"The Mystery of the Peacock's Eye"

Item: a young woman meets a rather dashing gentleman - name unknown - at the glamorous Hunt Ball of Westhampton, where the local near-aristocracy has gathered for what has traditionally been the most socially prominent charity event of the season. She enjoys her dance, but the man won't tell her his name, calling himself only "Mr. X.". At the same time, there are rumors - unconfirmed, to be sure - that some member of European royalty has been enjoying himself - incognito - at the ball.

A few months later, Mr. Anthony Bathurst, private investigator, receives a visitor at his London digs. His guest reveals that he is royalty - Crown Prince Alexis of Clorania. He has come to ask Mr. Bathurst for help uncovering the blackmailer who is threatening the Prince, who is to be married in the near future to the Princess Imogena of Natalia. Or he would be married - unless that pesky blackmailer sends those incriminating photos and letters to the Princess. Mr. Bathurst, in keeping with the traditional role of the gentleman investigator, accepts the commission.

Meanwhile, in the town of Seabourne, a young woman with a severe toothache visits a dentist to have the troublesome tooth extracted.  But while the dentist is out of the room, the young woman is murdered in the dentist’s chair – poisoned by an injection of cyanide. 

Oh - and there is talk of a fabulous jewel, known as the Peacock's Eye, whereabouts uncertain at the moment, which may or may not be involved in the affairs outlined above. You'll find details in The Mystery of the Peacock's Eye, a 1928 Golden Age classic by Brian Flynn. The Mystery of the Peacock's Eye is the subject of today's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you can listen to that review by clicking here.

As a result of that murder, Chief Detective-Inspector Richard Bannister is rudely awakened very early one morning. Inspector Bannister is enjoying his vacation at Seabourne when it is interrupted by both the local police and Scotland Yard’s own senior commander: will Inspector. Bannister please cut short his vacation and take over the investigation of this murder, which may have serious international repercussions. Mr. Bannister, closing in on his own retirement from the Yard, reluctantly agrees. And as other crimes are uncovered,  Inspector Bannister will be working very closely with Anthony Bathurst to get to the bottom of a very complicated mystery.

Brian Flynn is the latest hitherto forgotten Golden Age author to be brought back from obscurity through re-publication of many of his mysteries by Dean Street Press. Among the books being re-published you will find The Mystery of the Peacock’s Eye, Flynn’s third mystery to feature his series detective, Anthony Bathurst. Dean Street Press provided me with an electronic copy for this review.

This is a difficult book to talk about because so much of the plot, the characters, the situation – everything, really – is made up of incidents (and people) who will cause most readers to nod knowingly and say, “Of course, I see where this is headed” – and then find out they’ve been expertly misdirected. I admit I’m the kind of reader who delights in being fooled that way, and I found myself forced to kick myself time after time in The Mystery of the Peacock’s Eye, as what had seemed at first like simply another tired cliché situation or character turns out to be something quite unexpected. If you try to imagine a plot concocted by Edgar Wallace, Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie and even Willkie Collins, you might begin to appreciate the mixture awaiting you here.

So if I say that the book reads like a thriller but incorporates a great many classic plot-and-puzzle situations, or I warn against prematurely judging the characters and situations that you will meet in this book, I’ve done about all I can do to protect you from self-inflicted errors without venturing into spoiler territory. This edition also features an informative introduction from mystery historian and blogger Steve Barge. I do think that readers who love the twists and turns of the classic Golden Age mystery will have a very good time with Brian Flynn’s The Mystery of the Peacock’s Eye. 

 

 

Comments

[Les Blatt]

Steve Barge, who has written the introduction for Dean Street Press for this book and other Brian Flynn titles, blogs as "Puzzle Doctor" at the In Search of the Classic Mystery blog, which you'll find in my blogroll on the lower right hand column on this page. If you don't already read PD on a regular basis - well, you should, that's all. https://classicmystery.blog/ . I recommend him very highly!