2/22/18

The Case of the Monday Murders (1936) by Christopher Bush

The Case of the Monday Murders (1936) is the fourteenth title in Christopher Bush's long-lived Ludovic Travers series and, in this instance, the story-telling turned out to be more interesting than the plot itself, which was as translucent as a ghost and lacked the complexity associated with Bush's earlier detective novels – c.f. Cut Throat (1932) and The Case of the Chinese Gong (1935). A somewhat unusual detective novel presented as a serial killer story, however, this is not entirely the case.

Our neighborhood genre-historian, Curt Evans, who wrote the introductions for these brand new editions, published by Dean Street Press, pointed out that Bush's breakthrough novel, The Perfect Murder Case (1929), is not (as often argued) a serial killer novel. And goes on to state that The Case of the Monday Murders "unquestionable qualifies" as such. Only problem is that the titular murders only serve to dress up the actual plot and, if this one qualifies as a serial killer novel, than every Golden Age mystery with a body-count of two or three victims does. And, more importantly, the Monday murders aren't even the work of a serial killer. So I didn't tag this post with the "Serial Killer" toe-tag.

However, the story-telling has some interesting aspects and Evans called the book "crime fiction at its most puckishly meta," because part of the story's background may have been inspired by Bush's first experiences with the Detection Club and there's a character who could've been modeled on the well-known, grumpy bugbear of the club, Anthony Berkeley – who was "a cross to bear" for his colleagues. The name of this takeoff is Ferdinand Pole, a celebrated mystery writer, who's the founding father of the Murder League.

Pole has made a discovery that a "perfectly uncanny number of unsolved murders" that "have taken place on Mondays" since 1918 and claims one and the same person is behind all these murders. A serial killer or perhaps even a new Jack the Ripper. Pole communicates his finding to a newspaper, Evening Blazon, which brings us to the secondary theme of the story that critically glances at the sensationalists, scandal-mongering print-press of the time. Evening Blazon splashes their pages with thickly printed headlines like "MURDERS ON MONDAY," "WILL THERE BE MURDER ON MONDAY?" and "WE CHALLENGE SCOTLAND YARD."

Later in the story, a person, who calls himself "Justice," claims to be the murderer and provides details of his crimes. He even describes himself as an elderly man with a squint. Bush also gives the reader a glimpse of the typical English response to this latest sensation. The figure of the man with the squint became a public joke and the BBC's pet comedian, Giggling Gilbert, made people roar with his song "I don't want to be murdered on Monday."

However, as said above, the serial killings only serve as a background, or framing, for the investigation into two other murders.

T.P. Luffham was a once well-known schoolmaster of a prestigious public school, but had to resign with "ugly rumors" abound that were never officially denied. The nature of those rumors aren't made clear, but there's a possibility Luffham pulled a Sandusky on the students. After he had withdrawn from public life, Luffham assumed the name of Clough and began to life as a hermit. And the story went around that he had died somewhere abroad.

So the news of his accidental death came as a surprise to Travers, who also assumed he had passed away, which prompts him to accompany a junior crime-reporter of the Evening Blazon, Tristram Cane, to the scene – where they discover that the old man had fallen down a flight of stairs. However, Travers and Cane find a black elastic-band and a drawing-pin, which could been used to stretch the elastic across the top of the stairs.

This is a murder on a Monday and not long thereafter the newspaper headlines scream: "GREATEST PROPHECY OF THE CENTURY!" and "T.P. LUFFHAM WAS MURDERED!!"

The second murder is that of an elderly actress, Laura Delayne, who was stabbed to death in her hotel room, where she lived, but here the story began to loose steam. After a while, it becomes clear that the serial killing are only there to muddle the waters and the investigation is primarily focused on digging into Delayne's past or finding a connection with the first murder.

This would not have been problem had there been more than two suspects, but the murderer sticks out from the very beginning and becomes impossible to ignore as the story progresses – especially when the only other suspect becomes the victim of an attempted murder. An attempt that could not been faked by this person in order to throw suspicion off him.

So, on a whole, The Case of the Monday Murder turned out to be a rather disappointing read. Sure, the story-telling was good, particularly during the first half, but the plot is so thread-bare that you can see through it from the beginning. Honestly, it's kind of hard to believe that this came from the same man who intricately plotted Dancing Death (1931), The Case of the April Fools (1933) and The Case of the Missing Minutes (1936). Yeah, this is, unfortunately, the first time Bush let me down, but only a single dud out of nine titles read is not a bad score at all. So let's end this review on that semi-positive note.

19 comments:

  1. Yeah, this one. It's disappointing, as you say; X is obviously guilty, and there's simply not enough going on in the story (either in terms of plot complexity or characterization).
    Compare it to Agatha Christie's ABC MURDERS of the same year, which uses the same premise - and blows this out of the water. It's bigger in scope (four towns plus London, across different social classes); better characterized; more complex; and moves faster. But that's the deft, dazzling Dame of Death.

