Mysteries Ahoy!

One of my goals for my second year of blogging has been to seek out authors whose work I have never tried before. Annie Haynes is one such author. I have stockpiled eBook copies of her work during sales and promotions from Dean Street Press but had never got around to trying any of the novels before now.

The Bungalow Mystery was the first of her novels to be published, coming out in 1923 – the same year as her first Inspector Furnival novel, The Abbey Court Murder.

The story’s protagonist is Doctor Lavington, a recent arrival in the village of Sutton Boldon. He is summoned by his neighbor’s housekeeper who tells him that her master is dying. Upon arriving he discovers that the man, a reclusive and wealthy artist, is already dead and has been shot through the head. There is no sign of any pistol in the room and the position of the entry wound shows that it could not be self-inflicted. He decides it must be murder and sends the distressed housekeeper to summon the Police.

During the period in which he is alone in the room he discovers that a young woman is hiding, crouched against the wall. She tells him that she is desperate not to be found there and begs for his assistance in escaping undetected. Ignoring the suspicious circumstances in which he finds her, he tells her to hurry along to his home where she will pretend to be his actress cousin who has arrived to take part in a theatrical skit. This would be a fairly rash decision even if he believed her to be innocent but we later learn that he thinks she did the deed which I think elevates it to downright reckless.

This is our starting point for a story that I think falls somewhere between the detective and sensation fiction styles of mystery. For most of the novel we follow Lavington and his perception of these events but given he already believes he knows this woman was guilty, he is not actively gathering evidence of the crime. At several points however we see the police at work, getting a sense of their thoughts on the case and this allows us to put the information we gain from Lavington into perspective and to make our own deductions on what happened.

The blending between these two styles is effectively done and I think Haynes balances the elements of each quite well, though some elements were not to my own taste. I did not particularly care for the romance subplot, finding it not particularly romantic as it is based on physical attraction and a sense of chivalry rather than any emotional connection between the characters. Others may feel differently.

On the other hand, I enjoyed learning what had happened at The Bungalow and more about the various suspects involved in the case. While the details of the case are relatively simple, Haynes is able to use misdirection very effectively to make it appear much more complex than it is. As Kate at CrossExaminingCrime points out in her review, questions of identity play a significant role in the story and Haynes is adept at finding different and interesting ways to play with this idea.

Haynes writes in an entertaining and engaging style and while I may not have been swept up in the romance, I found most of the characters interesting and enjoyed learning more about their backstories and relationships to each other. These characters seem pleasingly three-dimensional, particularly Lavington’s friend and employer Sir James Courtenay who is struggling to adjust to life after losing both his legs in a railway accident.

This railway accident serves as a transitional point in the story for a few reasons, most of which are too spoilery to discuss but after it takes place Haynes chooses to advance her story forward two years. Following this we learn that the Police have received some new information that has caused them to reopen the case bringing fresh scrutiny to Lavington’s account of what happened that day.

In some respects this time jump works quite nicely as it emphasizes the problems the police have cracking the case and it also enables Haynes to present several of the characters in different circumstances. Unfortunately I found the reason why it took two years for this new information to be revealed highly suspect and I was even less convinced when Haynes comes up with a similarly unlikely rationale to explain another delay in someone coming forward.

Once you get past this particular piece of contrivance, I think Haynes does a very good job of providing the clues the reader will need to solve the case. I was pleasantly surprised when I worked out who the killer must be and satisfied by the explanation of what had happened and why. It makes for a strong conclusion to the novel and Haynes is able to tie up the various characters’ stories nicely at the end.

Not every aspect of The Bungalow Mystery was to my taste but I did appreciate that Haynes tells an interesting and engaging story that should have appeal for fans of puzzle and sensation mystery fiction alike. I will look forward to trying another one of the Haynes novels I own at some point soon.

Vintage Mysteries Challenge: In the medical field (Who)