When I arrived back home I had plenty of books to unpack and there were two with those wonderful distinctive covers from the Classic Crime Series from the British Library. Last week I was able to sit down and give them my attention.
E C Lorac was the pen name of Edith Caroline Rivett, (easy to see where she got the Lorac from), she also used Carol Carnac. Now knowing my style of reading you will appreciate how my heart lifted when I read that she has written over 70 titles. Quantity does not always equal quality (as I have found with some Golden Age writers, I will keep stumm) and I freely admit that some of the reprints from the BL are not to my taste. But as one of the authors I do not care for is one of their best sellers what do I know?
Anyway, I really enjoyed these two. I thought the writing style was neat and economical and flowed well. There seemed to me to be an absence of over use of current jargon which can be tedious though there is the odd anti-Semitic comment in the title Bats in the Belfry. While it jars to modern sensibilities it is pointless to get over sensitive about it as these books are of their time and attitudes then prevailing. Ngaio Marsh, Sayers and Christie are all guilty of this trait so we have to leave it be and just enjoy the body of the books.
Bats in the Belfry opens with a dinner party at the house of Bruce and Sybilla Attleton. He was a novelist who had a dazzling success with his first few novels but has done nothing worthy since and is reliant on the income of his wife, a famous actress. The marriage is not happy with both of them having affairs and Sybilla eager to be rid of him as soon as she has evidence. Enter a mysterious stranger who claims to have the evidence that she needs and will give it to her for a price. Shortly after this, Bruce sets off for Paris but never arrives and vanishes completely. His passport and suitcase are found in an artist's studio, yet another mysterious stranger, and Inspector Macdonald is called in to investigate the possible murder of the novelist.
In Martin Edward's introduction to this novel he makes reference to the atmosphere of Bats in the Belfry. E C Lorac set many of her novels in Central London and knew it well (Murder in St John's Wood and Murder in Chelsea to name but two) and the sinister studio, the Belfry, is beautifully described:
" A gaunt tower showed up against the lowering sky which was lit by the reflection of neon lights in the West End. At the corner of the tower the gargoyles stood out against the crazily luminous rain and the long roof of the main body of the building showed black against the sky"
Inspector Macdonald, who after reading these two titles, I liked very much was a 'long lean faced inspector'...'Rockingham (one of the protagonists when being interviewed by the Inspector) had a curious feeling that he was being stripped, mentally if not physically........the manner of the Chief Inspector was courteous but there was a relentless look in his eye"
Shades of Roderick Alleyn about him I feel.
The second title is Fire in the Thatch. Nicholas Vaughan, released from the army after an accident, seeks refuge in Devon. It is near the end of the Second World War and he is looking for a place where he can make a home. He rents a thatched cottage from the local squire and sets about putting it in order, clearing the garden and farming in a small way. He is a quiet man, not interested in making friends with his neighbours most of whom are curious about his presence. In a small country village outsiders are usually regarded with suspicion and are not quick to become friends regarding outsiders are 'foreigners' and therefore to be viewed with suspicion. But Nicholas is accepted, respected and liked.
The first part of the book introduces the reader to Nicholas and we warm to him. I know I did. He had found a place where he could be quiet and content and all seemed set fair. It is therefore something of a shock when we suddenly find ourselves in Scotland Yard where Inspector Macdonald is asked to investigate a fire in which Nicholas Vaughan perished.
"He was buried here, you know, in our churchyard and the farmers came from miles around to his funeral. That may not mean much to you but in the country people don't go to funerals out of curiosity. They go because they respect the man who died and although Nicholas Vaughan had lived here only a short time, they all respected him and he'd got to be friends with them too - and that takes a bit of doing in these parts"
In Bats in the Belfry the person murdered was not exactly a nice person and the reader will perhaps feel he got his comeuppance, but I formed a great affection for the victim in Fire in the Thatch and was really sorry that he came to such a horrid end. Though the mystery is solved and justice done, it has a rather melancholy feel to it.
When I had finished reading both these books I went online to see if any of the seventy other titles were available. Well they were, but at quite a price (one priced at £5,000!) so I feel that I shall have to keep an eye out in second hand bookshops to see if I stumble across any more. I did find one on Amazon, Murder by Matchlight published by Dover Mystery Classics, a paperback, and it is now residing by my side as I write this and next up for a read.
The British Library comes up with the goodies time after time and I really hope that more by this author are found and published. Oh how I would love to wander among the stacks at the library and see all these marvellous books. Just as well I do not have a reading ticket else my flat would be packed with heaps to read.
The covers are, as always, just right.
Do read.
PS I have to say I guessed the identity of the murderer in each case. Don't ask me why or how or the reasons for. I just did. I take no credit for this. It just proves that I have read a LOT of detective novels....
