The Strange Case of Harriet Hall by Moray Dalton


published 1936






[The eponymous Harriet has invited her niece to stay, and says she will need new clothes]
“You’ll need a couple of evening dresses and an evening coat or cloak. You’ll be dining with the Denes and I daresay you’ll get asked to other places. The elder girl has just got engaged to a big pot. A poor fish, but he’s County all right. Two or three silk frocks for tennis, and a couple of woolly suits and a tweed skirt and jumpers for wet days. Then you’ll want shoes for different occasions, stockings, hats—”

“Aunt Harriet—” said Amy desperately.

“Well, what’s biting you?” enquired that lady with a touch of impatience. Evidently she disliked being interrupted.

“I haven’t any money to buy clothes.”

Mrs. Hall nodded and smiled. “I’m going to give you some. I came prepared.” She opened the large red and black striped morocco bag which, with its flashing chromium-plated fittings, seemed so characteristic of her rather blatant personality, and drew out a thick wad of notes. “I’m giving you a hundred pounds. Twelve fives and the rest in one pound notes. You must pay your fare down out of that, but you can spend the rest on pretties. I want you to make a good impression; it’ll make things easier all round if you’re liked.”



commentary: Oh the bliss of the Dean Street Press.

They are bringing back marvellous books from maybe the first two-thirds of the 20th century – classic crime fiction, and (in the Furrowed Middlebrow imprint) those much under-rated ‘women’s novels’ of the era. Their new lists always bring a moment of excitement to book bloggers. You can see a few examples of their books on Clothes in Books here and here.

Moray Dalton is obviously a real find: my friend Curt Evans has written an introduction to the new edition, along with a most satisfying afterword, dealing with a spoiler-esque aspect of the book.

It is an engrossing read: it contains many of the standard features of a crime book of the time, but has depth, and some intriguing characters. And one excellent surprise…

Amy Steer is invited to visit her newly-discovered aunt in West Sussex (mysteriously, the local paper is the Manchester Herald - never really explained): hence the new wardrobe.

On the train she encounters a charming young man, who is plainly horrified when he finds out who her aunt is. After this bad beginning, there is no-one to meet her at the station, and no-one at the cottage when she trudges there. I think we can all guess that something has happened to Harriet Hall. Who was not a popular woman, but seemed to have a curious hold over a local family…

The investigation and POV jump around a bit, but not too off-puttingly. There is a series policeman, Inspector Collier – the good news is that there are a lot more Dalton books to read - and a lot of scenes about the various agonized young people and their romantic leanings. And although there are many expected tropes, there are also more unusual descriptions of relationships, some of them sad and affecting. The writer Dalton most reminded me of was blog favourite Ethel Lina White.


And there are splendid clothes descriptions throughout, exactly what I love. A villager complains “the way the gentry dress and undress, and them bare backs and all—” Bring it on, I say.

There is a young woman in a black and white dress with a red belt and a red hat, there’s some green silk pyjamas, and the tennis mentioned above features a lot, with some emphasis on light white dresses, and a spectator who
came down to the tennis court, slim and exquisite as a Lalique figure in her pale blue muslin.
And there’s the question of what to wear for the funeral:
“I got a small black hat that will do to wear with my black and white spotted muslin.”
“Mother, you aren’t going into mourning?”
Mrs. Dene glanced at Lavvy. “My dear, she will be buried in the churchyard here, and I must go to the funeral.”

The online currency converter I used to use to compare prices seems to have changed its purpose and now tells you the answers in cows and bales of hay (why? why? why?) but another one suggests that the £100 to spend on clothes might be the equivalent of £6000 in modern prices. She could get a lot of pretty dresses for that…

There is one grave disappointment in the book: there is a lot of mention of a forthcoming village pageant, and I had high hopes of some great scenes and costumes. But sadly it doesn’t happen within the book’s timeframe – a sad loss to me, I love a pageant in a book.

In one of Agatha Christie’s Parker Pyne stories, characters are (apparently) trapped in a cellar with water rising around them, and this is described – by Ariadne Oliver, no less - as such a classic trope as to be a cliché. I have never come across this anywhere else, but was delighted to see it pop up in this book.

And there is this, about some music hall performers:
they ended up with an acrobatic dance, a sort of Apache affair that was definitely sinister. In fact, it sometimes upset the more squeamish members of the audience, and as they didn’t seem able to modify its more objectionable features they were not re-engaged when their contract was at an end.
- which does rather make the mind boggle. Regular readers will know that I am very taken with a NYPL collection of variety artistes’ photos: so here is another one, apache dancers McGinn and Woods. (Trying not to shock you too much).


The clothes pictures also from the NYPL, their excellent collection of 1930s fashion illustrations.























