Three books by Victor L Whitechurch
Victor L Whitechurch always sounds like a cheery charming
gent – he lived from 1868 to 1933 and was a Church of England cleric who wrote
fiction, much of it crime fiction, on the side. One of his pastoring posts was
at a Mission Church for the 1100 railwaymen employed by the London and north
western railway at Willesden Junction. So he had considerable experience and
expertise in the railways and was plainly fascinated with them – they featured
in his books and short stories a lot.
The Canon in Residence,
1904, came early in his writing career, and is tremendous fun: a respectable
clergyman discusses life with a fellow holiday-maker in Switzerland. His new
companion tells Canon Smith that he knows nothing of life, and – of course, as
anyone would – drugs him, takes his clothes and leaves him to cope with the
real world in a different format. (This would all fit in well with my Impersonation
posts in the past – the small category of enforced
impersonation: in my recollection this happens also in the Daphne
du Maurier book The Scapegoat). Also
F Anstey’s Vice Versa where a father goes off to school in his son’s
body)
The Canon learns a lot from this, and goes into a new job with
an eye for social reforms – this makes him unpopular in some quarters, and then
rumours go around about his behaviour in Monte Carlo (this was actually his
doppelganger). All will eventually be sorted out (not really a spoiler) and
everyone is in a better place.
I’ve read two of his (much later) crime books, and had high hopes because of the Canon – but found them less than stellar. A pity, because they both had settings that I really enjoy: a pageant and a university college.
Murder at the Pageant (1930) starts very promisingly. A pageant in the grounds of Frimley Manor, the
upmarket resident family and their house-party of friends all taking the key
roles:
Four lackeys arrayed in the
historical livery of the Lynwoods— green and orange—bore the old sedan-chair,
with Mrs. Cresswell, an old friend of the family, seated regally therein,
wearing over her costume what Queen Anne certainly did not wear in 1705, her
famous pearl necklace.
Sir Harry, a tall, upright man
of about sixty, wore the garb of the reign of Queen Anne. Captain Bristow, of
medium height and a little inclined to err on the side of stoutness, appeared
as the Duke of Marlborough. Harry Lynwood, the eldest son, who had taken part
in an earlier scene, was dressed in the trunk hose, puffed and slashed doublet,
and flat cap of the Tudor period; his brother Charles, as a dandy of the
Regency, wore white pantaloons strapped tightly at the feet, long blue coat,
brocaded waistcoat. Anstice Lynwood looked perfectly charming in Early
Victorian high-waisted gown and bonnet. She was talking to her great friend,
Sonia Fullinger… dressed as Edward the Sixth, who had actually paid a visit to
the town during his brief reign. And Sonia, in her puce-coloured velvet Tudor
costume, made a charming little Edward, perhaps not exactly representative of
that delicate and not very happy boy, for her laughing brown eyes, dark hair,
and quick, agile movements rather belied what history has handed down as the
appearance and demeanour of the weakly son of bluff King Harry…
A young woman called Anstice! – a name worthy of Patricia
Wentworth’s Miss-Silver-World. Her father the Baronet
explains that the poshos will all keep
their costumes on when they go in for a bite to eat. Shaping up nicely I
thought. But then it all went very flat. Someone is found dead in the sedan
chair and that valuable pearl necklace mentioned above – no-one touches it. No
OK, just joking, I was only talking about the omnipresence of jewel
thefts recently, and yes it disappears. We are privy to the
Chief Constable’s way of working:
Every person who had been
connected with the drama was tabulated, with remarks against each, many of them
having only a brief word or two, such as "Knows nothing,"
"Stupid ass," "Nonentity," and so forth.
The Edward VI costume proves important, and has to be
chased down. But really the whole story didn’t keep my interest.
Murder at the College, 1932 so two
years later, held together slightly better. The story takes place in the
university town of Exbridge, in one of the colleges. There is a room at the top of a staircase:
there are workmen at the foot, and a college porter nearby. So the question is
– how could someone have got in to kill the victim without being seen?
A group of men meet regularly in this room -
‘we are all members of a committee of the diocese—appointed
by the bishop. We meet once a month to transact business’ –
Halfway through their meeting they broke up for lunch, and
when they got back, one of them was dead.
It’s not a bad setup, but I felt I was way ahead of the
police in working out possibilities, there were no surprises.
Also – much depends on a secret box with an unbeatable
lock.
“My fastening is this
padlock—a letter lock, you observe. Eight small revolving cylinders with a
series of eight letters on each. Do you know anything about permutation of
numbers?"
"I know something about
bell ringing," said Ambrose with a laugh. "I learnt ringing in my
father's parish. So I know that there are five thousand and forty combinations
of letters in this lock of yours."
This is nonsense. In the first section it should say
combinations, not permutations. The possibilities of the lock are not 5,040,
not even close, much much higher. And the figure from bell-ringing (which is
completely inapplicable and irrelevant anyway) would refer to seven bells,
whereas eight is the figure here.