    This was one of the first three or four Bushes I read - and we got off to a bad start. HEAVENLY TWIN (very late, bad); MONDAY MURDERS (Golden Age, and average); SECOND CHANCE (post-WWII, bad); and TUDOR QUEEN (Golden Age, OK). Bush can be very uneven - he's written some hyperingenious bafflers and some dreary slogs with depressingly uninventive plots. Go figure!

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    1. Yes, The ABC Murders is clearly the superior of the two, but then again, I don't really consider The Case of the Monday Murders to be a serial killer story. So the comparison is not entirely a fair one. Still a disappointing read.

      Thanks for letting me know which one to avoid when they get republished. At least, until I ran out of the good ones!

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  2. ABC Murders is a very high bar! You're talking one of the greatest mysteries in the history of the genre in ABC. It was grand enough for Leo Bruce to steal for one of his books.

    I don't see, though, why one would consider The ABC Murders a serial killer novel and not Monday Murders? I was so struck by the resemblance in that respect that I wondered in the intro whether they might both have been conceived at the same Detection Club dinner.

    The reason I don't consider Perfect Murder Case a serial killer novel is that it isn't really presented as such in the book, despite the surface similarity to Jack the Ripper with the letter. The killer states he is going to commit a murder and does so, and it's made clear he has a personal agenda going on in this one particular case. It's not a case of someone who might be murdering people serially. In ABC and Monday, the deaths are presented to the reader as work of a serial killer (true or not).

    This actually is getting into spoiler territory, since most people won't know the plot of Monday Murders as they will ABC, so I will stop. But I will add you have the most exacting standards on plot, as does Nick, which is good. When a book gets a good review from you, it's really cleared a high hurdle. On the other hand it's possible some readers may find the plot more puzzling. For example, there's the question of motivation.

    What I liked best about it I highlighted in the introduction: it did seem like Bush was engaging with the Detection Club in rather a puckish way.

    I think Tudor Queen is quite good and it has a very neat alibi problem, so I have to part company on Nick with that one. But then the Puzzle Doctor didn't like it either. Moira Redmond had a higher opinion, however.

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    1. "I don't see, though, why one would consider The ABC Murders a serial killer novel and not Monday Murders?"

      I know this will be hard to explain, without walking straight into spoiler territory, but a series of murders, all done by the same hand, were actually being investigated in The ABC Murders. Just like in Ellery Queen's Cat of Many Tails and Philip MacDonald's Murder Gone Mad. The serial killer in The Case of the Monday Murders merely serves as background dressing for the two main murders. So I can really place this one in the same category as the others

      But you know what's interesting? ABC and Monday Murders both appear to have a connection with Anthony Berkeley.

      Christie probably got the idea for her novel from Berkeley's The Silk Stocking Murders, which could have been acknowledged in the character of the traveling salesman, Alexander Bonaparte Cust, who sells silk stockings and shares Berkeley's full initials – which was Anthony Berkeley Cox (ABC). You pointed out yourself that Berkeley could have been Bush's model for Ferdinand Pole.

      "But I will add you have the most exacting standards on plot, as does Nick, which is good. When a book gets a good review from you, it's really cleared a high hurdle."

      Nah. I'm just spoiled. I only want detective stories with plots woven from the finest, silkiest plot-threads.

      "I think Tudor Queen is quite good and it has a very neat alibi problem, so I have to part company on Nick with that one. But then the Puzzle Doctor didn't like it either. Moira Redmond had a higher opinion, however."

      Don't make Tudor Queen my next Bush! I'll never get around to Dead Man Twice or The Case of the 100% Alibis, which I foolishly ditched for this one.

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    3. Didn't Leo Bruce steal most of his plots? ;)

      I have exacting standards for plots - except when it comes to Gladys Mitchell!

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    4. "I have exacting standards for plots - except when it comes to Gladys Mitchell!"

      And Rex Stout! And Asimov's Black Widower stories!

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    5. I think Tudor Queen is quite good and it has a very neat alibi problem, so I have to part company on Nick with that one. But then the Puzzle Doctor didn't like it either. Moira Redmond had a higher opinion, however.

      I liked Tudor Queen as well. But then I usually enjoy mysteries with a theatrical background. Which might be because I like the idea of theatrical people killing each other!

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  3. Yes, Christie did some clever things that way. Nick pointed out in an email with me once that in Sad Cypress, which I had called Christie's Strong Poison, that a key character is named Peter Lord--Lord Peter, right? I don't think that sort of thing is accidental, not coming from Christie.

    I hate to get out on a limb on Tudor Queen, but I liked it much better the second time I read it. I see it as more of a Bush procedural. I think actually having read a bunch of Bush books helped me appreciate it. And then Nick says it's like a John Rhode as I recall, but that wouldn't be a bad thing in my book!

