The strength of the book lies in the unpredictability of the storyline, coupled with the author's ability to create characters who are interesting even if unlikeable. There's no mystery about the first murder. A man called Robert Cave kills a girlfriend on the spur of the moment. She finishes up in the bottom of the canal, but with the reluctant assistance of some family members, he is able to give the police an alibi, and they aren't able to pin the crime on him. But they are deeply suspicious and it's common knowledge that he's the prime suspect.
A newcomer to the town called Forbes decides to turn Cave's predicament to his advantage by framing him for the murder of his (Forbes') cousin Lucy. This struck me as an intriguing set-up for a novel and Guy Cullingford (whose real name was Constance Taylor) develops it in a very pleasing way. You never quite know what is going to happen next.
Constance Taylor was a member of the Detection Club (my copy is inscribed to her fellow member Michael Underwood, who was clearly a good friend) and her books received positive reviews, but even in her lifetime she was never very well-known. I think this is because she didn't write a series and each book she wrote seems to have been quite distinctive. That isn't really the way to achieve fame and fortune as a crime writer, but she has left a legacy of fascinating and unorthodox stories. I'm now very keen to read the rest of her books.
6 comments:
"Guy Cullingford"'s most celebrated book was "Post Mortem" (1953), in which an author is shot at his desk and his ghost becomes the detective!
Good to hear from you, Melvyn. Yes, that's a very good book and featured on this blog back in November 2020. I've read it two or three times over the years.
As always a fascinating look back. I am sure you know, but other readers may like to know that virtually all of Cullingford's books are available as Kindle downloads from the Murder Room website ( Orion? ). You are totally right; it doesn't pay to not have a series detective/sleuth/mannerisms etc . A shame because these books deserve to be far more widely read.
Always good to hear from you, Alan, and I very much appreciate your thoughtful reviews on Amazon. I know that Guy Cullingford was one of several excellent authors picked up by Murder Room years ago, Wade and Connington being among the others, but I was under the impression that those books are generally not available now since MR ceased to function some years back. But I may be mistaken. Or it may be that some titles are selectively available, depending on the rights position.
I have just checked the kindle website. I can see about 9 titles available for Kindle down load . However the picture is not nearly as good for paper/hardback books. All the Wade titles are there except Lonely Magdalen!!
Interesting. I had heard that the rights to Wade had expired, but maybe not.
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