The writing partnership of John Palmer and Hilary Saunders, who collaborated as Francis Beeding (and other pen-names as well) was arguably the finest British crime-writing combination of the Golden Age. They were best known for their thrillers, but their occasional detective stories were of high calibre, and I'd put books like Death Walks in Eastrepps and The Norwich Victims far ahead of anything written by once-renowned detective writers such as, say, G.D.H. and Margaret Cole.
Their fourth book, published in 1927, was The House of Dr Edwardes. It was turned into a film by Alfred Hitchcock - Spellbound, a much better title, it has to be said. I'll talk about the film another day, but overall I think it's more impressive than the novel. The novel isn't my favourite Beeding by a long chalk. But the storyline has some memorable features, characteristic of their work, which explain why it caught Hitchcock's attention.
Dr Edwardes is a famous psychiatrist, but he's been suffering from overwork, and he leaves the asylum that he manages in the Alps in the care of a Dr Murchison and a newly recruited young female doctor. A violent incident results in the incarceration of a patient, but the new woman starts to wonder if it's possible that, to coin a phrase, the lunatics have taken charge of the asylum.
One thing that's very evident from this book is that people with mental health problems were regarded very differently in the Twenties than they are today. Quite a bit of fun is poked at their strange ways, and some of this makes the modern reader feel uncomfortable. By and large, however, Beeding treats the insane characters a little more generously than did some Golden Age writers. At the time it was written, this was an original and entertaining book, though in my opinion it has worn much less well than some of Beeding's other work. Even so, if you've ever watched Spellbound, you might like to sample the book which inspired the film.
Friday, 1 December 2017
Wednesday, 29 November 2017
Inside the Room - 1935 film review
Inside the Room is a short black and white movie released in 1935 which features both an "impossible crime" puzzle and a very, very early example of the serial killer story in which the culprit sends enigmatic, menacing messages to his intended victims . One of the most interesting aspects of the film is how it originated. The story began life as a short story written by Marten Cumberland towards the start of his career. "The Diary of Death" was an entertaining tale which merited inclusion in Ronald Knox's famous anthology of 1928, Best Detective Stories. Much more recently, I included it in Miraculous Mysteries.
Cumberland turned his plot into a play, which he called Inside the Room, which was produced in 1934. This was in its turn adapted for film, but by the prolific screenwriter Harry Fowler Mear, rather than by Cumberland. In the short story, the detective, Loreto Santos, is a cosmopolitan character, born in Argentina of Spanish parents, and raised in England. In the film, he becomes Pierre Santos, and is played by Austin Trevor, who had already made a name for himself by portraying Hercule Poirot on the screen.
The story begins with the death in poverty of Lilian Hope, once a celebrity stage performer. She'd fallen on hard times, and been deserted by her friends. Embittered, she'd written a vitriolic diary condemning those she blamed for not rescuing her from tragedy. After her death, fragments of the diary are found with the bodies of two murder victims. Who is killing the people that Lilian scapegoated?
Most of the film takes place in a classic country house setting. A former admirer of Lilian's is among the house guests, and after receiving a warning that he is next on the killer' list, his body is duly found in his room, along with an extract from the diary. Santos, needless to say, applies his brilliant mind to the problem and comes up with the solution. It's not a great film, but quite watchable. Overall, though, I prefer Cumberland's original short story.
Cumberland turned his plot into a play, which he called Inside the Room, which was produced in 1934. This was in its turn adapted for film, but by the prolific screenwriter Harry Fowler Mear, rather than by Cumberland. In the short story, the detective, Loreto Santos, is a cosmopolitan character, born in Argentina of Spanish parents, and raised in England. In the film, he becomes Pierre Santos, and is played by Austin Trevor, who had already made a name for himself by portraying Hercule Poirot on the screen.
The story begins with the death in poverty of Lilian Hope, once a celebrity stage performer. She'd fallen on hard times, and been deserted by her friends. Embittered, she'd written a vitriolic diary condemning those she blamed for not rescuing her from tragedy. After her death, fragments of the diary are found with the bodies of two murder victims. Who is killing the people that Lilian scapegoated?
Most of the film takes place in a classic country house setting. A former admirer of Lilian's is among the house guests, and after receiving a warning that he is next on the killer' list, his body is duly found in his room, along with an extract from the diary. Santos, needless to say, applies his brilliant mind to the problem and comes up with the solution. It's not a great film, but quite watchable. Overall, though, I prefer Cumberland's original short story.
