In my quest for fictional representations of Romney Marsh, as with Doctor Syn, my eyes lighted on a copy of Leo Bruce's Death on Romney Marsh. First published in 1968, it's another Carolus Deene mystery and it's certainly an example of Bruce's agreeable storytelling style, heavily based on dialogue. There isn't, in fact, too much description of Romney Marsh, although in the first chapter we're told that the low-lying lands 'cover even today some of the loneliest country in southern England', while names like Dymchurch and Dungeness suggest Swinburne's 'mile on mile on mile of desolation' (a slight mis-quote from his poem 'By the North Sea').
Carolus is visiting his aunt, Vicky Morrow, who rents a house on the Marsh called Mortboys. The chap who owns it, a man called Cuchran, wants her out of the place so that there can be 'development' (it's an eternal issue in Britain...) Relations between Cuchran and Miss Morrow are very poor, because she has long accused him of murdering his first wife - for the insurance money, as well as to inherit her property.
Carolus sets off to negotiate with Cuchran and finds him to be suitably unpleasant and clearly with something to hide. In the end, Carolus manages to persuade Cuchran to relent on his plans, and there the matter rests for some time. But then Carolus's interest in the case is re-ignited by the mysterious disappearance of Cuchran's enigmatic old butler, Mowlett.
I enjoyed the fact that this is quite an unorthodox story, with various unlikely twists and turns, all presented with Leo Bruce's customary wit. He really was an engaging writer. The main problem with the book is that the crime at the heart of the story is far-fetched, not because there is over-reliance on coincidence, but because the actions of the people in question are almost impossible to believe. So, no masterpiece, but a pleasant if undemanding read.
8 comments:
The reason I first holidayed on Romney Marsh was due to having loved Monica Edward's children's adventure stories set on the marsh, so if you are interested they are worth a look; exciting modern day adventures based in local legends and lore, as well as nods to Dr Syn, showing village life and real issues, from smuggling to horse transport for slaughter abroad, ostensibly pony books, but something more. The White Riders, Cargo Of Horses and Storm Ahead are typical and perhaps the best. Not forgetting that the definitive 1937 Dr Syn movie was co-written by Roger Burford, more correctly Roger D'Este Burford, who wrote crime fiction as Roger East. Perhaps best remembered for the unusually titled Twenty Five Sanitary Inspectors!
Very interesting - I didn't know that the other ME set stories on the Marsh, or that Roger East, whom I like, co-wrote a Syn!
This is one of the rarest Leo Bruce hardbacks, I’ve only had the book once in over thirty years. Deryn Lake wrote a book in her John Rawlings historical mystery series called Death on the Romney Marsh
not because there is over-reliance on coincidence, but because the actions of the people in question are almost impossible to believe.
I'm not a great fan of psychological crime novels, I'm much more of a puzzle-plot guy, but I do get disappointed when characters behave in ways that just make no sense at all psychologically.
When I find out that it was young Nigel who murdered old Lord Bletchley and I find myself thinking that he's the sort of guy who would never have murdered anyone and if he had murdered somebody he would never have done it that way it's a bit of a deal-breaker for me.
Jamie, I didn't know it was that rare! My copy was actually given to me by a kind friend, so I was obviously in luck.
dfordoom, while I like psychological crime novels much more than you do, you're right that even when one is just focused on the puzzle/plot, it's jarring if the motivations don't work. One good example, I suggest, is in Appointment with Death, a book I find unsatisfactory for that very reason.
I think the trick with writing puzzle-plot mysteries is that since you want to keep the reader in doubt as to the killer's identity you need to make sure that all your major suspects have plausible psychological motivations.
That is an important point, and I agree. I also think that the more interesting whodunits offer something above and beyond excessive reliance on the standard 'heirs to a rich miser' and 'victims of a rascally blackmailer' motivations
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