Is the prospect of marriage so distasteful that a man would be compelled to commit suicide rather than go through with the ceremony? That is the question that Cecil J. C. Street (1884-1964), renowned for his books written under the pseudonyms John Rhode and Miles Burton, presents the reader in this mystery, set in the post-war rural community and published during the latter years of his writing career.
Consternation reigned in the Mickfield family when Anthony Mickfield had a letter announcing the remarriage of his Grandmother. They saw the comfortable legacy which should have come to them on Granny’s death being diverted into the pockets of a stranger, and were duly indignant that the whims of an old woman should defraud them of their inheritance. But worse was to come. A month or so later, their mother, Alison Mickfield, made it known that she, too, was contemplating matrimony again, thus, in the eyes of her children, jeopardising the family fortunes still further. So it was no festive gathering at Dordon Hall on the eve of the wedding, and if wishes could have killed the prospective bridegroom would not have lived long. As things turned out, he didn’t, and his death presented Inspector Jimmy Waghorn with a problem which might never had been solved had he not taken Dr Priestley’s advice and follow up the one small clue that everyone had overlooked.
Blurb from 1st UK and US edition
This late-fifties mystery published using the John Rhode pseudonym finds series-sleuth Jimmy Waghorn, by this time a fully-fledged Superintendent, investigating the death of a man named Brockdish, who is found hanging in his workshop on the morning of his marriage day. The dead man had been due to marry into a family already experiencing some turmoil, having received news that their grand-matriarch has recently remarried, an action that both shocks them and threatens the comfortable legacies they had been confidently expecting. When soon after this, Alison Mickfield, the matriarch of the Mickfield clan, also announces her intention of re-entering the state of matrimony, her four children and their wives and husbands are appalled – and extremely concerned that they may lose some or all of their inheritance. But the banns are most effectively forbidden when her prospective bridegroom doesn’t survive until the wedding day. Initially, the local police, in the shape of Inspector Forncett, believe it to be a case of suicide, despite an apparent lack of motive, but when the police pathologist discovers unexplained bruises on the dead man’s neck they discover that they are investigating a case of murder. Soon they are being aided by the Scotland Yard man, who proves himself to be a fairly able investigator – certainly sharper than the initial regular police presence in these books, Superintendent Hanslet. Suspects with financial motives abound, including several members of the victim’s own family and that of his prospective bride, but as the inquiry develops it becomes more difficult to find anybody with sufficient opportunity to have committed the crime. The movements of a stranger, coincidentally named Burton, who was in the village on the day of the crime but mysteriously vanished, also command the police’s attention. As does the evidence of some unidentified person having slept in the barn at Dordon Hall, the family home, that same night and also some paper remains which are discovered in the workshop stove.
Naturally, Inspector Waghorn consults his old confederate Dr. Priestley, who by this time in this series is in his eighties and dispenses advice from the comfort of his study armchair, along with his comrades ex-Supt Hanslet and Dr. Oldland. Needless to say, although the Professor’s contribution does not involve him in any active participation, it is he who gives the hint which once again guides Waghorn to the solution just as the policeman fears all leads have petered out. Advising Waghorn not to concentrate solely on financial motives, he poses three questions – the answers to which point Jimmy to both a possible alternative motive and a perpetrator whom had not come into his consideration before. Ultimately it is the presence of two items left at the scene of the crime which provide the vital hint he requires to complete his case.
Street is always excellent in his portrayal of the English rural and seaside localities which often form the backdrop to his stories, in particular in the Miles Burton mysteries, and this book is no exception. Here the English countryside village and town are described in much the same way as they might have been in the 1930s, with post-war modernism not yet having wrought the changes that were to come. The characters fit the social and class structure as expected, but there is no snobbery or condescension in the way that they are portrayed, with rich and poor alike having character faults and strengths which inform their actions in a convincing way. Though the milieu will be less recognisable to a modern audience, it must have been instantly familiar and comforting to a contemporary reader, which may help explain Rhode’s long and productive writing career.
The experienced mystery reader may first begin to suspect the identity and motive of the criminal at around three-quarters of the way through the book, as this reviewer did, but this in no way spoiled my enjoyment of what still turns out to be another solid offering from one of the most consistent masters of the golden age. Fortunately for those wanting to sample a late-period Rhode, this one is also available online in ebook format and second-hand copies are not too difficult to track down.
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7.5/10
Dr Lancelot Priestley #65
Preceded by Robbery With Violence
Succeeded by Murder At Derivale
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Edition Reviewed
First UK edition (my collection)
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Collector’s Notes
No record of any modern reprint or audiobook has been traced by the reviewer. An ebook version is available at The Internet Archive here.
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First Edition Details
UK
Originally Published by Geoffrey Bles, London 1957
Red Cloth Boards, pp 253, 8vo
Title and Author stamped in light green on spine, separated by single wavy line. Geoffrey Bles and eagle motif stamped in light green at bottom.
Front Board plain.
Dustwrapper priced at 12s. 6d net on front flap.
US
Originally published by Dodd, Mead & Company, New York, 1957
Yellow Cloth Boards, pp 244, 8vo
Red badge symbol stamped in black on front cover.
Dustwrapper priced at $2.95 on front flap.
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R E Faust
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