Bizarre and Bazaar with HM, and a Night at the Mocking Widow

Night at the Mocking Widow by John Dickson Carr

(all his books, including those published as Carter Dickson, are filed under JDC on the blog)

published 1950

 

We've been talking a lot lately about a certain kind of Parish/Village activity:

Bazaars, Jumble, Sale of work - again

Blogfriend Johan reminded me that there is a church bazaar in Night at the Mocking Widow by Carter Dickson. He said "One woman does dress to be attractive, and that is very popular among the men, except possibly among the priest and visiting bishop who may find her outfit a bit daring…"

I have featured this book before

Poison Pen: Night at the Mocking Widow 

by John Dickson Carr

And it inspired a whole Poison Pen week back then in 2014. It certainly features the tropes: is it men or women writing them? How much knowledge does the writer have? Can we mark the stamps and catch them? Does the Poison Pen write a letter to their own self? – it’s a real bingo card of mentions. Agatha Christie is always my favourite in this genre –

Poison Pen: The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie

That was published in 1942. This one, though published 1950, is set very much in the late 1930s.

Sir Henry Merivale, HM, is the sleuth in Mocking Widow. He arrives in the village and sets about undermining discipline with the children – he gives the boys cigars, and the girls money to buy lipstick. He also sets up a flirt with the pub landlady, Mrs Virtue Conklin, as mentioned by Johan above.

She has ‘A full-blown Edwardian figure and a piled mass of  hair the colour of a brass kettle’.

The story more or less climaxes at the church bazaar, where someone has had this bright idea.

It would be most fascinating if the stall holders dressed up in imitation of the sort of things they were selling.

There is obviously no reason to do this, no benefit, and I don’t believe it ever happened: but think what fun this would add to some of the other bazaars and fetes we have been reading about lately

All this is leading up to a massive slapstick final scene at the bazaar, with HM dressed up as a Native American, and everyone falling into a muddy trench and having a mud fight. I expect JDC enjoyed writing it.

Virtue dresses up as a Dutch Doll to sell china. She makes a point of wearing a laced bodice with puffed sleeves. She is ‘bulging over a bit at the front’ like a woman in an Old Master painting at the National Gallery.

The bishop, going round the stalls, says warmly ‘Madam I congratulate you… Seldom have I seen so fine and rounded a display!’

‘Me lord!’ exclaimed Virtue, deeply shocked.

He is, of course, talking about her collection of china plates.

One of the other female characters is a Saxon maiden – I’m giving her Rebecca from Ivanhoe. There are some other pictures of Saxon maidens around, but they look more like over-dressed Elizabethans.

Top pic is a very modern version of Virtue’s costume – but does have a resemblance to the description. An actual Dutch Mardi Gras costume from 1931 is this:

There is the usual complex plot in the book, but it is not one of his best, though with clever elements. I don’t think I’ve ever had the geography of the village clear in my head, or the nature or scale of the Mocking Widow – which is some kind of giant stone.

But I did most certainly enjoy the bazaar.

 

File:Ladies pirate costume design in Womens Pirate Costumes.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

 

File:Cornelis de Vos - Players and courtesans under a tent.jpg - Wikimedia Commons