There is some impersonation here, usually a favourite round
here,
and very unconvincing clues involving postcards, books of matches and shoelaces.
(The shoelaces did make me think about the old joke about the person with
non-matching socks – ‘the funny thing is I’ve got another pair exactly the
same’. I don’t think the clue here was wholly thought through)
There are virtually no women characters, as a final
criticism, just a bereaved sister who counts for nothing. The murderer seems
most concerned that his career has been ruined.
Altogether another sad disappointment.
I think my ultimate verdict is this: Whitechurch sounds
like a lovely man with a good heart and a strong moral framework, and this came
through clearly in The Canon in Residence. But the other two books were
cold and completely lacking in heart or morals. Odd that his obvious niceness
does not shine through in his later books.
Pageant picture from the National Library of
Wales. This blogpost is called How We
Love a Pageant, and has splendid pictures and links to other
posts on this topic.
The ‘study’ picture shows Gladstone’s study in Hawarden
Castle, courtesy of Cornell University.
How interesting, Moira, that those two later books should be so very different from the first. Perhaps something happened his his personal life? Whatever the reason, there really seems to be a big difference. If I'm being honest, even with some of the good things you point out about his work, I'm not sure it's for me. Hmmm...
ReplyDeleteI know, I found the tone of the books so very different. I wonder if he thought there was a way of writing crime books - rather bloodless and emotionless? anyway - I think these are definitely 'I read these so you don't have to'
DeleteAt last - a post about an author I can happily NOT add to my ever-growing search list. The name is familiar - I think he wrote a chapter of the Detection Club's first collaborative novel, "The Floating Admiral".
ReplyDeleteYour pageant ladies look like they're having a whale of a time!
Sovay
Yes I think he was quite well-known - certainly among his peers - though he died in 1933.
DeleteAbsolutely - LOVE those pageant ladies!
Upholstery fabrics and trimmings well to the fore - that horned headdress is particularly fabulous, though I also like the slightly askew crown.
DeleteSovay
Yes, if there is one thing I love it is a costume plainly made from curtains...
DeleteI have only tried one by him - Crime at Diane's Pool and it didn't encourage me to seek out more. Your post makes me think that probably wasn't a bad idea!
ReplyDeleteI think we've done him due service between us.
DeleteFunnily enough, if I were going to read another, I thought Crime at Diana's Pool was a great title and thought I would consider that one! I just went and read your review, and greatly enjoyed both it and the comments - it's here for anyone else
https://crossexaminingcrime.wordpress.com/2017/02/13/create-your-own-mystery-with-crime-at-dianas-pool-1926-by-victor-l-whitechurch/
- but it didn't make me want to read more of him. (JJ's version, on the other hand...)
Yes I've just re-read JJ's comment and it's brilliant lol
DeleteI know, we should make him write it
DeleteJust read The Crime at Diana's Pool and there is not much to surprise the seasoned crime reader. I enjoyed Murder at the College rather more than you did, just for its setting, but there again ...
DeleteHe has such inviting titles, love the idea of Diana's Pool. I would assume I would like all the books mentioned. But at least they were short and not actively awful!
DeletePretty Sinister Books has a fairly favorable review of this author's debut book, The Templeton Case (Aug 2022). Its worst feature seemed to be the "of its time" anti-Semitism (near the end).
ReplyDeleteThanks - I looked that up, and actually John Norris makes it sound quite interesting, with its unexpected twist. I suppose I could try one more....
DeleteWhitechurch admitted to writing some of his books not planning the ending in advance. His honesty is to be commended, but it makes it unsurprising that they are not brilliantly clued.
ReplyDeleteAh well that does give some explanation. I am always shocked when authors admit to that - unprofessional, but also means that character development must be completely absent...
DeleteHe wrote chapter one of the "Floating Admiral" collaboration, which meant he wasn't required to supply a final solution to the crime - just as well from the sound of it. The author of chapter two also had a free rein - all the others, when they submitted their chapter, also had to explain how their version of the story would have panned out, so that they couldn't go completely wild with identical twins, mysterious Chinamen, locked rooms &c and then just sit back and watch the next person flounder.
DeleteSovay
Yes, and I have to say I'm never that keen on those collaborations for that reason... wild plot turns, and not great for character development.
DeleteThank you for reading Whitechurch so that I know what to expect. If his books show up at the book sale someday, I will give them a try. I did see that the kindle editions are good prices too.
ReplyDeleteYes, you might hit on a good one! And they are short, always good in my view. I can see I am going to end up reading one more...
DeleteQuite a few of Whitechurch's books are available at the Open Library, including "The Canon in Residence" and "Murder at the Pageant." Several can be downloaded as they are so far out of copyright, they haven't been affected by the recent court case.
Deletehttps://openlibrary.org/authors/OL1057816A/Victor_L._Whitechurch?page=1
Oh thank you, very useful as ever!
Delete