The passenger on the upper deck of the British double-decker bus was a bit peculiar: although the rain was coming down hard, drenching the open-air upper deck, the lone passenger that cold and foggy night insisted on riding up there. He certainly had no competition for seats. And both the bus conductor and the driver could swear that nobody - NOBODY - was riding up there with the passenger. But when the bus got to the end of the line, the passenger was still sitting there, quite dead - having, in fact, been strangled. Impossible? Of course. But it happened. And it was only the beginning of the mystery by Brian Flynn called Murder en Route, a fine example of a traditional mystery that pretty much turns itself into a high-speed thriller. It's the subject of today's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you are welcome to listen to the complete review by clicking here.
Between his first mystery, written in 1927, and his last, in 1958, the author, Brian Flynn, wrote more than fifty mysteries. And yet, his name has slipped into complete and, in my opinion, undeserved oblivion. Dean Street Press has begun republishing some of Flynn’s work, including Murder en Route, and there is a great deal there to enjoy.
When that impossibly murdered man's body is discovered, Inspector Curgenven of the local police takes charge of the case, but he is soon assisted by that brilliant amateur detective – aren’t most fictional amateurs brilliant? – Anthony Bathurst, who is the central figure in most of Flynn’s mysteries. Bathurst is intrigued by the possibilities. But before we get too deeply involved, we are given some background on another mystery which has been unfolding in another distant corner of England. It involves a substantial legacy – and the man who may or may not be the legitimate heir of that inheritance who is returning home to claim it – and who promptly disappears. And it isn’t very long before Anthony Bathurst finds a curious connection between the disappearance of an heir on the one hand and, on the other, a seemingly impossible murder of an anonymous victim.
So what starts out as an impossible crime quickly takes on the identity of a fast-paced thriller, complete with a cross-country chase. Flynn rather impressively juggles his plot lines, and there were a number of surprising developments that – to be honest – I didn’t see coming, mostly because I had been well and truly misguided into chasing some fine red herrings. The new edition from Dean Street Press of Brian Flynn’s Murder en Route includes a very informative and useful introduction, both to this book in particular and to Flynn’s work in general, from mystery historian Steve Barge. If you don’t know Brian Flynn’s work – and I certainly didn’t – I would recommend Murder en Route as a good place to start.
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