In 1940, when the literate and literary detective Henry Gamadge first appeared in print, his author, Elizabeth Daly, was more than 60 years old. Over the course of the next decade, she wrote 16 novels featuring Gamadge, and the books she wrote are highly literate (there's that word again!), intelligent, well-plotted and filled with twists and surprises. With her novels back in print, she will (I hope) be pcked up and read by a new generation of mystery lovers. This week's return from the vault is Daly's Nothing Can Rescue Me, presented here in a slightly cleaned-up-and-edited version of my original audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast:
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It began with what seemed at the time to be nothing more than a series of vicious practical jokes, in the form of phrases added to a typewritten manuscript. It ended in murder and madness. And it took the insight of rare book consultant Henry Gamadge to uncover the passions that led to so much trouble, in Elizabeth Daly’s Nothing Can Rescue Me.
I admit to having a weakness for this too-often-neglected author, and I’m delighted to see that some of her books are being republished. According to mystery historian Dilys Wynn, Daly was Agatha Christie’s favorite writer. I have seen that challenged, but, as I say, I have a weakness for these books. Henry Gamadge, the expert on rare books and autographs who is at the center of these mysteries, is a literate and intelligent detective.
On the other hand, as Gamadge would undoubtedly admit, his actions in Nothing Can Rescue Me are insufficient to prevent a couple of murders. Gamadge is approached by an old school friend, Sylvanus Hutter, who is worried about some strange events taking place at the friend’s family home in upstate New York. The home, where Hutter and his sister Florence live, is also the residence of a number of friends, more distant family members, and general hangers-on. Florence Hutter has been writing a novel – but somebody has been frightening her by typing some additional lines into her manuscript – lines which can easily be interpreted as threats.
Gamadge recognizes the additional lines as being literary quotations – and he is surprised that nobody in the Hutter household seems to have noticed. Before his investigation can go very far, however, there is a murder – and there will be at least one more killing before the mystery is solved.
A great deal of the problem lies in determining a motive for the killings and for the other peculiar events. There are tie-ins, as well, to the kind of spiritualism that was quite popular in some American and English circles during the first half of the 20th century. At least one of the residents insists that evil spirits are behind the events that have shaken the Hutter family. Gamadge is no believer, however, in malevolent spirits – he sees a human hand at work.
As with most of Daly’s books, Nothing Can Rescue Me is what is generally called a bibliomystery – that is, a mystery based on literary or bookish allusions. Gamadge is passionate about his books, and quite well versed in them, and that is one of the reasons he can be quite sure that the goings-on are of human, not spirit, origin.
Unfortunately, the audience isn’t always given the same clues that the detective receives. We are shown most of the relevant clues – enough to enable us to deduce some of the solution. But the one final clue, the one that will point to the killer most conclusively, is withheld from the reader until Gamadge makes his final deduction and public accusation – and I think that’s a flaw in an otherwise well-constructed mystery.
I might add that Gamadge also finds himself unable to save the lives of the murder victims – the people he tried to protect by becoming involved in the case. That does seem to be the case in a number of Daly’s other mysteries as well.
But on the whole I think that “Nothing Can Rescue Me” is very much worth your investigation. It is fairly benign – that is, there is very limited violence (beyond the obvious violence of the murders), and the book presents a fine portrait of an old-fashioned and upper-income family during the early years of World War Two. Gamadge is a charming and literate detective, and I find it most entertaining to watch him at work. Thanks to the Felony & Mayhem Press, Nothing Can Rescue Me is back in print – as are a number of Daly’s other books – and your mystery bookseller should be able to find it for you quite easily.
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To listen to the original podcast, please click here.
Next week: Cat of Many Tails, by Ellery Queen.
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