A Short History of Christmas Crackers. And Murder


the book: The Murders Near Mapleton by Brian Flynn

published 1929



[excerpt from book]

Helen looked across at him with strong indignation in her face. Emily Venables returned her look for look. The amenities of guest and hostess were temporarily forgotten. Sir Eustace went on. “It was in the eyes of the first little girl whom I was able to get to safety. That is all I have to say.” He sat down and picked up the red bonbon of crinkled paper that lay beside his plate. The others saw the action and recognized it as the signal to pick up their own. The noise of the pulling of the crackers snapped through the room. Suddenly Sir Eustace’s face went the colour of cigar-ash and his eyes held a strange anxiety. His more intimate neighbours noticed the rapid change in his facial colour. He half-rose in his chair and then sank back again as though uncertain what to do.



“What were the colours of the dresses worn by the various ladies last evening?” “I wore a buttercup yellow, Mrs. Prendergast and Mrs. Venables black georgette—Ruby Trentham a café au lait crêpe de chine—we four were the only ladies present.”

“There’s a little problem in colours for you, Craig,” said Bathurst with the momentary flicker of a smile on his face. “Two blacks, a yellow and a coffee—and on this occasion—just as is usually the case—two blacks won’t make a white.”



comments: Brian Flynn is one of those no-longer-forgotten Golden Age crime authors who is slowly coming back into consciousness – as so often the case by the Dean St Press, and in this particular case with the encouragement of Steve Barge, otherwise known as the Puzzle Doctor. Steve is a great champion for Flynn, and his series sleuth Anthony Bathurst, and has written introductions to the reprints.

In this case he clears up the first mystery (non-criminal) which is the nature of the bonbons above (not a spoiler…):

The Christmas theme is almost incidental, however, with the only real link to the tale being threatening messages hidden inside bonbons. Perhaps that last sentence needs a little explanation. Christmas crackers have long been a festive tradition, fancily decorated cardboard tubes containing a motto or joke and a small present. When they were invented by Tom Smith in 1847, they were referred to as “bon-bons”. The simple reason for this is that Smith had been a sweet seller, and he simply took his usually wrapped sweets (with the wrapper twisted at both ends) but inserted a message between the sweet and the wrapper. He developed these quickly into the more recognised version of the cracker, referred to initially as the Cosaque, but soon adopting the name used today. Some people continued to use the name “bon-bon” however – it is still in common usage in Australia – and one of those places was the Flynn household. It is difficult to find out how widespread the name “bon-bon” was elsewhere, but there were still numerous mentions in the national press at the time, falling off in the 1940s. However, the modern reader, hearing of messages hidden in bonbons, may well think of sweets, so hopefully this clears up that potential confusion.

[Picture above, from the UK National Archives is, obviously, an advert for Tom Smith crackers. Or bonbons. The firm is still making them.]

One can speculate that the title was changed to the somewhat underwhelming “The Murders Near Mapleton” from “The Red Bonbon Murders”, suggested as the name of the case in the story, to clear up any confusion at the time. Why Flynn chose not to hyphenate the word, which seems to be the standard way of writing it, is another question.

I have to agree: ‘The Murders Near Mapleton’ is a very dull title, and Red Bonbons (or almost anything) would have been much better. (While preparing this post I have regularly written it as The Murders at Maplehurst, and various other combinations of the words involved, or nearly those words)





It is a very classic crime story: it is snowy and Christmas-y, a houseparty has gathered, and something is going badly wrong for the host, Sir Eustace. Meanwhile the Chief Constable is chuntering around the countryside with the gentlemanly amateur sleuth Anthony Bathurst (who might argue with the two adjectives there) and they come across evidence of a crime…

This was the first Flynn book I had read, and I can see why Steve likes them: this was a good plot with a lot of proper detection. There is a big surprise in the first third of the book, and Steve and another great crime expert, Curtis Evans, disagree on whether it is spoileresque to reveal it – so I’m saying nothing. If you like to discover everything yourself, then only read their reviews (and the comments) after you have read the book. Of the final solution, I confidently worked out half of it, but still was surprised by the final reveal. A huge amount of information was kept from the reader till near the end, but still – it was well worked out.

