"Bats in the Belfry" by E.C.R. Lorac

It begins with an after-funeral gathering at a home in Regent’s Park in London. Bruce Attleton, an author whose literary promise seems to have petered out after his first two novels, and his actress wife Sybilla are the hosts. The funeral was for Attleton’s Australian cousin, killed in an automobile accident. The guests include a stockbroker, some friends, Attleton’s ward, and a former journalist who’s keen to marry the ward. The discussion turns to theoretical murder, and how one might accomplish it and not get caught.

A few days later, Attleton leaves for Paris on business and his wife heads to parts unknown, perhaps for some plastic surgery. But it turns out that he never reached Paris; in fact, he never left England, and he has disappeared without a trace. Inspector Macdonald of Scotland Yard is called in, and he soon discovers that no one knows Mrs. Attleton’s whereabouts, either. A mysterious stranger is implicated, and he’s traced to an old ruin of a place in Notting Hill. Then he disappears as well, Macdonald finds a body sealed up in the house (just like what was suggested at the gathering), and everyone involved appears to have a motive in wanting Attleton dead.

Bats in the Belfry: A London Mystery was first published in 1937 by E.C.R. Lorac and has been republished in the British Library Crime Classics series. And a London mystery it is indeed, with the action occurring in Notting Hill, Mayfair, Fleet Street, Scotland Yard, and other parts of the city.

Lorac (1894-1958) is relatively unknown today, but she was one of the lights of the Golden Age of Mystery in Great Britain and a member of the Detection Club, which included such mystery writers as Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and G.K. Chesterton (Chesterton was the first president). Her real name was Edith Caroline Rivett, and she was one prolific writer. She published some 49 mystery novels under the Lorac pen name (most of them Chief Inspector Macdonald mysteries) and 23 under the pen name of Carol Carnac.

The story is full of twists and turns. Macdonald slowly comes to understand that the solution to the mystery (and the deaths) lies buried deep in the past. Slowly he closes in on the suspect he knows to be the killer.

Bats in the Belfry is a notable addition to the Crime Classics series, with a solid introduction by mystery writer Martin Edwards. It will have you looking over your shoulder. 

Related:

My review of Fire in the Thatch by E.C. R. Lorac.

Top photograph: Fleet Street, London, in the 1930s, via The Londonist.

John Rowland’s “Murder in the Museum”

Henry Fairhurst is sitting in the famous domed reading room of the British Museum, waiting on a librarian to bring him some 17^th century books on a French courtesan, He’s there as a favor for a journalist friend, helping with a story the friend is writing. As he waits, he engages in the favorite pastime of watching other museum visitors and imagining stories about them.

The red-haired man sitting nearby is a good example. Somewhat disheveled in appearance, his head his lolling back, and he begins to make sounds like snoring. Henry makes his way to the man to awaken him. And watches as the man slips to the floor, dead.

And not just dead from natural causes. Dead as in poisoned, as it turns out.

The dead man is Julius Arnell, a professor of English literature who had specialized in Elizabethan drama. Inspector Shelley of Scotland Yard arrives to investigate, and soon Henry finds himself (with more than a little enthusiasm) helping the inspector with his inquiries.  

Murder in the Museum by John Rowland was first published in 1938, during the Golden Age of the murder mystery (and long before the library and the reading room of the British Museum were separated into the British Library). Like Rowland’s Calamity in Kent, reviewed here a few weeks ago, it’s not so much an “Inspector Shelley investigates” story as it is an “Inspector Shelley investigates assisted by a knowledgeable amateur” story. It’s been reissued as one of the British Library’s Crime Classics series.

Henry and Shelley soon find themselves in more than one murder – two other Elizabethan drama academics have died; a mysterious will arrives in the mail; impoverished relatives have their own possible motives; and organized crime may be involved. Rowland threads a number of possible murderers through the story, keeping the reader guessing and occasionally wondering where the story is going.

British Museum

Rowland (1907-1984) began his working career as a chemistry teacher, gradually moved to journalism and writing, penning some 21mystery novels and true crime stories before becoming a Unitarian minister in the 1950s. As mystery novelist Martin Edwards points out in the introduction to Murder in the Museum, Rowland was writing in the culture of his time, and reflects typical attitudes toward ethnic groups like Jews. The British Library, after some discussion, decided to retain the relatively few references of this type in this story, because Rowland did reflect the attitudes (and prejudices) of his time.

Murder in the Museum isn’t one of the heavyweight mystery classics, but it is a good example of many of the mysteries of the 1920s-1940s.

Related:

My review of John Rowland’s “Calamity in Kent.”

Top illustration: The old Reading Room of the British Museum.

Anthony Wynne’s “Murder of a Lady”

Robert McNair Wilson (1882-1963) was an English physician and author who wrote some 28 mystery novels under the name of Anthony Wynne. He wrote during the Golden Age of mystery and detective fiction, roughly the period between the two world wars. His primary protagonist in these novels was Dr. Eustace Hailey. And what Hailey particularly specialized in was the locked room mystery.

Wynne’s novels have long been out of print, although a few can be found in used bookstores and online used book services (a few are listed on Amazon). The British Library Crime Classics series has, however, resurrected Dr. Hailey in Murder of a Lady: A Scottish Mystery. The series is edited by British mystery writer Martin Edwards, and he provides a succinct introduction to both Wynne and the story. The book was originally published in 1931.

Dr. Hailey, who lives in London and works on Harley Street, is visiting a fellow physician in the Scottish Highlands. The regional procurator fiscal arrives late one evening to announce that a marauder has been committed at nearly Duchlan Castle, and he needs the two doctors’ assistance. (The author makes good use of his medical knowledge and expertise to develop the story.)

Anthony Wynne

The victim is Mary Gregor, the elder sister of Duchlan Gregor, lord of the castle. Her head has been rather viciously bashed in, as if struck by an ax from behind. But there is little blood in her bedroom; and more significantly, her door was locked from the inside and the windows overlooking the local loch were bolted. She has been clearly murdered, but no one is able to understand how the killer entered or left the room. One other odd clue surfaces – a herring fish scale is found in the wound. (The book was first published in the U.K. under the title of The Silver Scale Mystery.)

The police investigator assigned to the case is a young man full of enthusiasm and action, but he accomplishes little except to offend the family, the servants, the doctors, the villagers, and anyone else living in the area. He asks for Hailey’s help. But soon there is a second murder, with the victim killed the same way as Mary Gregor, and Hailey understands what the police do not – this murder has its roots in the distant past, and in the character of the original victim.

Murder of a Lady is a classic locked room mystery, written by one of the masters of locked room mysteries.

Photograph: A scene in the Scottish Highlands by Steve Bryant via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.