The Hymn Tune Mystery by George A Birmingham
published 1930
Recently I was lucky enough to visit Bodies in the Bookshop in
Cambridge, which is exactly what it sounds like: a bookshop selling mystery
fiction. It has old, new, modern, classic, secondhand books. It has little
rooms leading into one another, and wooden shelves, and rickety stairs, and
chairs to sit on, and tables piled high with more books. It is the bookshop of
your dreams.
Those responsible for the shop also curate a collection of classic
crime at Oreon, part of the Oleander Press. Naturally I had to buy a lot of
books while I was there (14 in total) and this is one of the Oreon books – and
it is a little lost gem.
The book is set in the fictional cathedral town of Carminster,
and most of the action is within the Cathedral Close. The characters include
the dean, the archdeacon, the precentor and the verger. As I have said
before, I live in a Cathedral town, and after a long time I
finally have an idea about how it works - the key is always that the Bishop is
very senior, but is out of the way, the Dean has all the power IN the Cathedral, and the
Archdeacon annoys everyone.
The organist is thought to have a drinking problem, so when
he dies apparently after falling off his stool in the organ loft late at night,
it seems obvious that it was an unfortunate accident. The dean is puzzled by
the assumptions, because he was in the Cathedral, late at night when the death
happened, and it doesn’t seem to make sense...
- and I have to say here that any scene involving an organ being played with vigour in an empty, dark deserted Cathedral late at night is an instant winner for me – see the wonderful The Nebuly Coat by J Meade Falkner.
John Dennis ends up investigating: he is a young and rather
casual Precentor, ie minor canon with responsibility for Cathedral music. Most
people around him are staid and formal and slightly disapproving, particularly
the Archdeacon (never named) and the Dean’s daughter Sybil, a fearsome young
woman who bullies her father. Everyone thinks the Dean is a bit dotty in his
comments on the death. He is losing his power...
But then Elsie turns up: the dead organist’s fiancée and,
frankly, a breath of fresh air. She is the only person whose clothes are
described in detail in the book:
She wore a kind of skull cap,
blue in colour, fitting very closely to the head… Her clothes were silky and
fitted her from her collarbone to her knees like a tight sheath. It was
difficult to suppose that she had on any garments beneath those which were
visible. Her stockings were exactly the colour of her legs.
She is later described as ‘that kind of girl’, and it is
stated that she must be a stranger in town, because ‘Carminster, a cathedral
city, only produces girls of the other kind.’ (In case it's not clear this is obviously meant as irony)
Elsie is desperate to get hold of a piece of paper she gave
the dead organist, but it has gone missing. Others are equally anxious to find
it. She refers to it as ‘a tune’. A lot of searching and discussion play itself
out.
There was a jewel robbery some years back, and the valuable
emeralds were never found. Eventually everyone realizes these items may be
connected.
Now, we can congratulate ourselves on getting there a long
time before the protagonists, first of all because we are so clever, secondly
because they don’t know they are in a crime book, but thirdly because we have
all read The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L Sayers (often
on the blog, and one of my 9 top
cosy crimes for the I newspaper last week, and boo to
everyone who chose to tell me it wasn’t cosy)
Both books involve a jewel robbery, a big church, the
prospect of the jewels hidden somewhere, a cryptogram that requires specialist
knowledge – bell-ringing in Sayers, music in Birmingham.
This book was published four years earlier, and isn’t truly
in the same league as the Sayers (which is one of my top crime novels of all
time) but it is still interesting to compare. And – circular – Sayers says she
was much inspired to write Tailors by The
Nebuly Coat which I mentioned above.
Part of the action takes place in the Choir School, and two
aspects are very much of their time: a lot of guff about boys not sneaking, honour,
shame and brutal punishments. And, interestingly, there are choir scholarships
for ‘town’ boys and this is seen as infra dig, not a particularly good thing,
with a strong implication that it will raise boys beyond their station. Thank
goodness that’s all gone now.
Apart from that, the book is full of funny lines and sly comments on Cathedral management. There is a nice example when Lord Carminster wants to get rid of his valet “because he was too clever”, so palms him off on the Cathedral.
“Brains, a disadvantage in a valet, are no drawback to a cathedral verger. In that profession there is little or no opportunity for the use of brains, which are therefore of no disadvantage to their possessor.”
Altogether this isn’t a lost masterpiece but it is highly enjoyable, and kudos both to Oreon and the Bodies in the Bookshop: long may you thrive.
Sybil is never really described, but this is my idea of
her, from an Irish
wedding photo of the 1920s.
Recently featured
on the blog, Casual Slaughters by James Quince is
an Oreon book.
And, Victor L Whitechurch’s Murder at the College – on the blog here – has also been republished by Oreon.
Oh, I could disappear into that bookshop, Moira, and lose myself forever! It sounds wonderful. And you know, I haven't read many books that take place in Cathedral town. It's a unique setting, though, and it can be a really effective backdrop to a murder mystery. Even if it wasn't perfect, it does sound enjoyable!
ReplyDeleteYou would LOVE this shop Margot! You really need to come and visit...
DeleteWhat a wonderful idea for a bookshop - and how appropriate that you chose a photo of an Irish wedding guest as illustration since George A Birmingham (aka Rev James Owen Hannay) was Irish, and served as curate in a parish close to where I live in Co Wicklow, later moving to England. So like Sayers, a vicar's daughter, he would certainly have had experience of clerical society and parish shenanigans.
ReplyDeleteI knew he was a clergyman but not that he was Irish - and he certainly seemed to know his stuff.
DeleteWhereabouts in Wicklow?
Couldn't help thinking of Trollope and Thirkell, as well as Sayers! Thirkell's characters would wish the Bishop even more out of the way--as in a different continent--and permanently. Trollope's characters had to deal with the Bishop's wife as part of the power structure. I see that Open Library has several books by Birmingham, including this one which I will be reading soon. He apparently set quite a few books in Ireland, some around the time of the revolution.
ReplyDeleteChurch politics always gives good plotlines!
DeleteI would certainly read more by him.
Very sad I didn't know about that bookshop when I visited Cambridge, although I was excited to visit The Haunted Bookshop. I also like books set in a Cathedral town (Kate Charles' books are hard to find in the US) and when I was in Wells, I could imagine all sorts of plots set there, mystery or otherwise.
ReplyDeleteIs it fast to wear flesh colored stockings? These days, the stocking/nylon manufacturers would/should be grateful if anyone other than the Duchess of Cambridge wears them at all!
Yes - I dont understand what young people have against tights!
DeleteI've not seen such a dismissive reference to flesh-coloured stockings before...
I just picked this one up last month. Glad to see you enjoyed it (and the comparison to The Nine Tailors).
ReplyDeleteLook forward to hearing what you think of it Bev.
Delete"guff about boys not sneaking" Yes, I remember a funny scene where the teacher does not want to hear who committed an infraction but insists the boys beat him up themselves without telling the teacher. It did not feel in the spirit of the rule against tattling.
ReplyDeleteYes, it was odd because the author seemed to be so strongly in favour of the whole scenario. the father who objected to it was seen as annoying idiot. I thought it was awful, even given that it was a different era.
Delete