of toxicology and chemistry.

Dr King asks Poirot if his enquiries are “a case of a Roman Holiday”. I’d heard of the Audrey Hepburn film before but never seen the expression used anywhere else. I thought it might be like a Busman’s Holiday (as Poirot is on holiday) but actually it means deriving entertainment from the suffering in others, arising from the gladiatorial contests staged on Roman holidays.

Mahmoud’s rushed quote is the first line of Keats’ “I had a dove and the sweet dove died”.

One character planned to commit murder using a method taken from an English detective story. This is “Unnatural Death” by Dorothy L. Sayers because I originally read that after this book and the method there is a central part of the plot and I thought it couldn’t be what it was as that was so obvious from having read this book first. Advice to parents – introduce your children to GAD fiction in strictly chronological order!

Dr Gerard refers to the Weissenhalter reaction. The only online reference I can find to this is where the same term is used in a similar context in a piece of “X-Files” fan fiction.

References to previous works

Poirot has a letter of introduction from Colonel Race to Colonel Carbury which references Cards on the Table.

Nadine Boynton refers to Poirot having accepted an official verdict in regards to Murder on the Orient Express when pleading her case. Poirot wonders how she knows the truth of that matter, which implies that the official verdict is still widely accepted, and makes it strange that he revealed the solution to a virtual stranger in Cards on the Table.

Miss Pierce lived near Doncaster at the time of The ABC Murders.

Vintage Mystery Challenge

Fulfils “When – during a trip/vacation”.

SPOILERS

I love the way that the time of death keeps being pushed back as subsequent witnesses confirm that Mrs Boynton was already dead at the point that they went to speak with her but that they lied out of fear for what someone else in the family may have done. It is nice here that it was an outsider who was the guilty party and that the Boyntons’ and their romantic interests introduced during the book all get a happy ending.

Sarah King does not realise the significance of Mrs Boynton looking over her shoulder as she is speaking. Variants of this device would feature in at least two future Christie’s. And it has brought to mind a line from Fawlty Towers – “I was looking at you but talkiing at him.”

The point about Lady Westholme having previously been the plain American Mrs Vansittart is the basis of a Father Brown story in which the priest outwits the latest scientific wonder.