The Golden Age of Crime continues to fascinate and, along with the British Library Classic Crimes, we have a plethora of reprints being placed before the public and they are proving very popular. I have recently been reading David Baldacci, Lee Child and others of that ilk and, though, they cannot be called 'detective' stories as such, they are great fun and very entertaining to read. However, and I know this is just my personal opinion, they cannot hold a candle to the stores of the 1930s. I am not saying that all the stories of that era were brilliantly written and some of them are not exactly subtle, but they have a unique style and charm. Some I like, some I do not. This week I have read these three titles:
The Nursing Home Murder by Ngaio Marsh with which I am already familiar first. I gather that this is the book widely considered, and I quote, with which she 'transformed the detective story from a mere puzzle into a full-blown and fascinating novel' (The Times, 1935)'. Her third Inspector Alleyn novel - of 32 - it became her all-time bestseller and helped cement Marsh's reputation as one of the Golden Age 'Crime Queens' alongside Sayers, Allingham and Christie.
I will be honest and say it is not one of my favourites of Ngaio Marsh, good though it is. One aspect of her books featuring Inspector Alleyn is this constant harping on about him being a 'gentleman'. We know this and we also know that it was important to emphasis this at the time they were written and in the milieu in which he mixed, ie a lot of upper class nobs, but it can get tiresome.
Inspector Fox is requested to visit Lady O'Callaghan whose husband, the Home Secretary, had died on the operating table under suspicious circumstances and his widow is determined that he was murdered.
'Inspector Fox got rather ponderously to his feet. "If you will allow me I would like to talk it over with my superior Chief Detective Inspector Alleyn". "Alleyn? I think I have heard of him. Isn't he - she paused. Cicely O'Callaghan had nearly dropped a brick. She had been about to say 'Isn't he a gentleman?" she must have been really perturbed to come within hail of such a gaffe.
Inspector Fox answered her very simply 'Yes he is rather well known. He is a very highly educated man. Quite a different type from me you might say"
Much though I adore Marsh's writing this aspect of her work does irritate as she does tend to lay this aspect on with a trowel. Cockney characters pop up now and then in the stories and though we don't find anybody saying ''swelp me guv you're a toff" she gets perilously close to it at times.
Introduced by Stella Duffy the book includes three never-before-seen chapters from Marsh’s abandoned Inspector Alleyn novel MONEY IN THE MORGUE, which Duffy is in the process of completing for publication next year.
Stella Duffy was previously rather sniffy about Marsh and her posh detective and his condescending attitude to the Maoris in NZ. I thought just the opposite – Alleyn understood and had great respect for them. But she has agreed to write this book – I leave you to wonder why, she is a fellow NZ and has acting experience and at the Bodies from the Library conference last year she gave a talk on theatricality in Marsh' books which was fascinating. Looking forward to reading it and the three chapters given here are very tantalising.
I already have a copy of this title but simply could not resist this edition.
The Case of the Gilded Fly - Edmund Crispin. The blurb tells us that a "pretty but spiteful young actress with a talent for destroying men's lives is found dead in a college room just yards from the office of the unconventional Oxford Don, Gervase Finn". I will substitute the word unconventional for two - profoundly irritating. I have previously read the Moving Toyshop by this author on the recommendation of crime aficionados but found it left me cold. However, on further urgings I decided to read this one, again who can resist this simply splendid cover, but have to say that my reaction to Gervase Fin was the same. I have an overwhelming desire to thump him and view him as a superior smart arse. Do not ask my why. I just do.
I also found the resolution unconvincing and we end up with a series of marriage proposals between all the protagonists, one pair of which have known each other for one week and spend the entire story calling each other Darling and Dearest which I find slightly odd after their limited knowledge of each other.
I have tried Crispin and though others will disagree I really do not think I will be trying any more.
The third read The Crime Club is a collection of short stories by Frank Froest and George Dilnot and I am really loving these. Some of them are a bit over the top, the murderer having a fit or a heart attack when confronted by the police and crashing to the ground (George Bellairs is rather fond of this trick as well) but somehow there is an honesty to these stories and a lack of pretension which can pop up in Marsh and certainly does in the smart arsery of Gervase Finn.
Fun stories featuring characters with names like Red Jimmie, a pickpocket, Creeping Jimmie, a thief after a haul of diamonds, wicked villains with mustaches and a lot of young ladies called Elsie for some reason. They are all utterly delightful and I am enjoying every word.
Next post will be on three titles recently read by Freeman Wills Croft another master of the Golden Age.
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