Tag: Leonard R. Gribble

The Inverted Crime by Leonard Gribble

November 12, 2018

Originally Published 1954
Inspector Slade #21
Preceded by She Died Laughing
Followed by Death Pays the Piper

Earlier this year I had my first encounter with Leonard Gribble and his series sleuth Anthony Slade when I reviewed The Arsenal Stadium Mystery, a novel which was recently reissued as part of the British Library Crime Classics range. When I finished reading I took a look at what else they had written and this book jumped out at me for an obvious reason (for those new to the blog, I kind of like inverted mysteries). Could Leonard Gribble have actually penned an inverted mystery?

Well, no. The Inverted Crime is a fairly traditional puzzle mystery, albeit one with slightly unusual pacing and structural choices. The title comes from an observation Slade makes when he first sees the crime scene that the evidence appears to be the wrong way around both literally and figuratively although it takes some time for him to explain precisely what he means by that and its implications for solving the case.

Superintendent Anthony Slade is approached by Colonel Vane, a man he worked with in the War Office’s Special Intelligence Branch, with a request for help. His nephew has become attached to a woman who is married to Lancelot Lavesty, a man with a scandalous reputation as a womanizer. Though he is frequently unfaithful, Lavesty is unwilling to consider a divorce and Vane is concerned that the affair will soon become a matter of public scandal.

What prompts Vane approaching Slade however is that his nephew has been invited to a house party with Lavesty. The concern is that the two men’s feud may become increasingly heated and that they may become murderous unless a third party is present to keep the pair in check. Slade agrees to attend the party in a private capacity but it seems his presence has had little effect when Lavesty is found shot dead in a boathouse.

The circumstances of the shooting seem a little odd with some physical details of the scene and the condition of the corpse making little sense. For instance, Lavesty has bruising on his face suggesting he was knocked down yet he was shot implying that the murderer came armed. If that was the case though, why not just shoot Lavesty rather than attacking him first?

Making sense of this sequence of events is key to solving the mystery but there is an obstacle in Slade’s path: the local police refuse to call in Scotland Yard so his presence here is strictly unofficial. Sure, Frampton who leads the investigation calls him in at points but he also cuts him out of aspects of the case and makes it clear that he has no authority. Slade decides to look into things regardless but that means he has to conduct his investigation discretely to avoid tipping him off.

I mentioned early in the review that this novel has a slightly unorthodox structure and set of story beats and I think that this relationship between Frampton and Slade is one of the causes of that. Because he is involved only in an unofficial capacity we get little in the way of formal interviews with the suspects and so much of what we do get comes in the form of observations or reported conversations.

There are other ways too in which this story defies the typical structure of a puzzle mystery such as the speed at which the material facts of the murder are established. Within pages of the novel starting we are given a lot of information about the eventual victim, his lifestyle and relationships with others in the house and neighborhood. We are led to expect fireworks between the two men and yet the details of the party are skipped entirely to bring us to the moment where the body is found. It feels rather abrupt and inelegantly handled though I did appreciate the way it causes us to focus on the evidence at the scene rather than our details of events leading up to the moment that the crime was committed.

Gribble also takes the fairly unusual step of slimming down his cast of suspects pretty quickly after the moment in which the murder is committed. Rather than forcing all of the guests to hang around and play a role, those who have no role to play are permitted to return home and we are left with a small core of characters to pick from.

It is quite striking too that Gribble clearly establishes several characters as being roguish or unscrupulous from the moment that they first appear. I found this to be an interesting, if not wholly effective choice. Because there is little attempt made to provide them with a veneer of charm or gentility, these characters read a little flat. I think Gribble makes up for this later with some of his other characters but for the most part I never really felt we get to know them.

Still, Slade knows who these suspect individuals are and so rather than following a typical path of gathering clues and carrying out interviews he follows them and discretely observes their actions. It almost reads like a (rather gentle) thriller except that the reader will likely realize that there must be more going on here and look behind the case as it appears to figure out just what is happening and why.

Happily the explanation of what has happened is much more interesting than the process of Slade’s investigation and this gives the final few chapters a strong impact as he pieces the case together. I think that the sequence of events, while quite complicated, makes a lot of sense of the crime scene and brings things to a very neat conclusion. It is not only well-reasoned and easily visualized, there are aspects of the ending that struck me as extremely satisfying dramatically. It is certainly far more interesting than the plot as it appears for much of the novel.

Unfortunately as strong as the end point of the journey is, we do have to take account of the path to that point and here I think the book lets itself down. Though some parts of the story are intriguing and dramatic, the middle of the book sags with its repetitive and uninspired investigation scenes while the abrupt opening feels a little awkward.

The result is an interesting but somewhat uneven read. I did appreciate the chance to see some of Gribble’s range as a storyteller however and I will certainly be keeping a lookout for other Slade stories in the future.

