I guess I'd better begin with a confession: I am not much of a sports fan. I also, as an American, use the name "soccer" when referring to the game played and followed by much of the world's population as "football." I am happy to report, however, that my own lack of the "sports fan" gene most certainly did not keep me from enjoying - and, herein, writing about - Leonard Gribble's excellent book, The Arsenal Stadium Mystery, in which the entirely real Arsenal football (see above) team finds itself confronted with a murder which takes place during a tense and exciting exhibition match against the (entirely fictional) Trojans. The book is the subject of today's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you can listen to that review in its entirety by clicking here.
Now, answers to a few of the important questions which you may have.
Who was Leonard Gribble? I didn't know the name at all until I read the book, but he apparently was a prolific British author of popular mysteries during the Golden Age.
Who is Arsenal? They are a very real and very popular football team from London, also known as the Gunners. It is worth noting that the 1939 team and its manager, George Allison, not only appear in major roles in the book, many also appeared as themselves in the 1939 film version of The Arsenal Stadium Mystery, a movie which apparently is still available in DVD format for home viewing.
Who are the Trojans? As noted above, they are an entirely fictional team of amateurs, playing against Arsenal in this exhibition pro/am game.
The British Library has brought The Arsenal Stadium Mystery back into print as part of its Crime Classics series. It features an introduction by Martin Edwards expanding on the virtues of football (or soccer) and providing more background about the author, Leonard Gribble. It is being published in the U.S. during December by Poisoned Pen Press, and the publisher provided me with a copy for this review.
A crowd of about 70 thousand football fans are gathered at Arsenal Stadium in London to watch a long-and-eagerly awaited match between the Gunners of Arsenal and the Trojans. During the game, one of the Trojans suddenly collapses on the field. He is carried off, but he dies soon afterwards. The sudden and completely unexpected death has enough peculiar points to make Arsenal’s manager, George Allison, phone Scotland Yard. Inspector Slade – who was Leonard Gribble’s series detective in many books – is quick to suspect murder, a suspicion confirmed by an autopsy. His suspects are going to come from a limited selection of people, almost all of them connected with the Trojans, the fictitious amateur team, for the circumstances of the death seem to make it clear that the Arsenal players – or any other random characters – could not have been involved. Inspector Slade will find the investigation reveals a great deal about the day-to-day life of a major professional sports team; along the way, he will also find the real motive and the real killer behind an often-surprising mystery.
The bottom line for a non-sports fan like me, I suppose, is that this sports mystery has a heavy emphasis on the “mystery” part of its name. It is a well-written book with a likeable pair of detectives, some even more likeable football players, and more than enough action and plot twists to keep readers entertained and guessing down to the last page.
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