A murder in Britain's House of Commons! Well, a fictional one anyway, and the parliament, politics and characters involved are all from the first third of the twentieth century. But given the intense battles over politics in the United States this year - some of which, clearly, continue to be fought - it seems very appropriate, at the end of that American political year, to relax a bit with a classic Golden Age mystery about an English murder that seemed to have the potential to bring down the English government. The story may be found in The Division Bell Mystery, a 1932 mystery by Ellen Wilkinson, one of the first women ever to be elected to Parliament. It is the subject of this week's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you are invited to listen to the complete review by clicking here.
The Division Bell Mystery is a political mystery from the Golden Age, being re-published as one of the British Library Crime Classics series. Poisoned Pen Press is publishing the book this week in the United States, and the publisher provided me with a copy for review.
The central character of the book, a young member of parliament named Robert West, serves as what is called the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Home Affairs. It is in that capacity that he is present in the House of Commons one evening, when the members await the sounding of the division bell calling them to scheduled parliamentary votes. But as the bell rings, it is almost drowned out by the sound of a shot. Robert is closest to the door of the small private Parliamentary dining room, Room J, where that shot was fired. When he rushes to the locked door, he finds the body of a very rich – and very important - American financier, a dinner guest of the Home Secretary, shot to death. The victim was alone in the locked room. Was it a suicide? The Scotland Yard police officer in charge is not convinced. And so Robert West, the humble P-P-S, as those low-level and overworked functionaries are called, will find himself – with police blessing – acting as an amateur detective, dealing with a politically charged murder that could cause a financial crisis in London and even bring down the government. Robert was quite used to the arcane practices of the House of Commons – and he would soon find himself dealing – very diplomatically, to be sure! – with some extremely important people, all of whom had secrets to hide.
All of this, of course, makes for a good, lively mystery. To me, the book is also made vastly more interesting because its author, Ellen Wilkinson, drew on her experience as an elected member of parliament and put a great deal of insider knowledge into the book both about the scenes inside Parliament and about some of the politics involved. As usual, mystery historian Martin Edwards provides an introduction, focusing his attention this time on politics in Golden Age detective fiction. There is also a preface, written for this new edition by Rachel Reeves, another elected Member of Parliament. I recommend the book to you very highly indeed.
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