Monday, 27 November 2017
The Book of Forgotten Authors by Christopher Fowler
Christopher Fowler, a worthy winner of the CWA Dagger in the Library a couple of years back, is one of the most interesting writers around. I first encountered his work through a book of short stories Demonized. It's a collection of dark tales that appealed to me a lot. I started to read and enjoy his flavoursome Bryant and May novels, and I've also appreciated his non-fiction. He and I have met several times, though we've never found the time for a long conversation, and one of these days, I hope to repair that omission..
His latest book is another non-fiction work, The Book of Forgotten Authors, and it displays the qualities that appeal to me in all his work. It's quirky, witty, and thoroughly entertaining. Like all the best books, from time to time this one confounds expectations. The opinions he expresses, the judgments he makes, are often provocative - in a good way. Like another (albeit very different) writer whom I admire, Julian Symons, Chris Fowler has the confidence to recognise that others may disagree, and the good sense to realise that this doesn't matter a jot.
This is not a book that focuses exclusively on crime writers - in fact, it ranges widely (and I was very pleased to find that he covers various authors I've never even heard of, alongside one or two who may be turning in their graves now they've been labelled "forgotten"). But there's a good deal about crime fiction, and the writers he features range from Edgar Wallace and Georgette Heyer to Kyril Bonfiglioli, John Creasey, and Boileau and Narcejac. Overall, the book's a treasure trove of intriguing trivia. It's also packed with crisp, off-beat comment..
Discussions of 99 individual authors are interspersed with longer sections covering a miscellany of topics. Some of these, like the choices of the featured authors, have a rather random feel to them, but that's part of the appeal of this book. All of the entries contain something to interest and amuse readers who love popular literature. And the underlying message that I take from Chris Fowler's book is that, even for those writers who achieve huge success, fame is often fleeting, and perhaps matters much less in the long run than we might believe. .
His latest book is another non-fiction work, The Book of Forgotten Authors, and it displays the qualities that appeal to me in all his work. It's quirky, witty, and thoroughly entertaining. Like all the best books, from time to time this one confounds expectations. The opinions he expresses, the judgments he makes, are often provocative - in a good way. Like another (albeit very different) writer whom I admire, Julian Symons, Chris Fowler has the confidence to recognise that others may disagree, and the good sense to realise that this doesn't matter a jot.
This is not a book that focuses exclusively on crime writers - in fact, it ranges widely (and I was very pleased to find that he covers various authors I've never even heard of, alongside one or two who may be turning in their graves now they've been labelled "forgotten"). But there's a good deal about crime fiction, and the writers he features range from Edgar Wallace and Georgette Heyer to Kyril Bonfiglioli, John Creasey, and Boileau and Narcejac. Overall, the book's a treasure trove of intriguing trivia. It's also packed with crisp, off-beat comment..
Discussions of 99 individual authors are interspersed with longer sections covering a miscellany of topics. Some of these, like the choices of the featured authors, have a rather random feel to them, but that's part of the appeal of this book. All of the entries contain something to interest and amuse readers who love popular literature. And the underlying message that I take from Chris Fowler's book is that, even for those writers who achieve huge success, fame is often fleeting, and perhaps matters much less in the long run than we might believe. .
Saturday, 25 November 2017
Natural Causes - play review
Back in May, I reviewed Thriller of the Year, a play by Glyn Jones which was performed by my local amateur theatre group, the Bridgewater Players. I enjoyed the evening so much that I was keen to see their next production, and last night I again had a good time, watching Natural Causes by Eric Chappell. Oddly enough, the theatre, at Thelwall Parish Hall, an excellent community resource which was the setting for a talk I gave, just over a week ago, to Lymm and Thelwall U3A, which to my amazement attracted about 70 people on a wet Thursday morning.
Eric Chappell's name will forever be associated with Rising Damp, a highly successful sitcom with an excellent cast led by the brilliant Leonard Rossiter as Rigsby, the odious landlord. But Rising Damp began life as a play called The Banana Box, first performed in 1971, and Chappell was certainly a very capable playwright. Natural Causes dates from 1984, during the period (lasting roughly a quarter of a century) when Anthony Shaffer's Sleuth exerted a powerful influence on blackly humorous thriller writing.
Natural Causes is described as a black comedy, and it has elements of farce. It's not, first and foremost, a thriller, even though poisoning and attempted poisoning is central to the storyline. As in Sleuth, and many of the plays that followed in its wake (including Thriller of the Year), the lead character is a writer, in this case Walter Bryce, an author of historical biographies who is a former teacher, kept in the style to which he'd like to become accustomed by a depressive wife who keeps threatening to commit suicide.
