For the past fifty years, one of my favorite British authors, Catherine Aird, has been writing her marvelously clever and witty mysteries chronicling the investigations carried out by Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan. From her first book, The Religious Body, published in 1966, to her most recent, Learning Curve, released in 2016, these books, known collectively as "The Calleshire Chronicles," as they are all set in the fictional English county of Calleshire, have entertained those of us who continue to admire the traditional, plot-and-puzzle oriented mysteries of the Golden Age. I'm not really sure why Aird's name is not better-known in the U. S. Several of her earlier books in the series were republished a decade ago by the now sadly defunct Rue Morgue Press, but there are electronic editions of many of her titles available for your reading pleasure. In honor of her birthday (coming up in June), I want to share my original podcast audio review of The Religious Body with you from ten years ago - as always, edited somewhat for clarity.
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A nun is found murdered inside the walls of a convent in England. As a result, the local police find themselves drawn into a very unfamiliar world, as they search for a coldblooded killer in The Religious Body, by Catherine Aird.
Most of the authors we have been featuring on this podcast date from an earlier era – many from the so-called Golden Age of mystery writers. It’s a pleasure, this time, to present an author who is still writing fine mysteries that really echo the virtues we enjoy in these classics.
The Religious Body was the first book in a series now called the Calleshire Chronicles , featuring Inspector C. D. Sloan, and I think it’s quite typical of her books. It is a classic puzzle mystery, with some elements of the police procedural thrown in.
The book begins with the discovery of a nun’s body in the convent of St. Anselm, in the village of Cullingoak, which is located in the fictional county of Calleshire where all of the Sloan novels are set. Inspector Sloan, of the local C. I. D., is dispatched to the convent. Working with him is Detective Constable William Crosby, a young man who might most charitably be described as being several sandwiches short of a picnic, (or, if you wish to be more politically correct, call him a challenged learner). Poor Sloan will be paired with Crosby throughout the Calleshire Chronicles .
The two find it hard to comprehend the differences between the world outside the convent, where they, of course, live, with the totally different system of values and behavior inside the convent. They discover, as Sloan observes, that the nuns make remarkably poor witnesses, as they are carefully trained to avoid observing the behavior and even the faces of the others around them – and that lack of observation will have consequences.
There are others involved in the investigation. The convent is located near an agricultural school, and the involvement of some students in a prank for Guy Fawkes Night will also have serious consequences.
Another problem facing Inspector Sloan, of course, is his superintendent. Superintendent Leeyes has what might best be called an unfortunate interest in self-improvement, and his long-suffering staff has come to dread the half-understood ideas which the superintendent brings back to work with him – and inflicts on his department. This becomes a long-running thread that runs through all the novels, and it provides some humorous relief. It also gives the author a chance to use conversations between Sloan and his superintendent to review the case and, occasionally, to pass clues along to the reader.
Aird does have a delightful dry wit, often reflected in Sloan’s thoughts as he speaks to his superintendent. During one conversation in The Religious Body, Sloan is attempting to explain to his boss the likelihood that the killer might have used a disguise to pass as a nun within the convent. That leads to this thought:
“Disguise,” said Sloan. For one wild moment he contemplated asking the superintendent to cover his head with a large handkerchief to see if he would pass for a nun, but then he thought better of it. His pension was more important.
Little flashes of humor like that help leaven what is ultimately a fairly grim murder mystery. But it is one that is quite fairly plotted and clued. For the most part, the reader is given the clues at the same time that Sloan receives them – although there are a few exceptions. In their introduction to the Rue Morgue Press edition of this novel, publishers Tom and Enid Schantz note that Catherine Aird’s mother always used to read the first few chapters of her daughter’s manuscript, and then would write down the name of the villain and put it into a sealed envelope, which she would open when the book was finished. Her guess proved correct every time.
I’m not sure whether the average mystery reader would have the same ratio of success. But I find it very enjoyable to read a recent – or at least relatively recent – mystery which does seem to have the virtues of so many classic mysteries before it. The Religious Body, by Catherine Aird, includes many of the characteristics of today's "cozy" mysteries, with a minimum of actual bloodshed, most of it offstage, and no onstage sex – along with a bit of the police procedural – and it wraps all of this together into a style and execution that would have been very much at home in the Golden Age. As such, I think Catherine Aird’s mysteries deserve to be considered classics.
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You can listen to the original podcast version by clicking here.
Next week, The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, edited by Nick Rennison.
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