I am doing a lot of crime reading during the lockdown and by the time freedom beckons I reckon I will have a pretty good idea how to forge bank notes, bash somebody over the head with an axe and get away with it. Not that I am planning to do so of course…
I have been reading a lot of Christie, of which more another time, but over the last week I have been reading more of those delights from the British Library Classic Crime series which now are becoming part of the publishing landscape and have a huge army of fans.
This week I read Death in White Pyjamas and Death knows no Calendar by John Bude. This is a bonus as two books in one volume and all for £8.99 which is a pretty good bargain. I was slightly wary of reading this particular author as I had tried one of his earlier and failed with it, finding it stodgy and a bit dogmatic. But the blurb sounded interesting:
"A theatre owner, a slightly sinister producer, a buregoning playwright and a cast of ego drive actors have gathered at a country house to read through a promising script…."
The words 'a country house' are enough to pique the interest of any seasoned crimfic reader as we know country houses are deadly places to be and that sooner or later a dead body will turn up. And it does. The set designer, a rather nasty piece of work who seems to be blackmailing various members of the cast turns up in the lake wearing 
her white pyjamas and it is clear she was not just out for a midnight stroll. She was eminently dislikeable so the list of suspects is long.
I found this book so much more amusing and written in a lighter touch than the one I had failed with earlier (I cannot remember the title now) and it fairly zapped along.
Sam Richardson, a wealthy biscuit manufacturer, wanted a new hobby and he decided to put his money into a theatre. He was tired of Petit Beurre, Butter Fingers and Thin Lunch and left them behind. He met Basil Barnes at a party and a partnership was born .
"Sam was short, fat bald and benign. Basil was tall, slender, sleekhaired and slightly sinister. Sam, apart from business in all its aspects, was a child. His simple faith in everybody was delightful for he could never listen to a hard up story without putting his hand in his pocket. If Basil put his hand in his pocket you expected him to produce a revoler. Actually he produced plays"
I found it quite easy to guess the identity of the murderer and the reason why as it is flagged up fairly obviously – well I thought so anyway – but how the culprit managed it is another matter altogether.
Really enjoyed this and the characterisation of each member of the cast was spot on.
It is partnered with Death Knows no Calendar. A locked studio, no way in and yet somebody has been murdered. How was it done? A classic locked room mystery and if you have read many of these, as I have, once again I worked out how the killing took place and who had done it, though really there is no effort made to throw suspicion of anybody but the one person tracked down. The others are merely side shows. But one again it was the tracking down of the murderer, how it was carried out and the steps taken to add layer of layer of proof. At times it reminded me very much of the Inspector French novels of Freeman Wills Croft who does the same thing – plodding along and finding the small details that will nail the offender.
In this case the victim was a glamorous, flamboyant artist who was a bit of a femme fatale. Her husband was an actor who seemed to be permanently 'resting' and who she held in contempt; a local farmer has been in love with her for years and she even tortures the vicar's conscience as she tempts him.
We do not have a detective as such in this title but we have Major Boddy who has read every detective book going and decides to take the investigation in hand when a verdict of suicide is given. Well we all know that when this happens it is precisely the opposite – murder. We are told that "there were few detective writers in the country hwo had not, at one time or another received a letter from Major Boddy beginning:
Dear Sir
Much as I appreciated your really capable novel, Title so and so, I should like to point out that on Page so and so you have made a regrettable slip which you might care to correct in later editions etc"
There is no doubt that he will solve the mystery but it is a bit more difficult that he imagined…..
Both great stories and, as I said, two books in one and a bargain.
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