"The cleverest lies... are those we're already inclined to believe."- DCI Tom Barnaby (Midsomer Murders)
The Friends of Cattesmoor are jubilant over
their victory in court on the right-of-way and restoration of the Possel Way, a
medieval pilgrim's footpath carving a route from west of Stoneham to the
seaside resort of Biddle Bay, which partly runs through the grounds of
Starbarrow Farm – reconditioned by the current owner, Jeffrey Ling, who bought
the place for its remoteness.
Suddenly While Gardening (1978) was published midway Elizabeth Lemarchand's career as a
mystery novelist, taking the plunge with Death of An Old Girl (1967) and
bowing out after The Glade Manor Murder (1988), but is virtually unknown
today. Some scraps of information, here and there, qualify Lemarchand as a
tradition, British writer of unchallenging, but nonetheless competent, cozies.
Not my usual cup of tea, however, I was intrigued by reported use of archeology
and history in her plots and the description also made me suspect Lemarchand may
be an acquired taste like Gladys Mitchell. What I found could very well have
been Caroline Graham's original Midsomer Murder novels, of which The
Killings at Badger's Drift (1987) was the first. A year before Lemarchand
published her final mystery. Interestingly, Lemarchand's series character, DSI
Tom Pollard, has a DI named Gregory Toye and Graham's DCI Tom Barnaby has DS
Gavin Troy.
The plot of Suddenly While Gardening
would be easily translated to an episode of Midsomer Murders, in which Tom
Pollard takes the family for a holiday in the countryside to visit his aunt,
Isabel Dennis, who’s a member of the Friends of Cattesmoor – and from whom he
learns about the Possel Way. Being a good tourist, Pollard takes the hike
himself, but is stopped when he sees a group of walkers gathered around a
Bronze Age grave (kistvaen) containing the skeletal remains of a human
being. Pollard hands the case over to the local authorities, but is called back
after returning home from holiday when a post-mortem revealed the bones
belonged to a young man dead for no longer than fourteen months.
I found the idea of a police
investigation focusing on the question of how and when the remains were
disposed at the gravesite an interesting change, because Pollard and Toye were
unable to concern themselves with possible motives. A lack of identity and
cause of death made this mainly a case of opportunity for the body dump. Unfortunately,
this never went further than tracking people's movements and the pace of the
story made it feel as if Pollard was still enjoying his holiday. Pleasantly
written? Yes. But it lacked a pinch of urgency. And the book is basically a
novella-length short story (143 pages)! Anyhow, Pollard and Toye uncover
another crime buried in the town, but the main trick was even when the book
was published way behind its time.
Suddenly While Gardening is pleasantly written, leisurely paced, and, on a whole, not terrible
as a (modern) detective story, but, if I ever return to Pollard and Toye, it'll be on account of their possible (literary) kinship to Barnaby and Troy
from the Midsomer Murders. Yes. The title of the book is a bit of a misnomer.
To end this post on a positive note...
BBC has released an episode title, The Letters of Septimus Noone, and
synopsis for the new Jonathan Creek episode. The plot sure's enticing:
an impossible murder during a West End musical production of Gaston Leroux's The
Mystery of the Yellow Room in the locked dressing room of the theatre. It
also sounds like the idea of David Cargill's currently working with for his
third locked room mystery. Oh, ghost of Harry Stephen Keeler, will you ever
grow tired of these pranks?
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