It has been less than a decade since publishers began rediscovering some of the classic, but forgotten, authors of the Golden Age of Detection, that period broadly defined as the period between the two World Wars. The British Library, to be sure, played a leading role in finding the rights to books by many authors, and I'm happy to say that their series of Crime Classics continues to entertain and delight readers. One of the authors whom I discovered thanks to a book's appearance in the series is John Bude. One of his books that was republished by the British Library was the excellent procedural called simply The Lake District Murder. I did an audio review of this book several years ago, shortly after the Crime Classics edition appeared. Here's a transcript of that review, somewhat edited as usual.
- 0 -
It must be terribly frustrating for any law enforcement officer or official to know, with certainty, that a particular individual is responsible for a crime – and yet to have no evidence, or insufficient evidence, to convince a jury to bring that crime home to the person who committed it. I’m sure we can all think of real-life examples – and what is true in real life is certainly true in the world of mystery fiction as well.
Consider a fictional murder that took place in England’s beautiful Lake District back in the 1930s. Inspector Meredith found himself in just that kind of a situation, where he was quite sure of the identity of the person or persons responsible…and yet had absolutely no hard evidence to prove it. It happens in The Lake District Murder, by John Bude.
John Bude is another of those now almost-forgotten mystery writers from the so-called Golden Age of Detective Fiction – roughly the period between the two World Wars. John Bude was the pen name of Ernest Elmore, described in Wikipedia as an English theatre producer and director, and between 1935 and 1958, he is credited with having written 30 mysteries. Many featured the detective work of Inspector Meredith (promoted after the first two mysteries, to Superintendent Meredith). Apparently, only one of Bude’s mysteries was published in the United States, which may explain why he is virtually unknown in the U-S. British Library has now republished Bude’s first two mysteries, The Cornish Coast Murder, and The Lake District Murder, both of which were first published in the U.K. in 1935. The publisher sent me copies of both books for review. I offered my thoughts about the first book several months ago, and today, I’d like to look at the second book, The Lake District Murder.
The book begins with the discovery of a body at a remote garage along a road in the Lake District, an area still known to tourists for its breathtaking scenery, picturesque villages and stunningly beautiful landscapes. But Bude is not drawing pretty pictures for tourists – he is looking at some of the facets of everyday life and, for that matter, everyday police work in these small villages.
When the body of one of the garage owners is discovered, it is thought at first to be suicide – the man died while dressed in a peculiar outfit designed to channel his car’s exhaust to his head, killing him by carbon monoxide poisoning. That first appearance, however, is almost immediately challenged – and when the police become involved, in the person of Inspector Meredith, it quickly becomes apparent that the man has been murdered.
So Inspector Meredith must begin to trace this rather bizarre crime back to its roots: who murdered the garage owner – and why. And we are treated to a book that is partly police procedural, as Meredith and his superiors try to figure out the crime’s background in order to trace the villain or villains. It is also partly a puzzle mystery for the reader, although we are not always given the clues at the same time the police get them. At any rate, it will become fairly certain, in Inspector Meredith’s mind, that he knows pretty well who must have carried out the murder. There really is no evidence, however, that would convince a British jury. So Meredith and the other police investigators – both Meredith’s assistants and his superiors – must try to find the real motive for this murder which may lead them to a fuller understanding of what is happening. For it becomes readily apparent that some sort of criminal enterprise has been going on that involves the garage…and several other area businesses…
It is fascinating to watch Inspector Meredith and the others as they search for clues – for, all too often, each promising new clue seems to fade away before they can really grasp it. It is only through the routine of police work, and the cleverness of Meredith, that the real course of events – the “what’s going on here” behind this murder – will be clarified.
Readers who are looking for tense confrontations and a lot of action are likely to be disappointed. It is the routine – and the thoroughness – of the police which we are shown here. Mystery writer Martin Edwards, who has provided a first-rate introduction to this new British Library edition of The Lake District Murder points out that Bude may be closest in style to Freeman Wills Crofts, another Golden Age writer who specialized in first-rate mysteries full of good police work that would eventually lead police to be able to disprove what had seemed to be an air-tight alibi. If you have read and enjoyed any of Crofts books, you are quite likely to enjoy John Bude’s The Lake District Murder – and, if you have NOT read those books, rest assured that there is a great deal to be enjoyed here in this book’s own right. It is, as Edwards notes, a world away from the unreality of bodies in the library and cunningly contrived killings in transcontinental trains.
- 0 -
If you would like to listen to the original audio review, you can click here.
Next: The Egyptian Cross Mystery, by Ellery Queen.
Comments