"And what, exactly," enquired Sloan as he walked into the mortuary proper with the pathologist, "did Beatrice Gwendoline Wansdyke die from?"
Diabetes," said Dr. Dabbe. "Or so I am told."
"And?"
"And nothing," said Dr. Dabbe blandly, "unless I find something else as well."
"So what's the problem?"
"The problem," said Dr. Dabbe,"is not so much what she died from as what she died with, if you see what I mean."
"No," said Sloan uncompromisingly, "I don't see what you mean. What did she die with?"
"A quarter of a million pounds," said the doctor.
Oh my. Let me explain. Miss Beatrice Gwendoline Wansdyke, a 59-year-old woman, taught chemistry at the local girls' school. She had suffered for many years with diabetes - then (perhaps even more than now) a huge health problem. Her death from diabetes surely was natural. Or it would have seemed so before the county pathologist, Dr. Dabbe, tipped off by a gossiping bank clerk, found a quarter of a million British pounds in Miss Wansdyke's bank account - about one-and-a-half million dollars today. And that put the whole matter of the inheritance - and Miss Wansdyke's death - under a considerable cloud which, of course, ended up in murder.
The story is told in Catherine Aird's 1979 novel, Some Die Eloquent, one of Aird's mischievous, light, but carefully plotted and wittily written mysteries. It's the subject of this week's audio review on the Classic Mysteries podcast, and you are welcome to listen to the complete audio review by clicking here.
For a long time now, I’ve been convinced that the contemporary British author Catherine Aird, and her traditional, puzzle-plot mysteries, are sadly undervalued in the United States. Beginning in 1966 and continuing – so far – at least through 2019, Aird - now recently turned 90 - has written a long series of fairly light mysteries which are known collectively as “The Calleshire Chronicles.” The mysteries, with their emphasis on clever plotting and witty dialogue, could easily have been written by a Golden Age author. Some Die Eloquent is the eighth book in the series.
The central character in Aird’s books is Detective Inspector C. D. Sloan – known (most probably behind his back) as “Seedy.” Readers will get to know other members of the fairly tiny Calleshire police force, many of whom reappear in several of the novels. There is also Margaret Sloan, the inspector’s wife, who is very pregnant indeed in this book. That pregnancy, in fact, is one of the two main story lines, as Sloan finds himself torn between his responsibilities to his wife and their child and his need to solve the mysteries of how and why an elderly chemistry teacher should have been murdered – if indeed she was murdered. You'll have a good time trying to figure it out.
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