Edited by genre historian Tony Medawar, Bodies from the Library is a collection of “lost” material from some of the most well-known writers in mystery fiction. Sometimes they’re stage or radio plays whose scripts were never published, sometimes they’re obscure pieces of work, sometimes they’re stories which were never published at all. While these lost works on their own aren’t enough to fill a single-author collection “there is ample material for volumes such as this, bringing together ‘lost’ works by different writers.” So just what are these stories?
“Before Insulin” is my first encounter with the work of J. J. Connington, as well as the only short story featuring his series detective Sir Clinton Driffield and his Watson, Squire Wendover. Here Sir Clinton is faced with a case of fraud. A young man suffering from diabetes and due to inherit a fortune died the day he came of age…but not before leaving that fortune to a nurse he’d fallen for. Sir Clinton is asked to sit in on the meeting to determine the will’s validity and quickly sees it as a fraud. A neat work of scientific detection, and the reader has a chance to see the issues when Sir Clinton explains his findings.
Leo Bruce follows up with “The Inverness Cape,” the clothing of choice by a shady nephew and what he was allegedly seen wearing while beating his aunt to death. “Allegedly,” because his coat turns out to have been getting repaired at the time of the murder. So who wore a duplicate to frame him? Sergeant Beef makes quick work of the plot in this short-short.
“Dark Waters” is another short-short, this time by Freeman Wills Crofts. An embezzling solicitor schemes to kill his client before he can discover the theft. He drugs the man then stages his drowning in a boat accident. Sadly, there’s no real brilliance in how Inspector French brings him in, instead finding a piece of evidence that points right to him.
“Linckles’ Great Case” is the only uncollected short story by Georgette Heyer. The titular Linckes is a rising inspector who’s put on the case of a series of leaks connected to the highest levels of British government. Sadly, the title is a misnomer, as the solution is not only a cliché, but also doesn’t really seem to explain very much.
Next is a radio play by Nicholas Blake,“part of a series of two-part plays by members of the Detection Club produced by John Cheatle.” “Calling James Braithwaite” is set onboard the title ship. The owner of the ship, James Braithwaite, has Nigel Strangeways go undercover as his secretary to keep an eye on his junior partner and wife, who he suspects are having an affair. He’s completely correct, since he’s a snarling, criminal bully. So it’s no surprise that he’s thrown overboard in the middle of the night, but is the killer an escaped maniac from Newcastle with a grudge against Braithwaite, or (let’s be honest here) someone using him as a cover for a more personal motive? Strangeways does good work here, and while this isn’t the best I’ve read by Blake, it’s still a solid mystery.
Next is one of John Rhode’s few short stories, “The Elusive Bullet,” originally published in the collection Detection Cavalcade. A man is found shot to death on a train, and Inspector Hanslet narrows in on his shady nephew. Dr. Priestly doubts this easy conclusion and justifies himself. There’s really no chance for the reader to guess this; the idea is interesting, but I see why Rhode didn’t expand it into a novel. That being said, Rhode is a solid writer and I enjoyed the story.
Cyril Hare is up next with “’The Euthanasia of Hilary’s Aunt,” in which the titular Hilary, who quite likes his aunt but thinks that she’d be better off deceased, plots to kill her, only to be foiled, in a sense. Good, but I’ve seen enough of these kinds of stories in the collection.
“The Girdle of Dreams” is an almost-lost story by Vincent Cornier. A jeweler meets with a strange client, an ancient woman who wants to sell her bridal girdle, a beautiful object designed by Benvenuto Cellini himself. The jeweler is unable to shake the feeling that something odd is going on, and indeed, the meeting ends with him helping the woman to rob his business while in a state of drug-induced bliss…but the police find no drugs in his system. The case is brought to Professor Gregory Wanless of the Intelligence Service, where he unravels the whole plot from his office. The story is a pulp one, so don’t expect anything grand from the solution, although a careful reader can tell when the hapless jeweler is drugged.
“The Fool and the Perfect Murder” is the only short story to feature Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte, the series detective of Arthur W. Upfield. Here he has his work cut out for him as he tries to track the body of a missing rancher. But we the reader already know how his killer was inspired by the titular fool with a plan for a perfect murder…Upfield used this idea in a novel too, but it was interesting seeing it in the short story format.
