Murder at the Pageant -Victor L. Whitechurch, 1920
In the late 1980s, Dover
Publications reprinted many classics from the golden age of British mysteries.
In this one, during a pageant commemorating Queen Anne’s visit to the country
estate Frimley Manor; in 1705, murder and a theft of a pearl necklace happen in
tandem. The Pageant description in the opening chapter 1 attracts us with the
description of clothes and the sedan chair, which later plays a part in the
crimes.
The clues are presented
clearly, the subplot doesn’t muddy details up. Helping the local police of
Superintendent Kinch is Capt. Roger Bristow, by no means the gifted amateur
beloved in whodunits but of the Secret Service. Neither has much personality
but the edgy pride the copper and his sergeant feel against the spy-catcher is
well-done.
Whitechurch was a curate,
vicar and canon is real life and came to writing rather later in life. His
writing is more careful than graceful, with long sentences salted with a
remarkable number of commas. People talk like people in a novel. Still, this
mystery is worth reading for its tight plotting and for the sake of variety. I
mean, we need to read some new old-fashioned puzzlers from between the wars.
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