As a general rule, I try to limit the books which I choose to review on the Classic Mysteries Podcast and Blog to books which have been around for a while. This often translates into "Golden Age and Beyond," but there are exceptions, and the book which I've chosen this week to share with you again is a good deal younger than most. It's called A Going Concern, written in 1993 by the British author, Catherine Aird. So it's worth noting, I think, that Catherine Aird's most recent book - to the best of my knowledge, as of the beginning of 2020 - was just published last year, when she was awarded the British Crime Writers' Association Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement. More power to her! Over the years, I've reviewed several of Aird's books; here's the text I wrote for my review of A Going Concern on the Classic Mysteries blog. I've edited it a bit to reflect its availability as of this new decade:
- 0 -
It is not really surprising when a very sick, elderly woman dies of apparently natural causes. It is somewhat more unusual to discover that the woman has left some rather peculiar instructions behind. For example, the late Octavia Garamond ordered her solicitors to be certain to invite the police to attend her funeral. And she made a point of extracting a promise from her doctor that he would examine her body very closely after her death. Even so, the police were hardly interested – until somebody broke into Octavia’s house and ransacked it. An interesting development indeed…and it happens in A Going Concern, by Catherine Aird.
Normally, I try to limit the books reviewed on this podcast to older books that are still widely available to my listeners and readers. I’m making something of an exception today because of the impact of Hurricane Sandy. Let me say right away that I was fortunate, compared to many others – no real damage to my home, nobody hurt, only the inconvenience and discomfort of more than a week without electricity. For me, the storm resulted in a loss of electric power and made it impossible for me to report on the book I had planned to review for this week.
But Sandy drove me back to the public library, where many of us gathered during and after the storm to keep warm and to maintain contacts with the rest of the world. So, naturally, I had to check the shelves for good mysteries I haven’t read yet – and I discovered Catherine Aird’s A Going Concern.
I have enjoyed and reviewed some of Aird’s novels here in the past. She has been writing mysteries since 1966, with her most recent published in 2010 [ED. NOTE: now 2019 - and awarded the Diamond Dagger!]. Her books, featuring Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan of the local Calleshire police force, are a nice mix of a traditional puzzle-type mystery with a bit of police procedural. A Going Concern first appeared in 1993, and while it is out of print, it appears to be fairly easily available through the usual sources for used mysteries; if you have a favorite mystery bookstore, they can probably find a copy for you. [ED. Note: Now also available as an ebook]
“A Going Concern” introduces us to a young woman named Amelia Kennerly. She is on vacation in France when she receives a telephone call telling her that she has been named the executrix for the estate of her great-aunt, Octavia Garamond – a woman she has only met once in her life.
As Amelia struggles to follow the rather complicated instructions left by her great aunt, she begins to encounter some peculiarities – some of which I outlined earlier in this report. Why did her great-aunt choose Amelia to carry out her instructions? What kind of feud was under way between Octavia Garamond and the local vicar – the man who was chosen to lead her funeral service? What did she tell the doctor about that strange after-death examination – and what, if anything did it turn up? And why were the police told to be on hand for her funeral?
Ah yes, the police. Enter Inspector C. D. Sloan – a good policeman with a quiet sense of humor. He needs one, too, particularly since he is always assigned to work with Detective Constable Crosby – known to his colleagues as “the defective constable.” And then there is his overbearing boss, Superintendent Leeyes. A policeman’s lot is not a happy one, I suppose, but Sloan manages to make some sense of things. He is called in when Amelia discovers the break-in at her Aunt’s home. He also manages to get a full post-mortem done on Octavia Garamond – and the results are most interesting. It all seems to have something to do with some chemical and biological research done during World War II by a local chemical firm – one in which Octavia Garamond played a significant role. And that company may now be struggling for its survival against a hostile takeover attempt by a rival firm.
It makes for a pretty complex mystery, but it is nicely leavened by Aird’s usual sense of humor. She has a gift for lively dialogue and creates a number of memorable characters – not least among them the late Octavia Garamond, a woman who quite clearly knew her own mind and was quite prepared to deal with her enemies, even after her death.
Catherine Aird’s A Going Concern is great fun, a statement which really applies to just about all of the novels she has written about Inspector Sloan and the rest of the Calleshire police. It’s definitely worth reading.
You can listen to the complete audio review by clicking here.
Next: Cards on the Table, by Agatha Christie.
Comments