Golden Age of Detective Fiction

As I journey through my #20booksofsummer24, I’m delighted to share my review of Speedy Death by Gladys Mitchell. This first book of her Mrs. Bradley series, published in 1929, has been a truly enjoyable read.

If you’re enjoying my #20booksofsummer24 reviews and want to see who else is participating and what books they are reviewing, check out the master list over @746books. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the books I’ve read so far. Your comments could spark interesting discussions, so feel free to share them below!

Plot Synopsis

Mrs. Beatrice Lestrange Bradley stays with the Bing family at their country estate, Chaynings, after helping young Garde Bing out of a legal scrape. She sticks out from the family house party, which is made up entirely of the Bing family: father, Alistair; sister Eleanor, Eleanor’s fiance; the explorer, Everard Mountjoy; Garde’s fiance, Dorothy. The family is joined by longtime friends of Garde’s, Bertie Philipson and Carstairs. This lively, intimate family party gathers for a sumptuous dinner, to which Everard Mountjoy fails to appear. The butler finds Mountjoy’s lifeless body in the bathtub. Now Inspector Boring must find out if Mountjoy’s death was an accident, as many in the party hope, or murder, as Mrs. Bradley contends.

The Review

When it comes to the golden age detective fiction, the choice of the murder scene is a critical decision for the writer. It’s like choosing between ‘Murder in the Library,’ a la Agatha Christie, or ‘Murder in the Bathtub,’ a la Dorothy L. Sayers. There’s a psychological analysis that can be made upon this decision, which psychoanalyst Mrs. Bradley would find fascinating. However, for me, it’s just a curiosity of the genre.

Mitchell boldly chooses the ‘bathtub route ‘, a decision that immediately sets the story on an unexpected path. The revelation of Mountjoy’s significant secret, while shocking, is handled with surprising grace, offering a respectful portrayal of a minority community, especially for the time period of 1929.

The possible way Mountjoy is murdered is discovered almost immediately, as well as the motive- which is pretty unusual. Detective stories make their bread and butter on obfuscating motives and puzzling out who the real suspects are. Since most of the book is still left unread with these two aspects of the story done and dusted, I thought there would be particular emphasis on the psychological nature of the criminal- primarily through Mrs. Bradley’s distinct medical lens as a practicing Jungian. The following third of the book details a series of events, escalating in violence from the murderer and the family’s desire to shield this person from the law.

Mrs. Bradley knows from the start who the murderer is and delights in saying cryptic things to other houseguests and the police about the true nature of things at the house. The reader is given the distinct impression that Mrs. Bradley is relishing in the gameplay of the murder and isn’t motivated by justice, the law, or even mercy. The height of her delight is when she is imprisoned and then tries to kill the murderer. She cackles and jeers her way through her trial. It’s difficult for the reader to know if she did kill the murderer- the answer to the question is revealed at the end of the book. Still, Mrs. Bradley isn’t concerned with the death of the murderer; she’s having much more fun watching people react to her potentially killing the murderer.

If you’re a fan of the flashy, sumptuous Mrs. Bradley, played by Diana Rigg in the BBC TV series Mrs. Bradley Mysteries, you might be surprised by the Mrs. Bradley on the page. She’s often described as a bird of prey or a grinning alligator. She’s an ugly older woman with paw-like hands and a mirthless grin. She’s wholly unlike the slick, sophisticated types surrounding her in this country house story. She vitalizes the tale but chafes against the characters and never settles in. She lacks the placid old pussy personae of Mrs. Marple. Mrs. Bradley is a shark and bites indiscriminately.

However, Mrs. Bradley is fascinating in her amorality, coldness, and indifference to the suffering around her. I’m curious to see her outside the cozy sameness of the country house party and if she’ll fare better in crueler and darker books. In her first offing, she’s a bit like a barracuda, devoring everything in her path.

Speedy Death offers a weak plot, which reads more like a series of vignettes and a sort of fatalistic inevitability- which is an exciting theme- leads to not very much being hidden from the reader and a rather unsatisfying mystery. However, Mitchell’s critique of the detective mystery genre is fascinating. From Mountjoy’s secret to her amoral detective, to Mitchell’s feelings about the usefulness of the police force, to how much public trials are vehicles of justice versus entertainment, there’s much to read into Speedy Death. Mitchell has some fascinating critiques of the detective mystery genre. Still, they need to be incorporated into a cohesive and compelling story.

A slapdash mystery with compelling ideas and a prima donna sleuth makes Speedy Death a unique mystery, but maybe not a great mystery.

20 Books of Summer Reviews