"Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Art, Word, War"

I have a thing for exhibition catalogs. It drives my wife crazy, especially if the exhibition is in another country or city and we’re flying back home. All those books to pack! But I’ll usually buy the book that accompanies an exhibition, especially if it’s something I’ve really enjoyed. Or, I’ll buy the book for an exhibition I haven’t seen but would really like to see, like the current Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms exhibitionat the British Library in London.

The book for the exhibition, Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: Art, Word, War, is a big one. It’s edited by Claire Breay, head of Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts at the British Library, and Joanna Story, professor of Early Medieval History at the University of Leicester. It includes an introduction and five essays, followed by almost 300 catalog pages tracking the 11 sections of the exhibition.

The essays cover the relationships between Anglo-Saxon England the continent; language, learning, and literature; interactions with Ireland; the emergence of a kingdom of England; and conquests and continuities. The essay authors are all experts in their fields and provide an overall summary of the Anglo-Saxon period.

The catalog section includes origins, or where the Anglo-Saxons came from; the kingdoms that were established and how Christianity gained a position among them; the kingdom of Mercia and its neighbors; the rise of the West Saxons; the emergence of England; language and literature; natural science; reforming the kingdom and the church; music; art; and the conquests of the 11^thcentury (the Norman Conquest of 1066 was only the last of several). 

Authors of the period provided some of the best-known works of literature in what eventually developed as the English language. The Venerable Bede finished his Ecclesiastical History of the English People in 731 A.D., and an unknown author created the epic poem Beowulf about a century later. The exhibition manuscripts are few; some 90 percent of the surviving Old English poetry are included (some six documents). But its writings and poetry like these that drove the development of Old English well into the time of Chaucer and influenced Shakespeare and the King James Version of the Bible. 

At least two themes of special note emerge from the essays and catalog descriptions. 

First, while some still refer to this period as the “Dark Ages,” they were anything but that. There were repeated warfare and invasions, and the Vikings helped keep things upended for the last 200 years of Anglo-Saxon history (William the Conqueror and his Normans were themselves descended from Vikings). But a rich literary life was maintained at various palace courts and especially the monasteries; this was the great period of illustrated manuscripts.

Second, the influence of religion was enormous, and likely because it provided some stability in an unstable time. The Roman Catholic Church was the church universal in Anglo-Saxon England, and while kingdoms emerged and disappeared, and Danes and Norsemen and others were always available for sacking and conquest, the church not only lasted but thrived.

Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms is a big, beautiful book, rather lavishly illustrated, displaying important artifacts and manuscripts from a formative period for British history and the English language.

Related: 

Mercia: The Rise and Fall of a Kingdom by Annie Whitehead.

1066: What Fates Impose – a novel by G.K. Holloway.

Glass Island – a novel by Gareth Griffith.

Top illustration: A feasting scene from the Bayeux Tapestry. Bottom illustration: the Domesday Book, the earliest surviving public record in Britain.

“Fire in the Thatch” by E.C.R. Lorac

It is late in World War II. Colonel St. Cyres and his daughter Anne live in Devon, and his son is in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Burma. His daughter-in-law June and the five-year-old grandson live with them; while she much prefers London and its nightlife, even in wartime, she can’t afford to live there. So, she spends much of her time sulking and complaining about there being nothing to do.

The colonel’s estate includes an empty cottage and a small amount of land. June tries to convince him to let one of her London friends, a flashy speculator-type, rent it. The colonel is suspicious, however, and rightfully so – the friend is scouting the area to acquire property for a gold course. Instead, he rents it to an invalided Royal Navy man, hurt during the war, who is both resourceful and well experienced at restoring the cottage and operating a small farm.

A few months later, the renter dies in a fire that destroys the cottage. The coronor’s jury returns a verdict of accidental death, with the fire likely caused by faulty wiring or a problem with the chimney. The victim’s former commanding officer, however, is dissatisfied with the verdict, and is able to get Chief Inspector Macdonald of Scotland Yard involved in investigating what might have really happened. 

Fire in the Thatch by E.R.C. Lorac is the story of Macdonald’s investigation. First published in 1946, it has been republished in the British Library Crime Classics series and includes an informative introduction by mystery writer Martin Edwards. 

E.C.R. Lorac

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.

Fire in the Thatch tells a great story, with suspects abounding and little seeming to be as it appears. But Chief Inspector Macdonald is dogged and relentless, and he will eventually learn the truth and find the killer.

Top photograph by Richie Valens via Unsplash. Used with permission.

“Antidote to Venom” by Freeman Wills Crofts

George Surridge has a problem; actually, he has several. He’s the director of the Birmington Zoo, the most prestigious zoo in the U.K. outside London. It’s an enviable position. But his marriage is increasingly unhappy, he has a small gambling problem, and then he meets Nancy Weymore, a widow whom he finds extremely attractive. All of these things are straining his finances.

And then he has a bit of good fortune. An elderly aunt dies, leaving him her heir. The influx of funds will mean the end of his financial problems and his ability to buy a cottage for Nancy. He encounters only one problem: after starting the expenditures for the cottage, he learns that his aunt’s attorney has embezzled all of the anticipated funds. But the lawyer has a plan, and he convinces George to go along. Unfortunately, the plan involves murder of a most unusual kind – using the venom of a snake.

Antidote to Venom by Freeman Wills Crofts (1879-1957) was first published in 1938 and has been republished as part of the British Library Crime Classics series. Crofts in his day was more popular than Agatha Christie; T.S. Eliot and Raymond Chandler were among his admiring readers, says mystery writer Martin Edwards in the introduction to the book, one of many Crofts wrote in the Inspector Joseph French of Scotland Yard series.

