Bobby Owen - only recently promoted to Detective Sergeant at Scotland Yard - had been looking forward to a weekend off. He was an invited weekend guest of Lady Cambers - mostly because she wanted his advice on how best to protect her very valuable jewelry from thieves. He certainly did not expect that when he awoke, it would be to news that Lady Cambers was dead - murdered, in fact - and all of that valuable jewelry was missing. Fortunately, the local Chief Constable, Colonel Lawson, went to Scotland Yard to ask that Bobby, having been on the spot when the murder was discovered, be assigned to help investigate the crime. A good thing, too, for it turns out to be a most complicated case, in which things are seldom quite as clear-cut as they may appear at first. It's the tale told in Death Comes to Cambers, a 1935 mystery by E.R. Punshon, featuring his series detective, policeman Bobby Owen. It's the subject of today's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you are welcome to listen to the entire review by clicking here.
Death Comes to Cambers is an excellent example of the kind of plotting that graces so many Golden Age books. It's a murder story, with plenty of complications but with clues meticulously scattered throughout to guide the reader - if he or she can avoid the red herrings and other pitfalls. Certainly Bobby Owen will find more than enough complications to make his investigation difficult. To that end, he tells us, there are at least ten different potential suspects with a wide variety of motives.
There are also wonderful characters, including a mad cleric who considers the theory of evolution to be blasphemy and a young self-educated archaeologist working on an evolutionary theory which he says will make his name as famous as that of Charles Darwin. There’s the victim’s husband, Sir Albert Cambers, who – having abandoned his wife – may be having an affair with another woman. As a matter of fact, there are several affairs, real or rumored, going on. There’s even an American millionaire who wants to buy some of that now-missing jewelry. Ten suspects in all, with potential motives – and Bobby feels sure that in order to solve the case, he will have to find a way to eliminate all the suspects except one.
And while E.R. Punshon juggles suspects, motives and clues, he also provides us with a marvelous social satire of the English class system, as it existed in the 1930s. This is a book where the “how and why” are more important than the “who,” for the author is so careful to provide us with clues that I suspect many readers may arrive at the correct solution before Sergeant Bobby Owen does.
It really is a lovely book – a good, tight mystery with memorable characters and more than a touch of satire. This Dean Street Press edition of the book comes with a fine introduction by mystery historian Curtis Evans. If you enjoy Golden Age mysteries, I think you’ll really enjoy Death Comes to Cambers.
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