Friday 10 July 2009

Forgotten Book - Clerical Error


My last entry in Patti Abbott’s series of Forgotten Books featured a title from the pen of Richard Hull. This week, the focus is on novel written by another disciple of Anthony Berkeley/Francis Iles. Clerical Error has also appeared as The Vicar’s Experiments, and it has been published under two different names – first as by Anthony Rolls, and then under Rolls’ real name, C.E. Vulliamy.

Vulliamy wrote, among other things, biography and satire. It is his satiric instinct which prevails in the opening chapter, when a seemingly inoffensive cleric snaps during a conversation with a disagreeable loudmouth:

‘Up to a quarter past three, Mr Pardicott might have been described as the gentlest of rural clergymen; at twenty minutes past three he was a criminal of the most dangerous kind. In a dizzy moment of revelation he saw that he had been chosen by the Inscrutable Purpose to be the destroyer of Colonel Cargoy.’

Alas, even when the murder of Colonel Cargoy has been accomplished, Pardicott does not rest content….

Vulliamy wrote a number of other crime novels. I’ve read one of them, Don Among the Dead Men, which follows a broadly similar pattern. I wouldn’t claim either book is a masterpiece. In each case, there is a neat initial idea, and some witty writing, but (at least, for a modern reader) the plot isn't complex or credible enough for the whole novel to live up to the promise of the early pages. But they have, at the very least, a deal of interest for readers fascinated in the development of the genre. Vulliamy was no Ruth Rendell, but he was no mug, either.

7 comments:

David Cranmer said...

Once again, a book that's new to me. And terrific excerpt.

Martin Edwards said...

Hi, David. It's a pretty obscure book, but quirky enough to be worth remembering, quite apart from its historic significance in the move away from the pure puzzle whodunit.

pattinase (abbott) said...

You do seem able to come up with ones we Americans don't know.

vegetableduck said...

Martin, Vulliamy as Anthony Rolls published three other pre-WW2 crime novels, which go unmentioned by Symons, as I recall. Two are very good, in my view: Family Matters and Lobelia Grove. I think his fifties crime novels are pretty dreadful, on the the other hand.

Some Americans have heard of Vulliamy, going back to Haycraft!

Martin Edwards said...

Curt, I have a copy of Floral Tribute (signed!) which I picked up in a junk shop for a couple of pounds, but I must admit I've never read it...

vegetableduck said...

Martin, he just seems to get really "twee" to me in those fifties books, though I haven't read them all either.

Vicar's Experiments seemed too obviously derivative to me, though the central idea is a good one (and Peter Lovesey seems to have appropriated it recently in one of his novels). By the way, I think that's one of the few times the Americans improved a title: Clerical Error. Cute!

Family Matters and Lobelia Grove are much more original. Both cost a lot to buy today, even if you can find a copy. They really should be reprinted.

Martin Edwards said...

Good tips. Maybe Faber Finds could be persuaded....