Unknown to his wife, Bryce is having an affair with his secretary Angie, who is keen for Mrs Bryce's threatened demise to become a reality. The couple enlist the aid of "Vincent", from Exodus, a business which offers assistance to suicides in return for cash, and the complications start from there. Paul Bidston and Howard Brooks led the way as Bryce and Vincent respectively, and were ably supported by Kelly Jane Sergeant, Ann Marie Saunders, and Andy Rushman. The result was an evening of good entertainment at remarkably modest cost.
Eric Chappell's name will forever be associated with Rising Damp, a highly successful sitcom with an excellent cast led by the brilliant Leonard Rossiter as Rigsby, the odious landlord. But Rising Damp began life as a play called The Banana Box, first performed in 1971, and Chappell was certainly a very capable playwright. Natural Causes dates from 1984, during the period (lasting roughly a quarter of a century) when Anthony Shaffer's Sleuth exerted a powerful influence on blackly humorous thriller writing.
Natural Causes is described as a black comedy, and it has elements of farce. It's not, first and foremost, a thriller, even though poisoning and attempted poisoning is central to the storyline. As in Sleuth, and many of the plays that followed in its wake (including Thriller of the Year), the lead character is a writer, in this case Walter Bryce, an author of historical biographies who is a former teacher, kept in the style to which he'd like to become accustomed by a depressive wife who keeps threatening to commit suicide.
Unknown to his wife, Bryce is having an affair with his secretary Angie, who is keen for Mrs Bryce's threatened demise to become a reality. The couple enlist the aid of "Vincent", from Exodus, a business which offers assistance to suicides in return for cash, and the complications start from there. Paul Bidston and Howard Brooks led the way as Bryce and Vincent respectively, and were ably supported by Kelly Jane Sergeant, Ann Marie Saunders, and Andy Rushman. The result was an evening of good entertainment at remarkably modest cost.
Friday, 24 November 2017
Forgotten Book - The Third Eye
One of the many pleasures of editing anthologies for the British Library has been the chance to resurrect some splendid but long-neglected short stories, and thereby introduce present day readers to some writers who really deserve to be remembered. Among them is Ethel Lina White, whose "women in jeopardy" novels were very successful in the Thirties. She was also a fine short story writer and a number of Crime Classic readers have told me how pleased they have been to discover her work.
I've just read the novel she published after The Wheel Spins, which Hitchcock turned into The Lady Vanishes. The Third Eye came out in 1937, and my copy is a cheap American paperback with a back cover blurb that not only tells the whole story but gets much of it wrong. Very odd. But the story is, if you like this type of writing, a strong one.
She was good at ringing changes on a basic formula. So here we have, as usual, a likeable and resourceful young woman who doesn't have much money, who - through no fault of her own - becomes a potential murder victim. Caroline takes a job at a public school, whose owner is mysteriously dominated by the very unpleasant matron. When Caroline discovers that the matron is a homicidal maniac, her own life is put at risk.
But the real danger comes from the matron's half-sister, who is equally crazy. She is called Miss Bat, and she lives in - where else? - Bat House. Why on earth any young woman who knows her life is in danger would, on a foggy night, accept hospitality from a Miss Bat of Bat House is beyond me, but there you go. This type of story requires suspension of disbelief aplenty, but the Gothic atmosphere is nicely done, and White shows her customary expertise in the art of building tension.
I've just read the novel she published after The Wheel Spins, which Hitchcock turned into The Lady Vanishes. The Third Eye came out in 1937, and my copy is a cheap American paperback with a back cover blurb that not only tells the whole story but gets much of it wrong. Very odd. But the story is, if you like this type of writing, a strong one.
She was good at ringing changes on a basic formula. So here we have, as usual, a likeable and resourceful young woman who doesn't have much money, who - through no fault of her own - becomes a potential murder victim. Caroline takes a job at a public school, whose owner is mysteriously dominated by the very unpleasant matron. When Caroline discovers that the matron is a homicidal maniac, her own life is put at risk.
But the real danger comes from the matron's half-sister, who is equally crazy. She is called Miss Bat, and she lives in - where else? - Bat House. Why on earth any young woman who knows her life is in danger would, on a foggy night, accept hospitality from a Miss Bat of Bat House is beyond me, but there you go. This type of story requires suspension of disbelief aplenty, but the Gothic atmosphere is nicely done, and White shows her customary expertise in the art of building tension.
