Back in July, I reviewed a long out-of-print, practically forgotten Dutch mystery novel, De dood kwam door de sneeuw (Death Came Through the Snow, 1957) by Frits de Winter, but, as some of you know by now, the quality of Dutch detective fiction is all over the place – nearly impossible to gauge quality beforehand. That's because not much has been written about them for decades or even reviewed. It doesn't help that nothing ever gets reprinted in this country.
On the upside, I also mentioned in the review tracking down and doing some basic quality probing has now become a lot easier and inexpensive. Delpher digitized and uploaded a stack of out-of-print detective novels as part of their project to preserve the paper trail of Dutch culture. Legally downloadable to read and study. One of their uploads has been on my list for a very long time.
Misdaad in mei (Crime in May, 1946) is the only detective novel by "Marten van Alland," a pseudonym of Pieter Mello Heil, who was a journalist, poet, teacher and writer – mostly remembered today for his journalistic writing and nursery rhymes (as by "Peter"). After the end of the Second World War, Heil published his only detective novel that even in my country was surprisingly well received. That probably also has to do with the fact Crime in May takes places between 7th and 15th of May, 1940. Days before the German invasion started on May 10. Before the war, Crime in May presents a conventional, Golden Age-style detective story that happened to play out during those final days of peace.
The setting of Crime in May is the home of Charles Floorman, somewhere near the east border with Germany between the fictitious town Middeldam and the village of Veenkaneel, where the police are called to by Dr. Schuilvink. Charles Floorman was found dead in his bed with a small, puncture-like chest wound indicating he had been stabbed with "a long, needle-shaped weapon" like a knitting needle. Inspector Richard Krook, "under the inspiring leadership of Inspector Wieland," is determined to make this murder his case, but he has to content with a houseful of academic snobs as potential suspects. There's the victim's brothers: the physicist André, professor of psychology and philosophy Constantijn and professor of law Ferdinand. They have a sister, Mrs. Van Gent-Floorman, who's married to Hendrik van Gent who has a doctorate in Eastern languages. They have two children, Arnold and Loes, who also have a role the play as does André's son, Gustaaf, and Charles' assistant Bertus Murks.
So this is a family that discuss scientific topics at the breakfast table, but also like to look down on everyone and each other's special subjects ("we have utmost respect for philosophy and practice it ourselves as a pastime and mental exercise, but what is expected of a Floorman is objectivity, not fanciful speculations"). That's why they didn't like Charles.
Charles Floorman was not a professor or even an academic scholar, but a dreamer and jack-of-all-trades who struck out on his own as an inventor and made a small fortune. The villa has a private laboratory on the third-floor, covering the entirety of the house, where conducts experiments with his assistant, Bertus, in practically every field that holds his interest. Inspector Krook's guided tour of the laboratory is a borderline science-fiction scene. Charles was working on a water-powered engine and Krook was shown designs of an enormous airplane without propellers, or wings, that can "take off vertically and can float like zeppelins" – which sounds like a UFO. These science-fiction vibes quickly subside, but thought it worth mentioning. What follows is far more conventional detective novel that's not without some truly clever, borderline ingenious touches to the plot and story.
First of all, the laboratory and Charles Floorman's research is the reason why the villa is locked up after sundown. That was the case on the night of the murder, but not everyone in the house when the murder took place. Three were somewhere else at the time giving them an alibi. Krook is not blind to the possibility the murder could be either a closed-circle situation in which the murderer is one of the people inside the house or a locked house mystery with murderer somehow penetrating the securely locked villa. You won't find the answer by checking the toe-tags on this review! Not to mention the puzzling problem of the missing murder weapon. Krook handles these problems and the special pool of suspects with skill, intelligence and patience.
There are two moments where Krook stands out and shines: deducing something about the crime scene had been altered, something add and peculiar, that added a new layer to the plot and his chain of reasoning demonstrating why only that person could have done it – and nobody else. Krook's chain of reasoning and deductions doesn't go as deep as we have come to expect in recent years, but it was fun to see it properly done in my own language for once. It goes to show just how influential Ellery Queen was outside of the non-English speaking world. Ellery Queen is also one of maybe a handful of prolific, Golden Age mystery writers who had practically their entire work translated into Dutch. So not including "A Challenge to the Reader" is missed opportunity.
Crime in May is not just about the mysterious, puzzling murder of Charles Floorman, but the impending invasion and outright war brewing in the background. While the police go over all the evidence, suspects and theories, the days goes from May 7 to May 10. Basically a hard countdown only the reader is aware of. When the countdown is about to run out, the spy-thread that had been lurking in the back springs to the foreground. However, I thought the spy-thread was a bit muddled, but nothing to the detriment of the main plot. Krook solves the murder right at the time war breaks out and only gets to explain his case to Wieland during the first days of occupation. So, yeah, a bit of a downer ending, but with a flicker of hope.
I'm really pleased to have finally found another Dutch detective novel that successfully carried the story and plot across the finish without collapsing or ending in disappointment. Van Alland carried it across the finish not merely for the form. Even without the usual allusions or references, Van Alland obviously knew what a detective story needed and what it could do without. And brought some much needed imagination with a dash of originality to too often dry, stodgy Dutch detective story. Such as his handling of the question whether the killer was left or right handed, the ambiguity of the murder (closed-circle or locked room?) and the wonderful solution to the vanished murder weapon. So, by the standards of the Americans, British, French and Japanese, Crime in May is a solid, second-string mystery novel, but for Dutch mystery fans starved of good, homegrown vintage detective fiction it's a treat! You can find and read Van Alland's Crime in May here.
Note for the curious: Well, more of an observation. Wouldn't it have been funnier, and better, if the ending had gone into science-fiction/alternate history territory by having the invading Germans being met with the secret wonder weapons from Charles Floorman's laboratory?
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