Last year, Dean Street Press resumed its publishing activity following the untimely passing of its founder, Rupert Heath, reprinting the first five, of forty-eight, Anthony Maitland mysteries by Sara Wood – originally published between 1961 and 1987. So not exactly a vintage mystery series, but they're reportedly very good and intend to sample Bloody Instructions (1961), Malice Domestic (1962) and Error of the Moon (1963).
Flynn's Such Bright Disguises (1941), the twenty-seventh Anthony Bathurst mystery, indeed turned out to be really good. Surprisingly different even when compared to Flynn's own unusual takes on the genre. An inverted, character-driven crime novel with numerous twists and turn described by a contemporary review as "suburban horror melodrama" with an "ingenious final solution." Agreed!
The three characters at the center of Such Bright Disguises form that cussed Eternal Triangle. Dorothy Grant, a good looking woman in her early thirties, is married to the self-satisfied, completely oblivious Hubert Grant – respectable Deputy Treasurer of Tudor, Surrey. Together they have a 10-year-old daughter, Frances. Hubert believed their marriage is a happy one, which is why he didn't see Dorothy drifting away from him. Six months previously, Dorothy had taken a lover, Laurence Weston, who both made sure their affair remained a secret with nothing to connect them publicly. Their passionate meetings became milestones in Dorothy's life, but made life at home and Hubert increasingly difficult to bare. Over the period between Christmas and New Year, their marriage deteriorates rapidly and Flynn takes a remarkable modern approach by not shying away from the bedroom. Dorothy finds it impossible to sleep with Hubert now that she's given herself to Laurence and that results in some embarrassing bedroom scenes for Hubert, which ends with him having to sleep in the spare bedroom.
So the first-part of Such Bright Disguises details Dorothy's go from tolerating her husband to passively disliking him and "from passive dislike to the active, from there to something perilously akin to hatred." Not helped by the fact that a divorce is out of the question, because "the Courts would almost certainly give Frances to him." Meanwhile, Hubert is starting to notice the dots he needs to connect to understand Dorothy's distant, antagonistic behavior towards him. But he connects them wrongly. And an argument ends with him striking her. That brings murder into the conversation between Dorothy and Laurence.
Laurence's idea to use himself as the proverbial "unknown quantity" in order to ensure Dorothy has an unshakable alibi as he disposes Hubert in the river. A neat enough job that the inquest delivers an open verdict with nothing for the police to go on. Dorothy eventually moves away with Frances to play out her first meeting with Laurence, courtship and finally marriage. So the second-half picks up as Dorothy and Laurence start their new life together with Frances, but what happens next can't be described without giving away too much important, spoiler-ish details as events get very dark, grim and devastating – humanly devastating. Culminating in a surprising, but puzzling, double murder with a quarter of the story left to go.
So with no time to spare, Sir Austin Kemble, Commissioner of Police, throws up his hands and tells Chief Inspector MacMorran to send for Anthony Bathurst. Bathurst has to speed run his investigation and quickly piece together such clues as taunting messages signed with "Harry the Hangman," coal trade cards and the curious incident of the radiogram. While this part is perhaps rushed, giving the impression Flynn inserted Bathurst on the insistence of his publisher, the ending absolutely delivers. The kind of ending and solution you hope to find in a vintage mystery, even when presented as a domestic suspense drama. A great payoff justifying taking two-thirds of the story working towards it. Such Bright Disguises is one of Flynn's best written novels with Dorothy, Hubert and Laurence shining as characters and a conclusion that comes like a final, merciful twist of the knife. So it would certainly make my top 10 favorite Flynn mysteries. There are, however, a couple of loose plot-threads preventing it from taking a place among Flynn's objectively best work.
Firstly, (ROT13) n jbzna ol gur anzr bs Zef. Vatenz vf vagebqhprq evtug orsber Uhoreg'f zheqre naq nccrnef gb or na nppbzcyvpr, ohg fur qvfnccrnef sebz gur fgbel arire gb or frra be zragvbarq ntnva. Ynherapr arire zragvbarq ure naq fur qbrfa'g svther va Onguhefg'f fbyhgvba. Bayl gur ernqre vf znqr njner bs ure vaibyirzrag jvgubhg ernfba. Gung znxrf ab frafr orpnhfr gurer jnf ab ernfba sbe gung fprar gb or fubja, orpnhfr gur fgbel nyernql tybffrq bire gur qrgnvyf bs Uhoreg'f zheqre. Ubj qvq ur trg uvz vagb gur evire jvgubhg n fgehttyr be yrnivat n znex ba gur obql? Gung'f arire rkcynvarq. Fb jul abg whfg cynl bhg gur fprar jvgu Qbebgul przragvat ure nyvov nf fur cergraqf gb jnvg sbe ure uhfonaq gb pbzr ubzr, bayl gb yrnea gur arkg qnl ur jnf qenttrq bhg bs gur evire. Gur fprar jvgu Zef. Vatenz jnf gurersber haarprffnel naq zhqqyrq na bgurejvfr rkpryyrag raqvat. Another thing I found dissatisfying, is how (ROT13) dhvpxyl cbbe, oyvaq onol Snvgu jnf sbetbggra nobhg nsgre ure cneragf jrer zheqrerq. Jung unccrarq gb ure? Bayl grahbhf eryngvirf fur unf ner gur tenaqcneragf bs ure qrnq unys-fvfgre Senaprf, ohg gurl'er nyernql va gurve rvtugvrf. That last thing admittedly is in keeping with the tone of the story, but therefore not any less depressing.
So, on a whole, Flynn's Such Bright Disguises is, for the most part, an excellently written, well paced, cleverly constructed and unusually characterized Golden Age detective novel – not shying away from being uncomfortable, soul-crushingly grim. It's just not entirely spotless. If you ignore a loose thread here and scoff mark there, Such Bright Disguises is a highly recommendable vintage, especially to fans of Anthony Berkeley's twisted inversions and Anthony Gilbert's domestic suspense mysteries.
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