The Arsenal Stadium Mystery by Leonard Gribble

August 6, 2018
ArsenalStadium
The Arsenal Stadium Mystery
Leonard Gribble
Originally Published 1939
Superintendent Slade #11
Preceded by Who Killed Oliver Cromwell?
Followed by Tragedy in E Flat

The Arsenal Stadium Mystery is a novel set against the backdrop of a sporting event but that does not mean that it is a sports novel. Indeed, with the exception of a few pages of action prior to the murder you will not need to worry about positions, the offside rule or cups of steaming Bovril (unless that is your beverage of choice while reading Golden Age crime novels).

I would say that the author, Leonard Gribble, is entirely new to me but I realized when tagging this post that I had read one of his short stories in The Long Arm of the Law, a collection of police tales also issued as part of the British Library Crime Classics range. That had been a largely forgettable affair lacking in any distinctive incident or character – certainly not a complaint I would level against this book.

The murder takes place during a football match between Arsenal and an amateur team, the Trojans, watched by some 70,000 people. One-nil down at half time, the Trojans take the game to Arsenal in the second half and are awarded a penalty. John Doyce steps up and converts the kick but a few moments later he collapses and enters a coma from which he does not wake up. It turns out that he was poisoned but how was it administered during a soccer game being so watched so intently?

As the excellent introduction from Martin Edwards points out, this book is novel for several reasons but chief among them is the inclusion of real life footballers and Arsenal manager George Allison in the cast of characters. It is a neat touch that certainly helps to sell the story’s background though I am not sure that the Police would be quite so quick to dismiss the idea that any of the Arsenal players or staff could have been involved!

Inspector Slade’s focus instead falls squarely on the players and staff of the Trojans who, being amateurs, come from an interesting variety of backgrounds. Doyce was a newcomer to the team and does not seem to have been popular but he shared a business with a teammate and had played alongside several members of the squad on other amateur teams.

Slade is a relatively straightforward sleuth, lacking in any strong defining characteristics. Whether that reflects that the character had already been around for some time prior to this book’s publication or whether that was simply Gribble’s preferred writing style it is hard to say from this alone but I appreciated that he has a methodical, calm approach to solving this case which is entertaining and easy to follow.

There are several characters with strong motives to kill Doyce but one in particular stands out early in the proceedings. Everything seems to be pointing in that one suspect’s direction but rather than making Slade feel comfortable making an arrest, he feels it is almost too tidy to be natural, asking his superiors for permission to extend his inquiries for a few days before making his arrest.

Looking beyond the most obvious suspect, Gribble creates an interesting cast of characters for us to consider as killers. In an interesting twist on the whodunit formula, the means and a possible motive becomes clear relatively early in the case but we cannot tell which of the characters that motive would belong to. In addition, Gribble also allows us to listen in on a few conversations between those characters after Slade leaves the room so we are aware of ways in which they are attempting to manipulate the situation.

For the most part the mystery is fairly clued although there is an element of the solution that Slade reveals that helped him identify the killer that the reader has no real way of knowing. In other respects though I think it plays fair and while the solution is relatively simple, I do think that the explanation given is quite satisfying and I did enjoy the use of a trap element that is set near the end of the novel.

As much as I enjoyed the novel I cannot claim it is entirely successful. While the reveal of the killer’s identity may surprise some readers, the methodical analysis of the case means that there are few surprises for the alert reader in the second half of the novel. I would also add that the striking premise of a player being murdered in a stadium full of tens of thousands of witnesses is not entirely realized or referred to.

The positives however far outweigh those negatives and make this a novel that I think works whether you are a fan of the sport or not. I would certainly suggest that those who do not care for the beautiful game should not be put off by the subject matter – there is a strong and entertaining mystery novel to be found here and though not perfect, it is an entertaining and colorful read. It certainly makes me feel more excited about the prospect of reading other works by Leonard Gribble and if anyone has any experience with this author and can make any recommendations for other titles to try I would be grateful!

Review copy provided by the publisher. This book is already available in the UK but will be published in the United States on August 10.

The Long Arm of the Law edited by Martin Edwards

April 16, 2018
LongArm
The Long Arm of the Law
Martin Edwards (ed)
Originally Published 2017

I have mentioned before that I am a bit of an unbeliever when it comes to short stories. I understand and respect the craft and I know that it can actually be far harder to write a really effective short story than a novel. I just have not found many that I could get all that excited about.

The Long Arm of the Law is one of the more recent short story collections published as part of the British Library Crime Classics range. Once again Martin Edwards has curated the collection, writing a general introduction explaining the themes of the book and individual shorter introductions for each story.

I would say that on the whole this is an enjoyable read, though I think there are a number of stories here that feature policemen as a character rather than being about the police investigation. The good ones though are superb and well worth your time.

The Mystery of Chenholt by Alice and Claude Askew

A fairly straightforward story in which Inspector Vane is approached by a butler who is worried his master is secretly poisoning his wife. Expect to see the twist coming though it doesn’t outstay its welcome.

The Silence of PC Hirley by Edgar Wallace

I couldn’t get into this somewhat open-ended story about a case of blackmail that escalates into murder. The most memorable thing about the story was one character referring to his wife as being ‘very seedy’ which apparently has a secondary meaning that I was unaware of.

The Mystery of a Midsummer Night by George R. Sims

A very thinly veiled fictionalized account of the Constance Kent case that you can find out more about in Kate Summerscale’s excellent The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher. This is quite a readable story but given it draws such heavy inspiration from a real case, the revelation at the end makes little impact.