A.A. Milne is up next with another short-short, “Bread Upon the Waters.” Another disreputable nephew plots to murder his rich uncle with a plot straight out of one of his uncle’s detective stories, only to be foiled.“Very unfair” the narrator intones at the end, and the reader might indeed feel that this young man was very cruelly outplayed by Fate.
And then, just as I was getting tired of inverted mysteries and greedy nephews, in comes Anthony Berkeley with his serialized story, “The Man with the Twisted Thumb.” A former governess decides to take a vacation to Monte Carlo after being unjustly fired and quickly strikes up an acquaintance with a young man in the same boat as her. Said young man is a bit dishonest, however, and plans to win her over by “finding” her lost bag…but he gets a hold of the wrong one. This bag is being hunted for by various shady figures, including the titular man. While there’s very little detection, I really enjoyed this one! It’s very funny. While some of our hero’s antics made me roll my eyes, Berkeley really nails the banter between him and his best friend, and I found the romance engaging. The ending is a bit of an anticlimax, but the ride there is worth it.
Next is what most will probably consider to be the crown jewel of the collection: a lost story by Christianna Brand! “The Rum Punch” focuses on Sergent Troot, whose dreams of a seaside holiday with his wife and kids in his newly painted yellow roadster are put on hold when he’s on duty at the party of some family friends, and the patriarch is murdered by poison in the punch. Or was it in the cigarette? These kinds of questions keep the good Sergeant involved in a dragged-out investigation. But he pulls through, exposing both a surprise culprit and a clever method of poisoning.
Next is the first publication of a play by Ernest Bramah starring his blind detective Max Carrados: “Blind Man’s Bluff.” But the content is a bit light. A small group of conspirators plan to steal some valuable plans by an American attaché by swapping his coat, in which he always carries them, with a fake. Needless to say, they are foiled by Carrados. Good, certainly, and worth it for fans of the author and character, it just didn’t do much for me.
“Victoria Pumphrey” is H. C. Bailey’s contribution. The titular Victoria is a secretary at a law firm from a now-fallen noble family. That makes her a perfect candidate to possibly save a young man’s inheritance, or so a family friend of the young man believes. The young man is set to inherit when his uncle dies, but a new candidate from Australia has just surfaced, and Victoria is sent in to see if his claims are legitimate. Another good story with minimal detection, but with a good twist.
“The Starting-Handle Murder” is one of the few uncollected stories from Roy Vickers’ The Department of Dead Ends series. The Department solves unsolved crimes, but more through luck and random connections than through detection on the philosophy that “a law-breaker will walk into prison if you open enough doors for him.” That’s on full display here. The criminal this time is “a gentleman in the formidable Edwardian sense of the word.” He was on the losing side of a love triangle, his love taken by a schoolfriend who fell into disrepute, but he could tolerate that. But when he gets a first-hand look at how this old friend’s eccentric and destructive behavior affects his wife and learns that it’s the result of a worsening insanity, he takes action. A starting-handle, a handle that was used to start older cars, helps him commit a crime that goes unsolved for five years, until one of the other suspects gets involved in a crime of his own. I liked this story, but I feel that it would have worked better if I could have compared other stories from the same series together, since the culprit is unusually honorable and isn’t caught through some brilliant subterfuge, but“because he was a gentleman.”
Finally, Dame Agatha herself presents “The Wife of the Kenite.” Herr Schager is a German agitator, albeit one working for the Communists. When the group he was helping is exposed, he makes his escape through farmland, where he meets a woman, one of a good, solid stock. He takes an instant liking to her, but well…those of you who know your Judges can see how it will go.
I went into this collection with wrong expectations. I expected some little-known tales of deduction and mystery. And while there are some examples of that, most were inverted mysteries or minor tales that I admired but didn’t much care for. But that’s on me. Really, writing my review has helped me appreciate these tales all the more. For those mystery fans or historians who are looking for something new, this collection is right up your alley. Taking my own skewed expectations into account, I can say that this is Recommended.
Other Reviews: CrossExaminingCrime, A Crime is Afoot, In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel, Mysteries, Short and Sweet.
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