Forgotten Book - A Ring of Roses

A Ring of Roses is a curiosity in more ways than one. For a start, its publishing history is extremely odd. The novel first appeared as a 'Star Original paperback' in 1977 with the author's name given as Mary Ann Ashe. Star was an imprint of the publisher W.H. Allen. As the front cover of this edition said, she was the author of Alas for Her That Met Me!, a strangely titled novel that had appeared as a 'Star Original' the previous year; this was a historical mystery, originally serialised in Woman's Realm, that was said to be the first in a series.

But later in 1977, reversing the usual way of doing things, W.H. Allen issued the book in hardback. This time the author's name was stated to be Christianna Brand. The brief career of Mary Ann Ashe was at an end. I have no idea what the thinking was. Maybe the Ashe name was a sort of reBranding exercise and either the author or publishers had second thoughts about it. If there was a cunning commercial plan, it doesn't seem very cunning: for a start, there are characters in this novel who appear in Brand's much earlier book, Cat and Mouse, so anyone well versed in Brand's work would have figured out the author's identity and probably been rather baffled. Nor does it seem to have been successful. Copies of both paperback and hardback are rare, suggesting small print runs, especially for the hardback.

I'm lucky to have a copy of the hardback which Brand inscribed thus: 'This is frankly a potboiler...it is all set in my own bit of Wales - the farmhouse is just above our cottage...' Edmund Crispin's review said carefully: 'Miss Brand has done better than this, but she still writes a tale worth telling.' But there are positive online reviews by good judges here and here.

There are some really good ingredients in this story, including the setting, and the detective character, while Brand juggles false solutions to her puzzle with her customary dexterity. Unfortunately, there are two elements that I didn't care for. First, the inclusion of American gangsters in the plot - never a good sign. Second, the way that a disabled child is referred to time and again. Perhaps the problem was that she wrote the book too fast, and primarily as a money-making exercise. A pity, because with some reworking this might have become a first-rate mystery. As it is, I see it more as an interesting oddity.