For the life of me, I cannot understand why the English author Catherine Aird is not more highly regarded in the United States than she appears to be. Aird is the author of a series of two dozen or so books known collectively as "The Calleshire Chronicles." She focuses on Inspector C. D. Sloan of the Calleshire police, a likeable, thorough and very intelligent policeman indeed. Her books are generally clever, clue-driven puzzle mysteries, written with a good deal of wit and humor. Aird, now well into her eighties, continues to turn out mysteries; her most recent Sloan book, Learning Curve, came out in 2016 and the paperback edition was published just a few months ago. I think one of her best books, however, is Henrietta Who, which was only the second book in the series, first published in 1968. I think my review (originally featured on the podcast about nine years ago) may help persuade you to give Aird's books a try - and, in particular, convince you to try Henrietta Who:
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A woman named Grace Jenkins is struck and killed in a hit-and-run accident on a lonely road in an English village. Her daughter, Henrietta, comes home from college. Sounds like a small domestic tragedy – until some very peculiar facts come to light. It seems that Grace Jenkins never had children. In fact, it will quickly become apparent that nobody seems to have known very much about her and that the accident which killed her was no accident. Henrietta is faced with the sudden realization that she has no idea who she is. Or, to quote the title of the book, Henrietta Who? – a novel by Catherine Aird.
We are fortunate in that Catherine Aird is still writing mysteries. But Henrietta Who? is one of her earliest – the second, in fact, to feature her series detective, Inspector C. D. Sloan. On a recent podcast, I talked about Sloan’s first appearance, in the book, The Religious Body. This time, he tackles a case of an apparent hit and run accident that turns out to have been a deliberate murder – the pathologist discovers that the victim had been run over twice, apparently by the same car.
But far more horrifying to Henrietta is the news that the woman she thought was her mother could not have been her mother – again, the finding of the pathologist who did the post mortem. And on the day of the murder, the house where the victim and Henrietta lived is burglarized – the burglar, apparently stealing any documents that might have helped police identify Henrietta.
When I explain that Henrietta is nearing what she believes to be her 21st birthday, I expect that experienced mystery readers will come to the conclusion that the approaching birthday may have something to do with the events I have been describing. Certainly, Inspector Sloan comes to that conclusion. But every time he thinks he is making some small progress in the case, he meets a setback. For example, in Henrietta’s house, there is a photo which she says shows her father and mother – her father, who was killed during World War II, is shown wearing his medals. But the medals themselves, which Henrietta keeps in the house, are the wrong medals. So is the photo really of her father?
Henrietta may be forgiven at times for thinking she must be losing her mind. For without any idea of her last name, with no apparent trace of any adoption papers, with both her “mother” and “father” of questionable identity, there seems to be no good, reliable way to tell who she is. Or, as she says when she first learns that the woman she believed to be her mother could not have been her mother…
“But” Henrietta’s world seemed suddenly to have no fixed points at all. She struggled to think and to speak logically. “But who am I then?”
That problem, obviously, will be resolved in the course of the book – but there will be another murder. And it is worth noting that Henrietta has a suitor, a young man who frequently points out that he is in love with her and doesn’t really care who she really is. Along the way, we will be treated to a number of significant red herrings, for Inspector Sloan is a methodical and thorough detective. He is plagued in this book, as in most of Aird’s novels, by his assistant, Constable Crosby, who is often more of a handicap than a help, and by his superior, Superintendent Leeyes, who tends to be the bane of Sloan’s existence.
The story is told with a reasonable amount of humor, often arising from Sloan’s interaction with Crosby or Leeyes. It is told with a good deal of compassion for Henrietta, whose entire world seems to have been uprooted. And – perhaps most important to the mystery reader – it is told with fair play on the author’s part in sharing clues. When Sloan explains at the end how he was able to identify the most likely suspect, a check back through the book reveals that we were given the clues at precisely the moment that Sloan received them. As always, the key is in misdirection, in giving the reader such a wealth of detail that it is easy to miss the critical clue. But it is eminently fair.
I enjoyed Henrietta Who? – I think it is an interesting variant on the lost-identity story. It pretty well reverses the norm, where we are given a character who claims to be a particular individual and may not be. Here, the opposite is true – the character’s identity has been taken away completely and must be discovered. I am happy to see Catherine Aird’s early books such as Henrietta Who? apparently coming back into print again.
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You can listen to the original podcast review by clicking here.
Next week: The Chinese Bell Murders, by Robert Van Gulik
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