"Who Killed Dick Whittington?"

The audience attending the Pavilion Theatre Company's popular performance of a Christmas pantomime had come to enjoy a popular and traditional show based on the English folk tale of Dick Whittington and his cat. They got a good deal more than they had bargained for when the actress playing the part of Dick Whittington was given an injection of prussic onstage acid and died. Not surprisingly, the only possible suspect seemed to be the actor playing Dick's cat, who was the only other person onstage and therefore appeared to be the only person who could have committed the murder - but he turned up in his dressing room, where he had also been poisoned. Somebody - presumably the poisoner - had gone onstage dressed in the cat's costume to commit the murder. But who? Why? and how? Those are the questions confronting Scotland Yard Chief Detective-Inspector Harry Manson, the Yard's leading scientific investigator, in Who Killed Dick Whittington?, by E. & M.A. Radford, first published in 1947. The book is the subject of today's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast. You can listen to the complete review by clicking here.

Add the husband-and-wife mystery-writing team of Edwin and Mona Radford to the growing list of long-neglected mystery authors whose works are now being republished to entertain a new generation of readers. The Radfords, who wrote their books as "E. & M.A. Radford," really are post-Golden Age in date, but certainly not in spirit. Dean Street Press has just republished Who Killed Dick Whittington?, and the publishers sent me an e-book edition for this review.

The book begins with that murder of the actress playing the part of Dick Whittington. Norma de Gray is injected with a lethal dose of fast-acting cyanide poison while lying onstage, in full view of the audience. Suspicion immediately falls upon the actor playing the part of Dick Whittington’s cat – but he has left the stage, and, when found in his dressing room, appears to be under the influence of the same deadly poison. Nobody in the acting company appears particularly upset by the death of Norma de Gray, who had managed to make herself obnoxious to just about everybody working on the show. Nevertheless, a real motive for murder may be hard to find.

Meanwhile, one of Scotland Yard’s most valuable and successful detectives, scientific investigator Dr. Harry Manson, has been working on a series of property cases. Someone has been setting fires at stores that specialize in expensive women’s clothing, with insurance companies being forced to pay a lot of money for what Manson believes have been cases of arson and fraud. The more he investigates those cases, the more it appears that some kind of link must exist between his fraud investigations and the murder of Dick Whittington. Readers – particularly those fond of the scientific investigations of R. Austin Freeman’s Dr. Thorndyke – will appreciate the detail and apparent scientific accuracy of Dr. Manson’s investigations, which will lead Manson to take over the direction of both cases as he searches for scientific evidence that may put a fraudster – and murderer – out of business. 

Who Killed Dick Whittington is a well-written and thoroughly researched book, and the clues turned up by the investigation – little things, such as the presence of a rare chemical element in the ashes of a crime scene – are fascinating. The Radfords also play with the readers’ expectations: there are three interludes in the course of the book where the action freezes and the authors challenge readers to come up with the correct solutions. You're welcome to leave a comment below to tell me how you did!

 

Comments

[Colin McGuigan]

I'm not sure if I'll read more by the Radfords, to be honest. I liked the theatrical setting and all the parts involving the performers - I found that a lot of fun and hoped it would continue in that vein. However, once Manson appeared on the scene, I had a different reaction. The scientific stuff was just too dry and dull, or at least I found the way it was presented saw me tuning out too often - I reckon R Austin Freeman blended that material in much more successfully.

[Les Blatt]

I would have to agree that the theatrical part of the mystery was more fun than the "scientific" investigations of Manson. But I thought there was enough balance there to make it worth reading, and I probably will try another of their books.