Freeman Wills Crofts

Most of the story is told from Surridge’s point-of-view. After a coroner’s jury returns a verdict of accidental death, Sturridge believes he and the lawyer have gotten away with the crime, the murder of the lawyer’s uncle using the venom of a viper. But criminal success brings no relief; Sturridge finds himself increasingly afflicted by guilt. The feelings increase as Inspector French, troubled by the verdict of accident, arrives to take the case apart. And he finds something very different has gone on. Edwards points out a fact about Crofts life that shows up in Antidote to Venom. Crofts was deeply religious, and it is religious faith that ultimately plays a critical role in the outcome. 

Antidote to Venom is not a classic “whodunit.” The reader knows what’s happened. Instead, it represents one of better examples of the psychological mystery that was beginning to become popular in Britain in the late 1930s. And it remains a fascinating story.

Related:

My review of The Hog’s Back Mystery by Freeman Wills Crofts.

My review of The 12:30 from Croydonby Freeman Wills Crofts.

Top photograph: A scene from the London Zoo in the 1930s.

“Seven Dead” by J. Jefferson Farjeon

A petty thief in rural England is about to graduate to housebreaking. He spots a rather large, isolated house that appears to be empty, and finds an unlocked window near the kitchen. He debates on whether he should start upstairs or on the main floor, and decides on the latter. He pockets silverware in the dining room, and then notices a closed door with a key in it. He turns the key, opens the door, and within seconds is running from the house as fast as he can, dropping spoons along the way.

He walked in on seven bodies, six men and a woman.

In his flight, he literally runs into a yachtsman, Thomas Hazeldean, who collars him and brings him to the police. Detective Inspector Kendall takes charge of the case, which becomes more and more bizarre with each discovered clue. A cricket ball placed atop a vase. A note found under one body, offering an apology from the “suicide club.” A bullet hole in a painting of a young girl in the dining room. And the most puzzling clue of all: the key on the outside of the door, suggesting that the seven had been locked in.

First published in 1939, Seven Dead by F. Jefferson Farjeon (1883-1955) was published at the peak of the author’s popularity, according to Martin Edwards, the consultant for the British Library Crime Series and who writes the book’s introduction. The book is the fourth Farjeon novel republished by the British Library, and the second one involving DI Kendall (the first was Thirteen Guests). Farjeon wrote more than 60 works in crime and other genres. The son of a prolific 19^th century author and the grandson of an American actor, he first tried acting but was soon encouraged to turn to writing. And he was one of the stars of the Golden Age of Mystery and Detective Fiction.

J. Jefferson Farjeon

While Kendall focuses on the case, Hazeldean focuses on the girl in the portrait, who’s the owner’s niece and older than she was in the picture. If one suspects that a romance may be in the offing, one suspects correctly. Both she and her uncle are traced across the channel in Boulogne, and Hazeldean tracks her to a small pension, where nothing except the girl is at it seems.

Both the professional and the amateur detectives help provide the eventual solution. Seven Dead is a fast-paced read filled with police procedure, tracking across all kinds of modes of transportation (train, boat, airplane, and even bicycle) and across the passage of time. It’s another winner from the British Library Crime Classics.

Related:

“Mystery in White: A Christmas Crime Story.”

“The Z Murders” by J. Jefferson Farjeon.

“Thirteen Guests” by J. Jefferson Farjeon.

Top photograph of medieval houses in Boulogne, France, by Lode Van de Velde via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.

“Thirteen Guests” by J. Jefferson Farjeon

The British created and perfected the classic country estate murder mystery – assemble a group of people (usually wealthy) for a long country weekend, add some underlying passions and tensions and a dash of romance, throw in a murder or two, and presto – you have yourself a mystery. Agatha Christie was well known for this sub-genre of the murder mystery.

J. Jefferson Farjeon’s (1883-1955) Thirteen Guests falls into that sub-genre, but with a number of unexpected twists and perhaps with even a poke of a little fun at this staple of the Golden Age of Mystery (1920s-1940s).

Lord Aveling of Bragley Court is hosting a hunting party weekend. Twelve guests are invited (13 is considered an unlucky number). But John Foss, a young man (not an invited guest) stumbles from the train at the local station, severely twists his ankle, and is taken in hand by one of Aveling’s guests, a beautiful woman named Nadine Leveridge. Good manners and hospitality being what they are in 1930s Britain, Foss is put up for the weekend in an anteroom at the manor. While immobilized with his ankle, he’s able to hear a considerable number of conversations in the hallway.

The guests include a Liberal Party member of Parliament, a stage actress, a sausage manufacturer (with his wife and daughter), an artist, a journalist, Mrs. Leveridge (a widow), a boilerplate mystery writer, and a couple whom seemed to be disliked by all of the guests. And there’s one uninvited guest, a man hovering around the station platform and then near the country estate.

The host has a secret, the guests have secrets, the servants have secrets – and a blackmailer is afoot. A man is found dead during the stag hunt, and then a second body is found.

J. Jefferson Farjeon

Besides having some fun with the mystery writer character, Farjeon tackles this mystery staple with something unusual. The story unfolds during different conversations between the guests, and it is only the reader and the author who see all of what’s happening. The local police inspector has his hands full untangling lies, misinformation, timing, and the events that have happened, but he proves up to the task (no bumbling country policeman here.)

Farjeon wrote more than 80 crime novels and other works. Thirteen Guests, first published in 1936, is one of three recently republished through The British Library Crime Classics series, the other two being Mystery in White and The Z Murders.

Thirteen Guests takes the classic country manor mystery to a new level. It’s one enjoyable mystery.

Related:

“Mystery in White: A Christmas Crime Story”

“The Z Murders” by J. Jefferson Farjeon.

Top photograph: A country manor by Jon Luty via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.