2/5/25

The Riddle of the Ravens (2024) by J.S. Savage

J.S. Savage debuted two years ago with The Mystery of Treefall Manor (2023), a historical locked room mystery, which introduced his two series-characters, Inspector Graves and Constable Carver – an experienced, older detective and his young protege. A debut full of a promise and an outstanding homage to the great detective stories and writers of yesteryear. I wasn't as enthusiastic about the debut of Savage's contemporary mystery series, Sun, Sea and Murder (2024), introducing the ex-Secret Service agent Penny Haylestone, but I'm confident the next one will improve on the first. I already enjoy the idea of Savage alternating between a historical and contemporary series of locked room mysteries and impossible crimes.

That brings us to the second entry in the Graves and Carver series, The Riddle of the Ravens (2024), which is set in November 1926 during the run-up to Guy Fawkes Night.

Graves and Carver are sent to the Tower of London on a not quite routine assignment. Peter Standford, Constable of the Tower of London, turned to Scotland Yard when three of the six ravens died. All three ravens died over the span of a week under mysterious circumstances. There's an old legend "which says that if there are no ravens at the Tower of London, the kingdom will fall," but the ravens also happen to be the property of the King. Graves and Carver have to find out if someone's targeting the feathered custodians of the Tower.

When they arrive, Graves and Carver find the closed community residing within the high, thick walls and battlements of the Tower "practically a ghost town" as everyone else is up in Scotland to attend a funeral – leaving behind a small, tidy and tight-knit group of people. Firstly, there's Peter Standford, his devoted wife Joyce and their rebellious daughter, Emma. Dr. Colin Gibson, Tower doctor, who's an amateur historian greatly interested in the Tower's history and the hidden treasure of John Barkstead ("this is no bedtime fairytale, gentlemen"). Nurse Bess Trent assists him at the hospital block. Sergeant Madan Gurung, a Gurkha, is their only patient recovering from the lingering effects of scarlet fever. Further more, there's the Tower's schoolteacher, Anna Bower, and the one-armed Ravenmaster, Len Kittle. In addition to three Beefeaters (Yeoman Warders), James Burroughs, Bob Cooper and Philip Davies. So, "if there is foul play going on," the mostly deserted Tower provides Graves and Carver with neat, trimmed down list of potential suspects.

Before they can give the riddle of the ravens their full attention, Warder James Burroughs is shot and killed, while tied to a chair, at the Tower's firing range. So the two detectives have to extend their stay at the Tower to hunt for a murderer who gone from killing ravens to shooting warders. More bodies, cadavers, clues and red herrings will litter the grounds of the Tower of London before they're done. Another murder brings an impossible element to the case, but I'll get back to the plot in a moment. There are a few other things other than the puzzle.

Except for the morning briefing at Scotland Yard, The Riddle of the Ravens entirely takes place within the walls of the Tower ("...holding them prisoner") with it ancient traditions and a bloody, thousand year history "where queens and spies were executed, where a king was murdered and princes disappeared" – "where treasure is still buried, hidden to this day." So the book read like a "modern" rendition of one of Paul Doherty's historical locked room mystery novels like The House of the Red Slayer (1992), which also takes place at the Tower of London in December, 1377. I personally enjoyed that unintended effect. Needless to say, the historical setting, color and atmosphere was not wasted on The Riddle of the Ravens. Something I can always appreciate. What's perhaps more important than my personal enjoyment, storywise, is how the classic detectives were subtly updated for this retro-GAD series. Savage evidently wants Graves and Carver to have some depth and backstory, which carefully intertwined into the story when and where it was needed or mattered. So no needlessly long mini-biographies taking big chunks out of the story to dwell on the character's depressing back stories. I really like Graves is actually mentoring the younger, green-as-grass Carver to become the best detective he can be. That might prove an interesting investment into the future of the series. Back to the plot.

The Riddle of the Ravens is, as to be expected even after only two previous novels, an impossible crime and centers on the murder weapon: how can the gun have been used when Graves and Carver observed it hanging on the wall at the time it fired the fatal shots? A murder weapon under lock and key or observation is a rarity of the impossible crime with a pleasingly elaborate solution to match, but the impossibility is not central focus of the investigation. Just another part of an increasingly complicated puzzle for Graves and Carver. There are "many people with secrets" that need to be pried loose, movements to be tracked, alibis to be scrutinized, motives to be found and a piece of doggerel to be deciphered. And not to be forgotten the riddle of the dead ravens. Best of all, Savage appears to be determined to restore the fair play principles of the Golden Age detective story and planted a fair amount of clues among the red herrings and potential suspects. Sometimes the clues were a little too subtle, but that's really looking for faults where none exist. It's just nice to see properly clued, cleverly plotted detective fiction being written and published again.

Savage's The Riddle of the Ravens is a pleasingly elaborate, well-constructed and fairly clued detective novel representing another step towards that second Golden Age. It's coming! So look forward to the third title in the series, which, if I correctly interpreted the foreshadowing, is going to be set during Christmas, but expect the second Penny Haylestone novel to be next. Until then, The Riddle of the Ravens comes recommended as a solid retro-GAD novel.

2 comments:

  1. I liked “Treefall Manor” so read this one given it has the return of Graves and Carver. I got to the culprit pretty easily as I noticed a pattern where in many mysteries (books and television) as the detectives are working through permutations of whodunit, the character left out of those discussions is often the culprit. That was the case here.

    The whydunit and howdunit though were a nice surprise but were so well hidden that I am not sure how any reader could have arrived at the conclusions that Graves did. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this including the Tower of London setting, the Tower’s history, the Beefeaters, etc. I hope that J.S. Savage brings back Graves and Carver in the future.

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    1. I recently found a post from Savage saying he wants to prioritize the Penny Haylestone series for the moment, because the third novel is going to feature her 100-year-old, WWII vet mother. Savage wants to get that book done while it's still feasible she could be alive. So don't expect the third Graves and Carver to drop before 2026.

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