    I like Dead Shepherd too, which is another one Nick didn't go for, but I got into its dour realism (thinking about schoolmastering seemed to bring out the misanthrope in Bush), which may not appeal to all GA fans! It's another one I liked much better on the second read.

    I actually read 100% Alibis for the first time last year, when my father was in hospital. It was a nice diversion, also somewhat meta.

    I have a notion, however, that Green Felt Hat may prove the most popular from this set. It's one John Norris liked, a village mystery, with lots of suspects. I think I quoted John in the intro.

    I would say my favorites from this set are Alibis, Shepherd, Minutes, Queen, Hat. I'm guessing Nick's would be Body, Gong, Minutes, Hat and...?

    First set it would be Dancing Death, Cut Throat, Fools, Faces and TPMC.

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    1. I haven't read Hat yet - although hopefully it'll be a topper.

      Favorites? First set: Dead Man Twice, Cut Throat, April Fools (all excellent)
      Second set: Missing Minutes

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    2. "I don't think that sort of thing is accidental, not coming from Christie."

      I agree. Christie was signaling in those two books that she was riffing on the work of someone else, which is something she apparently loved to do from time to time. Just look at Partners in Crime and The Big Four. I just feel bad for the writers she was riffing, because her work usually turned out to be the superior one. The ABC Murders not only blows The Case of the Monday Murders out of the water, but also buries The Silk Stocking Murders six feet under.

      "And then Nick says it's like a John Rhode as I recall, but that wouldn't be a bad thing in my book!"

      Sounds like a recommendation to me!

      "I have a notion, however, that Green Felt Hat may prove the most popular from this set. It's one John Norris liked, a village mystery, with lots of suspects. I think I quoted John in the intro."

      It will have a hard time beating The Case of the Chinese Gong and The Case of the Missing Minutes, but I'll certainly be taking a look at The Case of the Green Felt Hat. By the way, why does nobody ever mention The Case of the Leaning Man. Is that one considered to be a lesser Bush?

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    3. Yes, Christie was one of the genre's most gifted satirists! Critics who should know better (P.D. James, for one) sometimes dismiss her as uninventive, but many of her books are brilliant riffs on the genre's conventions. She knew how the thriller and the detective story *worked*, and how to turn them upside down. There's ROGER ACKROYD, HERCULE POIROT'S CHRISTMAS, and BODY IN THE LIBRARY, of course, but a lot of the early Poirot short stories are spoofs of Sherlock Holmes; and THE SEVEN DIALS MYSTERY is a brilliant parody of the '20s thriller. Because the writers she parodied are obscure, some critics think she codifies - rather than subverts.

      I haven't read Leaning Man. (I read the short story years ago, but can't remember it!) Press opinion was mixed: the Times Literary Supplement called it "not exactly a vintage Travers, [but] good enough"; the New York Times thought it was "good"; and the Saturday Review only "standard brand". Will Cuppy liked it, though: "a smooth-as-silk affair, with a touch of romance for a chaser".

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    4. Leaning Man has a nice plot, but I’m afraid you’ll say it’s too easy to discern. It introduces romance into Travers life and it alludes to the infamous Mr. A case, which I discussed in the introduction.

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  4. Cut Throat was one of those miracle mysteries where everything clicked immediately for me. I loved the whole alibi scheme and the press lords background added piquancy and poignancy. That was the Bush I included in my favorites list some years ago, but there are some more titles I would include today.

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    1. Yes, I loved this one! X's guilt is clear by halfway through - but he simply couldn't have done it. It's deliciously, tantalizing frustrating.

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    2. The alibi trick in Cut Throat is as ingenious as any of Carr's best locked room mysteries. As Nick said, you eventually know who the murderer is, but this person has one of those frustrating, cast-iron alibis. I really wish more detective stories had been written in this vein.

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    3. What is there, really, that has a *how*dunnit pull? This, and some of Sayers' - STRONG POISON and HAVE HIS CARCASE.

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    4. Don't forget Sayers' Unnatural Death and there are strong how-was-it-done stories in Case Closed/Detective Conan, which include the midair-walk stroll caper (vol. 44) and a devious teleportation trick (vol. 61) with KID as the antagonist. You also have some regular (murder) cases in that series with a strong how-dun-it pull, but, besides Case Closed, I could only think of one other example.

      John Russell Fearn's Except for One Thing is an inverted detective story challenging the reader to figure out how the murderer disposed of the body. A body that literally vanished from the face of the earth. You probably won't rank it anywhere near Bush's Cut Throat, or Sayers, but I thought it was a good story with a devilish clever answer as to what happened to the body.

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  5. I think the Rhode books often are all about howdunit. There’s a reason Have His Carcase thanked Rhode for his help. It wasn’t just the code!

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