The Cleverest Clue by Laurence W. Meynell

Told in the form of a barroom reminiscence, this story involves an academic who is developing an anti-aircraft defense being caught up in some intrigue. I liked the background to this and thought the resolution was good, though I think it gets a little cute with the titular clue.

The Undoing of Mr Dawes by Gerald Verner

Cute and unlike the previous story the policeman plays an important part in this one. The story involves a jewelry heist and the policeman’s efforts to see the mastermind put away for the crime. The way it is managed is quite clever and it is a pleasure to read. I’d be interested in trying more Verner so if anyone has any recommendations, please share!

The Man Who Married Too Often by Roy Vickers

Given my love of inverted mysteries it will come as no surprise at all that Roy Vickers has been on my radar for a while. I have a volume of his Department of Dead Ends mysteries that has sat near the top of my To Read list since Christmas. If this tale is anything to go by I’ll have to push them higher.

The story concerns a woman working on the stage who contrives to marry a Marchioness through a Becky Sharp-style piece of manipulation. Later she gets a couple of cruel surprises that lead her to commit murder.

The development of her case features some entertaining twists and reveals while the resolution is superb. I might, if I were nitpicking, complain that I think the police get their solution without a strong base of evidence but I was entertained by the conclusion. One of the gems of this collection!

The Case of Jacob Heylyn by Leonard R. Gribble

The most noteworthy thing about this story for me was that one of its characters happens to rubbish a key element of the previous story. I was curious whether its respective placement was coincidence or intentional.

The mystery certainly isn’t bad but it lacks the distinctive characters or lively plotting of some of the other stories in this collection.

Fingerprints by Freeman Wills Crofts

Hooray! Just when I thought that I had exhausted all of Crofts’ inverted tales I stumble on this gem. It is an incredibly short tale that gives use the basic details of what leads Jim Crouch to give himself away when he murders his uncle. Inspector French turns up and in just a few paragraphs he is able to point out why this is not the suicide it appears to be. Clever and entertaining.

Remember to Ring Twice (1950) E. C. R. Lorac

One of the shorter tales in the collection, this concerns a policeman overhearing a conversation at the bar and then shortly afterwards being called to a crime scene that is linked to one of the participants in that conversation. I can’t say this gripped me but the mechanics of how the crime is committed and its inspiration are interesting enough.

Cotton Wool and Cutlets by Henry Wade

I have been on a bit of a Henry Wade kick lately and I must confess to having been drawn to read this by the inclusion of one of his short stories. Unsurprisingly I found this to be one of the stronger crime tales in the collection, both in terms of the depiction of the police and also in the case itself.

With regards the former, one of the things I think this gets right is it shows you some of the ego and competition involved in any workplace. In terms of the latter, the premise of the faked suicide is handled exceptionally well and is undone through some simple evidence. It is interesting to discover how the crime was worked and the motivation behind it.

After the Event by Christianna Brand

{Whoops – my comments on this story were missed when I first posted this review. Thanks to Kate for indirectly prompting me to realize this!}

This story made me realize how I hope that at some point there may be a theatrical mysteries collection. This story is recounted by the Great Detective many years after it took place and involves a strangling taking place after a performance of Othello.

It all hinges on a rather simple idea but it is brilliantly executed and I was caught completely by surprise. One of the highlights of the collection.

Sometimes the Blind by Nicholas Blake

This is one of the shortest stories in the collection but it packs a lot into just a few pages. The tale is recounted by a policeman who is using it to illustrate how there are many cases where the police know who was responsible for a crime but cannot prove it sufficiently for the criminal to ever be charged with it. The story explores the motivations of the killer convincingly and I thought the ending was superb.

And now I’m kicking myself for having yet to get around to reading any of the Blake novels I have on my Kindle…

The Chief Witness by John Creasey

A superb story that packs an emotional wallop and manages to pack a neat revelation in that genuinely caught me by surprise. The story concerns the death of Evelyn Pirro who is found strangled in her bed. The immediate assumption is that her husband, whom she had started arguing violently with, was responsible though no one can understand what caused a seemingly devoted and loving couple to turn on each other.

The story is exceptionally written and Creasey manages to create three dimensional characters in just a handful of pages. The use of the child is particularly effective, the character being written as innocent but still able to provide some important information.

Old Mr Martin by Michael Gilbert

A bit of an odd one, though I found it to be quite entertaining. The owner of a sweet shop is killed by a car in what seems to be a hit and run accident. The Police are called to look at his basement where they find something that shouldn’t be there and hints at a crime.

The story was highly unpredictable and handled very well. The ending is not unexpected but I think executed very effectively.

The Moorlanders by Gil North

I found the action in this story impossible to follow which surprised me as I had little problem following the Cluff novel I tried recently. It’s not a dialect thing or a lack of familiarity with the characters that’s to blame – it just doesn’t communicate its ideas. To illustrate: I had to reread the story to pick up that there had been a motorbike accident. Unfortunately it ends the collection on a somewhat disappointing note.