The final panel at the recent Bodies From the Library event (much covered on this blog and others) was called Ask the Experts: the audience was invited to submit questions to a gang of the day’s speakers. This was as enjoyable and funny and light-hearted as you would hope. I was asked if I thought those attending were well-dressed… Of course they were!
The other question I grabbed was one about a favourite Agatha Christie murder method. And I had an answer without having to think too hard (though I could have thought of several others) - though it’s more of a ‘choice of a scene I would like to re-enact’.
In Christie’s Murder at the Vicarage – the first Miss Marple novel, 1930 - a young woman’s innocence depends on this strange exchange when Miss M is questioned about her. It has been suggested that Anne Protheroe shot her husband:
Miss Marple shook her head slowly and pityingly… "What did she shoot him with?"
"A pistol."
"Where did she find it?"
"She brought it with her."
"Well, that she didn't do," said Miss Marple, with unexpected decision. "I can swear to that. She'd no such thing with her."
"You mightn't have seen it."
"Of course I should have seen it."
"If it had been in her handbag."
"She wasn't carrying a handbag."
"Well it might have been concealed - er - upon her person."
Miss Marple directed a glance of sorrow and scorn upon him.
"My dear Colonel Melchett, you know what young women are nowadays. Not ashamed to show exactly how the creator made them. She hadn't so much as a handkerchief in the top of her stocking.''
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When I wrote a blogpost on Vicarage covering this very aspect a few years ago, it became one of my most popular posts, with many a commentator coming to argue the toss on whether an early 30s dress was so light, tight and flimsy that a gun couldn’t be concealed. The contributions from readers (here and online) were a joy to read. [In all modesty I do recommend the post, with its search for vulgarity in the book, and examination of Miss Marple – and don’t miss the comments.]
So my idea is that I would like to test out this theory, sashaying around an English vicarage garden in a variety of elegant summer frocks, sometimes with a gun about my person and sometimes not. Proper criminology research.
It would be great to hear others’ similar ideas.
The top white dress might make it hard to conceal a gun, though it is also very definitely a beach dress.
The next one down doesn’t seem a likely dress in the circumstances, but the model (the singer Ruth Etting) does not seem to have a gun in her stocking top.
The four Paris models: surely you could have a whole armoury under them….
All pictures from Kristine’s photostream, from 1929 or 1930.
Oh, Moira, what a great question! I remember that excellent post that you did on that dress in Murder at the Vicarage, too - folks, do go read it if you haven't. As to your little experiment, I think it has real promise. Of course, you'd want colleagues to replicate it, like a proper study. Hmm..... You know it's funny, I just recently bought a similar sort of dress - well, with more contemporary lines, but still... I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to keep a weapon hidden in it.
ReplyDeleteWell, when we persuade you to come over for the Bodies conference next year, Margot, we can do some experimenting. Make sure you bring your new dress.
DeleteTo go back to Miss Cram - surely she was wearing knee-length "directoire" knickers, revealed by her too-short skirts when she sits down? Perfectly decent really. (Though Dennis's rhyme using the two meanings of "bedroom floor" is hardly...)
ReplyDeleteDecent and unrevealing - but surely not quite right of the Vicar to notice. Definitely healthy vulgarity in this book...
DeleteI was looking thru a 1930s English needlework book this afternoon and found a pattern for Directoire knickers! They are the opposite of titillating, I'm afraid.
DeleteI think famously unsexy...
DeleteEnjoyed this post and the first post greatly. I cannot believe you did not acquire a revolver and secret it under various dresses and invite friends and the general community to study your form to see if they could detect a gun. Of course some nervous citizen might have called the police and your experiment might have had unexpected legal consequences concerning concealed weapons. Might be best were there a re-enactment to use a starter pistol. I would still love to see you in photos with your hidden gun.
ReplyDeleteI am glad you are taking this question as seriously as it deserves Bill! A concealed weapon (strictly fake ones... ) party might be fun. The men could see where a holster would fit with their outfits.
DeleteMy favourite Christie murder method has to be that really bizarre, quite horrible, and surely highly unreliable one in Murder is Easy, I don't think anyone who has read the book could even guess the method. So hard to allude to it without spoilers...
