ANOTHER CRIME WAVE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 29, Issue 738, 4 September 1953, Page 13

ANOTHER CRIME WAVE

DEATH AT CRANE’S COURT, by Eilis Dillon; Faber and Faber. English price, 10/6. LAST SEEN WEARING, by Hilary Waugh; Victor Gollancz. English price, 9/6. OBIT DELAYED, by Helen Nielsen; Victor Gollancz. English price, 9/6. THE QUEEN’S AWARDS, Series 6, edited by Ellery Queen; Victor Gollancz. English price, 10/6. BEWARE OF THE TRAINS (short stories), by Edmund Crispin; Victor Gollancz. Enflish_ price, 9/6. THE NABOB’S JEWEL, by C. A. sagt 9 Faber and Faber. English price, 10/6 THIS IS JEZEBEL, by Desmond Cory? The Shakespeare Head. Australian price, be eM WRITER who shows: exceptional quality in her first detective story deserves first place in this consignment. The Crane’s Court to which violent death comes is an old country home in Galway, a comfortable hostel for an assortment of middle-aged oddities. They are joined by .a young Irishman condemned to semi-invalidism by a doctor who turns out to have been a fool. Miss Dillon’s writing has wit and charm, the people are deftly drawn, and a pleasant Irish tang of landscape and character pervades the tale. The presiding police detective is subtly different from what we would expect from Scotland Yard. The only thing wrong with the story is the murders, but don't |’ let that deter you. To some the theme and details of Hilary Waugh’s Last Seen Wearing will be repellent. One may wonder whether this story of sex relationships in an American University was suggested by the Kinsey Report. But as a piece of detection it is masterly, Faced with a case that looks hopeless, the police dig and dig till they strike the right lead. Like the Inspector French tales from England, this illustrates with outstanding force the truth that police work is hard, patient, back-breaking grind. On the other hand, after Helen Nielsen’s first two books, I find Obit Delayed disappointing. There is plenty of excitement in her story of an AmericanMexican town, but in their murk of crime and corruption the characters are less interesting, and the author’s style has become too knobbly and _ prickly. Even in crime. stories, readers should not be asked to go through barbed wire. The sixth series of Ellery Queen’s ‘ Awards comes without the introduction that has been an agreeable feature of these volurhes.. The authors of the 13 stories include Roy Vickers, who writes an exceptionally good + psychological study, Lord Dunsany, and C. S. Forester. Alas, the contribution by the creator of Horatio Hornblower, ninds me of the review of Browning’s first poem-"a piece of pure bewilderment. 4 Also to be recommended to those who like short crime stories is Edmund Crispin’s Beware of the Trains. These 16 tales display the ingenuity and erudition that have made Crispin a notable figure / in _ detective fiction. The amateur GerFen is in his usual form, but Crispin wisely gives the official police things (continued on next page)

BOOKS (continued trom previous page) t6,do on their own. The appearance in Essex of a party of four disreputable Maoris (two men. and two women) arouses curiosity. The narrator refers to "their bickerings and beatings," and to his notion (he was a boy at the time) "that they worshipped their native gods. with fearful rites, in the watches of the night." I wonder if this is Edmund Crispin’s idea of Maeri ways. ‘Mystery stories written by the exhéadmaster of Eton and ex-Dean of Durham are marked by a gentle and gentlemanly excitement. No one is hurt. In The Nabob’s Jewel Dr, Alington gives us urbanity, scholarship, humour and wit, and a nice taste in quotations, among which I found a long-lost favourite. A very light crime soufflé. whieh won't se you any sleep. .Desmond Cory’s This is Jezebel is another investigation by the amateur Lindy Grey. Art connoisseurship and fraud are skilfully tied up with crime, and the

writing is lively.

A.

M.