Wednesday, 22 November 2017
A Perfect Getaway - 2009 film review
I've been working lately on a short story set on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, one of the loveliest places imaginable. So I was delighted to come across A Perfect Getaway, a film released eight years ago, which is also set on the island. In fact, some of the filming was evidently undertaken in Puerto Rico, another nice part of the world, and I could have done with a bit more Kauai-specific atmosphere. Still, the locations are gorgeous.
We start off with film of a recent wedding, and join honeymooning couple Cliff and Cydney, played by Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich. They are in Kauai, determined to get off the beaten track. But there's a killer on the loose in Hawaii. A young couple, we learn, have recently been butchered on the island of Oahu.
Cliff and Cydney encounter another couple, and are about to give them a lift in their car when suspicion about the other pair makes them change their mind. They set off on a scenic trail, and soon encounter Nick (Timothy Olyphant), a charming young man who might just be something of a fantasist. When Cliff tells him that he's a screenwriter, Nick is fascinated, and introduces them to his girlfriend Gina (Kiele Sanchez).
The two couples explore the remote parts of the island together, but become increasingly suspicious of each other. Soon the plot thickens, and there are some exciting incidents as the truth about who exactly committed the murders in Oahu emerges. The plot isn't to be taken too seriously, but the action and the scenery are pleasing enough. An entertaining thriller with a few grisly moments. And I enjoyed being reminded of Kauai.
We start off with film of a recent wedding, and join honeymooning couple Cliff and Cydney, played by Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich. They are in Kauai, determined to get off the beaten track. But there's a killer on the loose in Hawaii. A young couple, we learn, have recently been butchered on the island of Oahu.
Cliff and Cydney encounter another couple, and are about to give them a lift in their car when suspicion about the other pair makes them change their mind. They set off on a scenic trail, and soon encounter Nick (Timothy Olyphant), a charming young man who might just be something of a fantasist. When Cliff tells him that he's a screenwriter, Nick is fascinated, and introduces them to his girlfriend Gina (Kiele Sanchez).
The two couples explore the remote parts of the island together, but become increasingly suspicious of each other. Soon the plot thickens, and there are some exciting incidents as the truth about who exactly committed the murders in Oahu emerges. The plot isn't to be taken too seriously, but the action and the scenery are pleasing enough. An entertaining thriller with a few grisly moments. And I enjoyed being reminded of Kauai.
Notable British Trials is Back!
More than sixty years have passed since the last entry appeared in the renowned series of Notable British Trials, published by William Hodge and Co. Now, I'm pleased to have had the chance to read a brand new entry in the series - number 84, no less. It's the Trial of Israel Lipski, edited by true crime writer M.W. Oldridge, and published by Mango Books under licence from William Hodge.
Pleasingly, this volume includes a lengthy foreword which provides a history of how Notable British Trials came into being. It's a fascinating story, and some of Oldridge's predecessors were legends of true crime writing - the likes of William Roughead and Frin Tennyson Jesse. Classic cases covered include those of Adelaide Bartlett, Florence Maybrick, Alfred Monson, and Buck Ruxton,
The famous trials are interesting in themselves. They also provide a vast amount of information for writers, not just true crime writers, but also novelists. When I was working on Dancing for the Hangman, I studied Filson Young's book about the trial of Dr Crippen very carefully. I was trying to write a novel which respected the facts that were known (while using fictional skills to explain the apparently inexplicable parts of the story), and the trial transcript gave me a great deal of help.
In line with the tradition of these books, Oldridge contributes a detailed introduction which sets the case in context. Lipski's murder of Miram Angel in 1887 attracted a good deal of attention at at the time, and the case does have intriguing features, although I find it less mysterious than, say the Bartlett or Maybrick cases. There are illustrations, and all in all I think Mango have done true crime fans a real service in bringing this famous publishing brand back to life.
Pleasingly, this volume includes a lengthy foreword which provides a history of how Notable British Trials came into being. It's a fascinating story, and some of Oldridge's predecessors were legends of true crime writing - the likes of William Roughead and Frin Tennyson Jesse. Classic cases covered include those of Adelaide Bartlett, Florence Maybrick, Alfred Monson, and Buck Ruxton,
The famous trials are interesting in themselves. They also provide a vast amount of information for writers, not just true crime writers, but also novelists. When I was working on Dancing for the Hangman, I studied Filson Young's book about the trial of Dr Crippen very carefully. I was trying to write a novel which respected the facts that were known (while using fictional skills to explain the apparently inexplicable parts of the story), and the trial transcript gave me a great deal of help.
