Originally published in 1959
Sir Abercrombie Lewker #9
Preceded by The Ice Axe Murders
Followed by Holiday with Murder
When Sir Abercrombie Lewker, Shakespearean actor-manager, mountaineer, and amateur detective, arrived for a weekend’s rock climbing at the exclusive Cambria Climbing Club’s Hut in Snowdonia, he found a few congenial friends in the party as well as some likable new people. Among them was Celtic Rob Llewellyn and his beautiful daughter, Eira, and friendly Chock Phillimore, companion of many other climbs. With his favorite relaxation, some challenging peaks, and good company it promised to be a fine weekend of wonderful climbing.
But the very first day’s climb on the black crag known as Dinas Cromlech brought tragedy when a figure was discovered hanging from a noose above the party as they lunched on a sheltered rock shelf. Was it murder or suicide? Sir Abercrombie reluctantly undertook to find out, especially so because, if it were murder, it had to have been done by one of his own party.
I am the type of reader who loves a peculiarly niche detective, so the idea of a Shakespearean actor-manager solving murders that seem to always happen on or adjacent to mountains was right up my street. I first learned about Sir Abercrombie Lewker from In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel and when I spotted one of the titles in a University library collection, I had to give it a go.
Sir Abercrombie is in Wales to climb Dinas Cromlech with a group of fellow enthusiasts. On the night before the climb he socializes with the party, learning a little about them, and observing some of the dynamics between them. The next day the group split up to climb, taking different routes up the mountain, when they observe a body hanging from a noose. The victim is a man that multiple members of the party had issues with, including one who had recently threatened to kill him. When Sir Abercrombie suggests that this may not be the suicide it appeared to be, Scotland Yard are called and, with the actor-manager’s help, look to the members of that climbing party for answers…
Perhaps the first thing to address here is the mountaineering aspect of the book, as I suspect that will be a deciding factor for many in approaching this series. It is clear reading the discussions of rock climbing between the various members of the club and of this mountain setting that Glyn Carr knew his stuff. While I was never going to follow information about the grades of climbing very well, I think his descriptions of the geography are pretty strong and make sense, particularly when consulting the charming hand-drawn diagram at the start of the book. Fortunately, living in the internet age, we can supplement that with images and videos, of which there are many, making it a little easier for the absolute novice like myself to track where people are in relation to one another.
While there is a lot of mountaineering discussion, this typically plays out alongside more character-focused discussions, helping to avoid the problem of having to work through big chunks of dense technical detail that could so easily have dominated this book. In fact, if I had a complaint about the early part of this book is that Carr spends a little too much time on the setup and establishing those tensions before we get to the murder, leaving much less space for the investigative portion of the story.
The book’s big draw for me though was not the beautiful mountain ranges but that colorful sleuth who, I can happily write, lived up to my expectations. He is certainly an unlikely sleuth – a point that Carr doesn’t shy away from but reminds us of frequently, often simply referring to Lewker as ‘the actor-manager’. I think Carr strikes a great balance though with giving him eccentricities while also emphasizing his mental sharpness and ability to help the authorities, and thus the reader, understand some of the practical mountaineering elements that apply to this case. Do I entirely understand why the Police so quickly adopt him as an associate in their investigations? Perhaps not, but it is entertaining to follow.
One of the most satisfying aspects of the investigation for me was the tension that builds between actor-manager and the professional investigators as it becomes clear that, despite hearing the same evidence, they are choosing to look at the case quite differently. We see that the latter group favor the tidier verdict of suicide while Lewker cannot shake the idea that this must be murder, however unhappy that idea makes him as it means one of his new friends must be responsible. I felt that this tension is not only handled well dramatically, it is some of the most clearly reasoned material in the book with Lewker offering a clear and easy-to-follow explanation of why the forensic evidence points to foul play.
Carr assembles a neat cast of suspects, keeping the numbers to a manageable level, and giving them all rather distinctive names! There are some excellent motives within that group of suspects, befitting that the victim comes off as a rather loathsome individual. On that point, I was rather surprised at how direct Carr is in describing some of the victim’s vices given that this was published in 1959. It is pretty clear by the end of the book that they were a pretty despicable individual, and that does present Lewker with an interesting question to address as he reaches the end of his investigation. On the other hand though, those seeking subtlety of characterization may feel that Carr’s depiction of this character is somewhat heavy-handed…
That brings me to the ultimate explanation of the crime which is – fine. There’s certainly nothing wrong with the explanation as it is given, and I did appreciate that Carr has his sleuth explain the case clearly, presenting the argument for it very logically. There just wasn’t a great sense of surprise in the who or the how, meaning that the reveal was somewhat underwhelming for me.
While I do still maintain that the investigative portion of the book feels a little compact and rushed, I had a pretty good time with this. The setting is certainly a compelling one and while I might have considered laying off my mountaineering hobby after my third or fourth corpse if I were Lewker, I did find him to be an enjoyable protagonist. I would certainly consider reading others if I am lucky enough to cross paths with them (or, better yet, they were to be reprinted) and I would welcome suggestions of titles to prioritize seeking out in the future!
Mysteries Ahoy! 
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