Comments

  1. Oo this sounds so intriguing. And those lovely, beguiling pictures of the clothes have whetted my appetite!

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    1. I think she's a really interesting author and am looking forward to more. And there's nothing I like better than choosing 30s clothes pictures!

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  2. I love it that some of these classics are being brought back, Moira. Dalton is one of those writers we don't really hear about, so it's very good that DSP has re-released some of those novels. And what a great description of the clothes a young lady would need for a visit. Such a great look at the times in that society. I agree about the pageant, too; they can be great in a novel.

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    1. I had never heard of her till very recently, and I think she really is a lost gem Margot. Perhaps she will have a pageant in one of her other books...

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    2. I recommend Death in the Cup too, that a nice genteel family poisoning, with some unorthodox relations going on....Reminded me of an Allingham in some ways, except I think Dalton takes it farther on the sexual front. I personally donated my copy for scanning--that's commitment!

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    3. … And I think we are all grateful to you Curt! I will look out for that one.

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  3. Even Wodehouse references Apache dancers - French Apaches or low-lifes, not Native Americans. The man threw the woman about while pretending to beat her up. Tres amusant. I think he also spun around while holding her by an arm and a leg, which must have been quite revealing. Not sure if the mock violence or the undies were the shocking part.

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    1. I read a fascinating explanation of Apache dancing which claimed that it was originally a cabaret or entertainment, then people of course wanted to do it themselves on the dancefloor. But there wasn't enough room, everyone was tripping up. So that's why the tango became very fashionable - a more contained version of Apache dancing but with similar attitude. When I first read the early Christies I was very puzzled by the Apache dancers she occasionally mentions - I thought they were Native Americans as you say.

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  4. This one is exceedingly popular with the vintage crime book bloggers. I have a copy (a 1st with DJ no less!) and intended to read and review it this month, but when I kept seeing review after review I decided it would be put on the very bottom of the pile. I'll definitely read it, but I doubt I'll be reviewing on my blog.

    The only time I've ever read the "trapped in the cellar while water pours in" was in that very same Parker Pyne story. I've seen it in countless movies, however. So it's probably a cliche convention of old time serials and B movies moreso than books and short stories. The only time time I can remember encountering it in a book the scene was a strange variation in a Fantômas novel (I think it's Exploits of Juve - 1916). Juve and his reporter sidekick Jerome Fandor are trapped in a room and sand comes pouring down on them from the ceiling. Imagine drowning in sand! It gets up to their necks as I recall before they are saved in the nick of time. There's a similar variation in the movie Witness starring Harrison Ford as a cop who goes undercover in an Amish village. That one involves getting trapped in what appears to be an empty silo until an avalanche of corn seed buries the trapped vicitm.

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    1. There really is a lot of talk about it lately isn't there? A lot of reviews out there. Really pleased for the Dean St Press, and I hope it's converting into sales for them.
      Good point about the B movies, and impressed you can come up with an example from the 1980s!

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    2. There's a great trapped in the cellar (or something like) while water pouts in scene in John Rhode's The Ellerby Case. That's also the one which uses a green hedgehog as a murder weapon. Fun times! Pauline never saw so many perils.

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    3. I would've known you knew of one, Curt. And am still processing the idea of the green hedgehog. Very Alice in Wonderland...

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  5. Wow! Those Apache dancers! Eat your heart out, Strictly Come Dancing. And I love the make-over motif. In fact I am using it in the novel I am writing at present. There's going to be quite a few clothes in this one, Moira.

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    1. So pleased to hear about the makeover, and extra clothes. Apparently Quentin Tarantino says there is a dancing scene in every great movie. I think there should be a makeover scene in every great book...

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    2. I would love to see this one televised, Sarah Phelps wouldn't even have to add anything!

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    3. I think we all agree - we love the sainted Agatha, but there are SO MANY other great books out there, which would make wonderful TV productions. And the stories not deeply familiar to everyone, and not with many previous versions to make unhelpful comparisons.

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  6. Gulped this down and looking forward to the others Dean Street releases--what a treasure! And yes, more Ethel Lina White than Agatha Christie! (I can't remember much about clothes in Christie? except for Tuppence and her hats.)

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    1. I love and revere Agatha Christie, I can't imagine life without her books, and I have managed to do endless posts on her books. But really, she doesn't work with me, very little in the way of good clothes descriptions! I have to work quite hard to get my posts...

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  7. More you than me, no threat that the TBR pile will grow.

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  8. I have already promised to read too many books, but this is a possibility for sure. Although only available here as eBook so far, so not a temptation for now.

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    1. It might turn up at the sale... And I think you would enjoy it.

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