Given the artificial toffs’ houseparty setting, there was still some interesting working-class characters – I liked the man who was seeing his girl: ‘my mind was a-running on my little bit of cuddle’, though I refuse to believe in a pub called ‘The Cauliflower and Crumpet’!

Flynn likes a bit of purple prose – as in this passage:

Mr. Bathurst could see the fires of the Inquisition burning again in the depths of his eyes. He himself was no stranger to hagiology and had more than once realized the thin line between Supreme Devotion and Fanaticism.

And then there is this when a culprit is identified:

[X’s] voice rose in an infuriated scream. “You devil! If words could burn, I’d ransack the dictionary of Hell for your cremation—your blasted cleverness is inhuman—you—”

Dear me.

Party people photo from Kristine. Modern day crackers from Tom Smith, still making them. In a recent entry we found out that holly isn’t really a thing in Canada: the comments on that post revealed that in Sweden they have holly, but there is no Christmas connection. Well Christmas crackers: when we lived in the USA (it may of course be different now) we were surprised to find that there was no tradition of crackers there. It was possible to get hold of them, but you had to go to a specialist shop.

Comments

  1. My Grandma always called crackers bon-bons. She was very much a Londoner.
    I quite like Bathurst but find the male clubbery in the books a bit much. This one sounds good.

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    1. Oh great to get some actual history from your grandmother! I had never heard of it before reading this. And yes, that's how I feel about the books - very male indeed. But this was an entertaining read,

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  2. I'm so glad, Moira, that publishers like Dean Street are making these books available again. It's a real treat to discover them, and this one sounds like, as you say, a proper detection story. Little wonder Puzzle Doctor enjoys Flynn's work. I like that bit, too, about the dresses. There's something...classic about remembering who wore black, or red, or yellow, etc...

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    1. I know, they are doing us such favours! And there are always great details in these books, and especially clothes details for me...

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  3. Sounds delightful! Interesting too to hear about the original name for crackers; I wasn't aware of that at all. I must take a closer look at Dean Street Press next year. They really do seem to be reissuing some very good books...

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    1. Great books, we are all in their debt, and really friendly and nice too!

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  4. Crackers aren't common, but we started to have them after the family size began to diminish -- if that makes sense. Easily available online.

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    1. We always have just too many! There are around two left over each year. This year I suggested that we just use up some old ones, non-matching, but there was shock and outrage so we had to buy a new pack, and indeed there are two crackers left over this year too.

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  5. This does sound good. Cultural differences are fascinating. We have German friends who came to work in England and Hans was astonished by the office Christmas party at which they pulled crackers and even the boss wore a paper hat.

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    1. Yes! It's always such a surprise when you find out that traditions are so very far from universal. And it does make you look at things with new eyes, I'd never have thought of that about 'even the boss wore a paper hat.'

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  6. Crackers have always been a thing in Canada. I worry they may be fading a bit as the culture from the south continues to overwhelm our sensitivities. :*(

    I should clarify, however, that while I said holly as a bush isn't big in eastern Canada, it definitely is as a decoration (usually plastic or silky fabric...sorry).

    By the way, I've now read the first in Robertson Davies' Salterton Trilogy, Tempest-tost. A nice Boxing Day read. 4/5.

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    1. That's a fascinating idea, that you are moving in that direction! Such small signs to track.

      And so glad you enjoyed Tempest Tost, I would think ideal over the Christmas period.

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  7. Speaking of sensitivities, I hope that the casual, customary racism standing in for wit represented by Bathurst's "problem in colours" has become unfashionable everywhere.

    (Irritatingly, Brooklyn Public Library and NYPL have both failed so far to acquire any of the Flynn reprints. I need to prod them.)

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    1. It is quite shocking sometimes to realize what was acceptable and taken for granted in older books - there's only so much benefit of the doubt you can give them.

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  8. I think you've missed the whole point of the season - Festive Noir - family fights, burnt dinners, drunk grandparents, burglarised presents, the dog eating the turkey....

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    1. ... nasty revelations at the dinner table, gifts that are insulting, fights over the family quiz, cheating in board games, battles over the TV.
      Family feeling can mean many different things!

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