ReplyDeleteI know, it is horrible. I don't like to think about it. My most disliked murder method of all time will always be killing the nurse in PD James Death of a NIghtingale, via the poisoned milk. Makes me shudder to think of it, because of the way of administering it...
DeleteLooking at the four frocks in the last illustration, your best bet would be either #3 or #4, as the bertha on the one and the capelet on the other offer the opportunity for a (very) lightweight) shoulder holster in a matching fabric, and a small caliber hideout gut.
ReplyDeleteIf you choose the shoulder holster, don't let anyone hug you with anything approaching enthusiasm - hideout guns traditionally rarely had a safety mechanism and you don't want an accidental discharge. This is why I have always eyed garter holsters askance - nothing like sitting down abruptly and shooting yourself through the patella.
Personally, I'd go with #3.
Trying to find a photo of me in my shoulder holster, to give you an idea.
DeleteShay, I so hoped you would come and comment, as you are my living expert.
DeleteThanks. Have only been able to find one old, very blurry photo of me and the holster - not that it would be very useful for comparison as I was carrying my personal sidearm at the time (a bit larger than a hideout gun).
DeleteIf you're going to shoot someone, say I, carry a large shoulder bag that can hold a snub-nosed .38 and get close enough to press the barrel against something vital. At that range you can't miss plus the report will be slightly muffled.
Oh, and wear gloves. Powder residue.
Very good advice, I'm sure. I knew there was a reason I favoured large bags. (they have got smaller as I got older and less able to carry them without testing my shoulder and back). I was not familiar with the phrase 'hideout gun'.
DeleteI think that at some fantasy conventions reenactments have been done to test scenarios from Lord of the Rings. It would be great idea to have fans of detective fiction do experiments, there must be numerous things to test. We have already listed this clothing experiment and John Dickson Carr's more dubious murder methods as things to do.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime I would assure all young women in light summer clothing that if I cast an eye at them it is only to check whether they are carrying a gun.
What a graceful reassurance! and yes, surely some crime festival or conference could organize an afternoon of joy for us all. We would never run out of ideas...
DeleteI remember that original post, and this one is very good too. Some guns are really small, maybe they would not be so hard to hide.
ReplyDeleteI agree, surely it is very hard for Miss Marple to give such an unequivocal guarantee...
DeleteCorrected reply: Small gun = small caliber, small chamber (1 or maybe just 2 rounds although one Victorian gun manufacturer did make a 5-round "pepperbox" that they marketed under the trade name of The Ladies' Companion) and short barrel. Very, very chancy. They're not accurate past a few yards and unless you hit your victim in the right spot, you won't do enough damage to kill or even incapacitate. If you're are going to kill someone, you want to hit him hard enough to blow a hole in some vital organs WITH ONE SHOT, and that means a .38 or higher.
Delete(Or so I'm told).
More info here: https://truewestmagazine.com/hideout-hijinks/
Picture of small single-shot derringer: https://images.app.goo.gl/2bEunExPPyuMNuU37
Well that article was certainly full of information and anecdotes, and I now know all about hideouts. The picture of the tiny gun was also instructive... so tiny.
DeleteI just spent a few minutes contemplating the long linen princess-style dress I'm wearing today while figuring out where I could effectively hide a gun. It's not easy!
ReplyDeleteMaybe I could manage a thigh holster, but in a stiff breeze the dress gets plastered to my body, so I would have to keep turning the holster so it didn't show, depending on the direction of the wind. Not exactly discreet!
Maybe I could manage a derringer in my cleavage. This does require you to have cleavage, and I do, but you'd need a heavy-duty bra and holster, which sounds miserable in this heat.
Winter is a lot easier, you have more options. So maybe hold off the murder till you can wear a coat again. :)
Yes indeed, the whole thing gets much easier when you have your stout tweed skirt on. It is very hot in the UK right now, and every day so far I find myself considering my clothes and whether I could hide a gun or not. The answer is 'sometimes', though you make a good point about the breeze affecting even a quite full skirt....
DeleteI'm out of touch. The ones on my shelf all seem to indicate a preference for poison. A small bottle of perfume in a handbag could easily conceal more sinister contents.
ReplyDeleteYes indeed, and Christie has as wide a range of murder weapons, and concealment, as anyone could wish for!
Delete