Was London in the grip of another Jack the Ripper - a killer who only carried out his killings on Mondays? That’s the question to be answered by Superintendent Wharton of Scotland Yard and his good friend (if occasional sparring partner), amateur sleuth Ludovic Travers, in The Case of the Monday Murders, a 1936 mystery by Christopher Bush. It's the subject of today's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you can listen to the entire review by clicking here.
Largely unknown today, Christopher Bush was another Golden Age author, quite popular and well-reviewed during his lifetime, whose work has faded into obscurity since his death. Dean Street Press is undertaking a massive revival and republication of the 63 mysteries by Bush that feature the amateur sleuth, Ludovic Travers, who generally works with Superintendent Wharton and other official investigators - and, it's worth noting, that those officials occasionally arrive at the correct solutions to these puzzles before the "gifted amateur" does. The publisher provided a copy of the book for this review.
In The Case of the Monday Murders, the rather eccentric mystery author, Ferdinand Pole, has sent a carefully worded letter to a London tabloid newspaper, the Evening Blazon, and that newspaper was most grateful. Here’s what the Blazon’s headline said:
MURDER ON MONDAYS!
GREATEST PROPHECY OF THE CENTURY!
T.P. LUFFHAM WAS MURDERED!
That was intended to catch the public’s eye – and it succeeded most admirably. Pole's letter claims that beginning in 1918, no fewer than thirteen murders have been committed on Mondays – all of them unsolved. That name, T. P. Luffham, belonged to the latest Monday's victim, a fairly obscure scholar. Could it be, Pole's letter asked, that a single person was responsible for all those killings? So Pole believed – and he hinted at more killings to follow on Mondays – a prophecy which certainly appeared to be coming true. Opinion on that point was divided on the Blazon; some editors thought it was only Pole making a bid for some publicity. Others wondered whether Pole might be the Monday murderer himself. But the senior editorial staff didn't much care either way, as long as they could get a good (if not necessarily accurate) story out of it to boost their circulation.
What we have in The Case of the Monday Murders is what certainly may be a story about a serial killer - or could it be a far more complicated and subtle murder plot? Ludovic Travers and Inspector Wharton must try to find answers, even as another Monday looms ahead...
While I certainly enjoyed the book (and, as an ex-journalist, I particularly relished some of the satirical swipes taken at the cynical editorial staff of the Blazon), I think the mystery suffers somewhat from having too few candidates to hide effectively the identity of the villain. The complexity of Bush's plot, however, does provide readers with clues - if, of course, the astute reader can get past some skillful misdirection. Mystery historian Curtis Evans provides an introduction with considerable background on an author who really does deserve another shot at finding a new and appreciative audience.
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