In line with the tradition of these books, Oldridge contributes a detailed introduction which sets the case in context. Lipski's murder of Miram Angel in 1887 attracted a good deal of attention at at the time, and the case does have intriguing features, although I find it less mysterious than, say the Bartlett or Maybrick cases. There are illustrations, and all in all I think Mango have done true crime fans a real service in bringing this famous publishing brand back to life.
Monday, 20 November 2017
Agatha Christie's Very Secret Notebook
Agatha Christie's secret notebooks - the private journals in which she jotted down her ideas for stories, shot to fame some years ago, when Harper Collins published John Curran's fascinating book about them. What nobody seems to have realised at the time was that there was another notebook out there which was in private hands. It was sold at auction many years ago to an American collector for the princely sum of £240 plus commission. It's now come to light again, having been acquired by James Hallgate of Lucius Books in York,
There are some very delightful book dealers around, both here and in the US, and in recent years I've had the pleasure of getting to know quite a few of them. I have to be careful, because naturally they are inclined to lure me into making fresh purchases for my collection! But I find their company very enjoyable, and not only because they supply me with books, information, and background material for my portrayal of Marc Amos and his second hand bookshop in the Lake District Mysteries (though Marc definitely isn't based on anyone in real life!)
James Hallgate very kindly gave me the opportunity, some time ago, to look at the Christie journal shortly after he'd acquired it, and before he put it on the market. I must say it was a great thrill as well as a great privilege to pore over this fascinating item. Christie jotted her thoughts down casually and, seemingly, carelessly, but if one reads her (not very easy to decipher) handwriting, it's possible to discern her thought processes as she develops her storylines. This journal focuses on one of her finest post-war novels, A Murder is Announced, and it features one of her most cunning clues. There are also extensive notes about the play Spider's Web and other Christie works of the period.
I'm really grateful to James for giving me this memorable experience, and I readily agreed not to write about it until he was ready to market the journal. That time has now come, and I'm also appreciative of the photos that he's supplied to adorn this post. If you want to start saving up for a very special present for that Christie fan in your life, I'm afraid you will have to dig very deep indeed. The price of the journal, housed in a bespoke case, is a mere £45,000. Bargain! Alas, I won't be in the market on this occasion, but others definitely will be,and let's face it, it's a snip compared to a Leonardo. I hope very much the notebook finds a suitable home and that it doesn't altogether disappear from public view for years to come. Like the other Christie journals,it provides a wonderful insight into the workings of the mind of one of the genre's most innovative superstars.
Sunday, 19 November 2017
Undercover Agent aka Counterspy - 1953 film review
As I settled down to watch another of the long-forgotten films that have been resurrected on the excellent Talking Pictures TV channel, I was startled to see on the titles that the screenplay was based on a short story by Julian Symons. The film, Undercover Agent, is also known as Counterspy, and was released in 1953. The story it was based on is called "Criss Cross Code", but I'm unfamiliar with it, and I now plan to set about tracking it down.
Nobody ever thinks of Symons as writing espionage fiction, as the film's titles would suggest, although a few of his early short stories (and this one must have been among his very earliest) touch on international intrigue. The film is a thriller, and although it's creaky in parts, the screenplay is a lively one, co-written by Guy Elmes and Gaston Lazare (the latter name sounds as though it may possibly have been a pseudonym - I can't trace any of Lazare's other work).
The cast is a cut above the average for a British B-movie. Dermot Walsh, later to play Richard the Lionheart in a popular TV series of that name, improbably plays a meek but persistent auditor, who is called in to look over the books of a company where some mischief is afoot. His wife is played by Hazel Court, who was at the time married to Walsh in real life. The principal villain is played by Alexander Gauge, memorable in the role of Friar Tuck in the TV series Robin Hood. Here, Gauge acts rather like a poor man's Sydney Greenstreet in The Maltese Falcon. Hermione Baddeley plays a fortune teller, and even less likely is the casting of Bill Travers - yes, the chap from Born Free - as a brutal thug.
Yet somehow it all makes for agreeable light entertainment, mainly because the pace of the script doesn't allow one time to reflect on the daftness of it all. I'm not sure what Symons would have made of it, and I strongly suspect it bears only a limited resemblance to his story. He probably cringed, but it's no mean feat to have a short story turned into a film, even a comparatively short movie such as this one. An enjoyable curiosity..
