Mr. and Mrs. North

New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 363, 7 June 1946, Page 15

Mr. and Mrs. North

(CONNOISSEURS of detective fiction are agreed that in one respect at least the American genre outstrips the British-in the per capital consumption of hard liquor per page. Whereas Dorothy Sayers or Ngaio Marsh will allow her hero at most one whisky and soda per day, consumed lingeringly in the library at 11.0 p.m. ("That will do, thank you, Bunter"), a Dashiell Hammett or Craig Rice sleuth is suffered to begin before breakfast and even encouraged. to keep something in the bathroom cupboard for frequent reference. In American crime fiction alcohol is not only the universal solvent for all the sleuth’s problems, but supplies fuel and motive power to carry him through to the final touch-down. All this apropos of the -anglification of. Mr. and Mrs. North, whose adventures are now appearing in radio form from 2YD. When we first met them fictionally they had an apartment in downtown New York and the highball habit. Now it’s a flat in W.C.2 and a taste for tea. But in spite of these superficial changes (surely unnecessary?) the Norths are still worth knowing, Mrs, North solves problems by a particular blend of female intuition and ordinary intelligence, and though Dr, Thorndyke would not approve of her short-cut. methods, we do.