Nobody ever thinks of Symons as writing espionage fiction, as the film's titles would suggest, although a few of his early short stories (and this one must have been among his very earliest) touch on international intrigue. The film is a thriller, and although it's creaky in parts, the screenplay is a lively one, co-written by Guy Elmes and Gaston Lazare (the latter name sounds as though it may possibly have been a pseudonym - I can't trace any of Lazare's other work).
The cast is a cut above the average for a British B-movie. Dermot Walsh, later to play Richard the Lionheart in a popular TV series of that name, improbably plays a meek but persistent auditor, who is called in to look over the books of a company where some mischief is afoot. His wife is played by Hazel Court, who was at the time married to Walsh in real life. The principal villain is played by Alexander Gauge, memorable in the role of Friar Tuck in the TV series Robin Hood. Here, Gauge acts rather like a poor man's Sydney Greenstreet in The Maltese Falcon. Hermione Baddeley plays a fortune teller, and even less likely is the casting of Bill Travers - yes, the chap from Born Free - as a brutal thug.
Yet somehow it all makes for agreeable light entertainment, mainly because the pace of the script doesn't allow one time to reflect on the daftness of it all. I'm not sure what Symons would have made of it, and I strongly suspect it bears only a limited resemblance to his story. He probably cringed, but it's no mean feat to have a short story turned into a film, even a comparatively short movie such as this one. An enjoyable curiosity..
Friday, 17 November 2017
Forgotten Book - Turn the Light Out As You Go
Edgar Lustgarten was a Manchester-born barrister with a love of writing who became a famous criminologist and broadcaster. He is best remembered for introducing the Scotland Yard TV series first screened in the Fifties, which has made a welcome reappearance lately on the Talking Pictures TV channel. He wrote extensively on true crime, but he also dabbled occasionally in fiction.
By far his best known novel is A Case to Answer, aka One More Unfortunate, which was widely translated and filmed with Rex Harrison and Lili Palmer, but despite the success of that book, he only wrote a handful of novels over the next thirty years. The very last one, Turn The Light Out As You Go, was published in 1978, the year of his death, and it made little or no impact, partly no doubt because by that time Lustgarten was a name from the past.
It's an unusual novel, though, and one that I found very readable, if flawed. It's a short book which may (I don't know) have been based in some respects on a real life case. Certainly, the treatment of the sexual assault and murder of a young girl is presented in a style almost verging on the documentary.
The focus is on the couple who live next door to the dead girl's family. Joe and Elsie are a middle-aged couple whose marriage has become stale. Elsie wonders - without any very substantial grounds - whether Joe might have killed the little girl - and the suspicion proves corrosive. Joe's life embarks on a downward spiral, even though he becomes friendly with one of the policemen working on the case, who doesn't regard him as a likely suspect. Other people come into the frame before a shock ending that wasn't (to my mind) foreshadowed quite as much as it might have been. It's a curious book in several ways, and the portrayal of working class life seemed a bit dated to me, even by the standards of the late Seventies. Lustgarten was not, I think, first and foremost a creative writer. All the same, I found the story interesting as well as unorthodox.
By far his best known novel is A Case to Answer, aka One More Unfortunate, which was widely translated and filmed with Rex Harrison and Lili Palmer, but despite the success of that book, he only wrote a handful of novels over the next thirty years. The very last one, Turn The Light Out As You Go, was published in 1978, the year of his death, and it made little or no impact, partly no doubt because by that time Lustgarten was a name from the past.
It's an unusual novel, though, and one that I found very readable, if flawed. It's a short book which may (I don't know) have been based in some respects on a real life case. Certainly, the treatment of the sexual assault and murder of a young girl is presented in a style almost verging on the documentary.
The focus is on the couple who live next door to the dead girl's family. Joe and Elsie are a middle-aged couple whose marriage has become stale. Elsie wonders - without any very substantial grounds - whether Joe might have killed the little girl - and the suspicion proves corrosive. Joe's life embarks on a downward spiral, even though he becomes friendly with one of the policemen working on the case, who doesn't regard him as a likely suspect. Other people come into the frame before a shock ending that wasn't (to my mind) foreshadowed quite as much as it might have been. It's a curious book in several ways, and the portrayal of working class life seemed a bit dated to me, even by the standards of the late Seventies. Lustgarten was not, I think, first and foremost a creative writer. All the same, I found the story interesting as well as unorthodox.
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