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
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
Carr was so prolific that it's hard to keep up with all of his work, Moira. Like you, I find the jumble sale, art show, etc. a very appealing setting for action in a novel, so I can see why he chose it here. And I do like the wit in the bits you've shared. I'm glad you're keeping on with this theme.
ReplyDeleteThanks Margot! I do think JDC nearly always supplies solid enjoyment
DeleteI haven't read this one (JDC is not my favourite, except for the historical mysteries which just read like mad Georgette Heyer fanfiction and which I find tremendously amusing). However, I like the idea that an Edwardian figure is "full-blown". I am just reading Lady Living Alone by Norah Lofts. In this, Miss Beasley is described as "small and plump and completely Edwardian. Under her grey woollen dress her figure was so corseted that her bust and hips looked hard". That gives almost the opposite impression to its use here, I think!
ReplyDeleteI don't think there's much doubt that the corsets made for a hard surface - but quite the hourglass effect. and spilling out perhaps! Is the Lofts book good?
DeleteI'm not sure yet. At the moment, it reads almost as though she decided it was a thriller quite late in the writing process, because it has a strange tonal shift about halfway through. However, the main character is very compelling, and it seems like the kind of book that might have an excellent twist in the final act that would make sense of everything that came before!
Deleteit sounds as though it could go either way. Keep us informed
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThe Edwardian "pigeon-breasted" dresses look kind of full-blown, although that might be on account of the impossibly small waists!
Deletehttps://vintagedancer.com/1900s/edwardian-1900s-dresses-day-afternoon-party-styles-history/
Found this pic of a Rowena-type, along with an interesting essay on the women in Ivanhoe:
Deletehttps://englishdramacritical.wordpress.com/2021/01/12/the-true-queens-of-ivanhoe-examination-of-power-and-agency-through-rowena-and-rebecca-in-ivanhoe/
Thanks Marty - both very interesting resources. 'Separate cups' for bosoms didnt really become a thing till the early 30s, so those pigeon breasts prevailed.
DeleteA good piece about the Scott heroines: I always mean to get to grips with more of his books and never quite get round to it.
I think laced-up bodices must transcend nationality, and seem to have been designed for some "spillage" as in these examples: https://www.periodcorsets.com/festival-bodices
DeleteThose very words 'renaissance fayre' sum it up don't they?
DeleteAs fashions changed and skirt lengths went up and down in my lifetime, I had a sudden realization that in every era, women will find ways to make themselves attractive and reveal just enough. Just an observation, not at all a comment or judgement
"Mad Georgette Heyer fanfiction" is a great phrase--especially since you don't generally group Heyer & Carr together! (I'm only familiar with Heyer's mysteries, but even they don't seem much like Carr's.)
DeleteYes, I love that idea. I'd agree, they have little in common - except for that curiosity about what it was like to live in the past
DeleteIf I'm not mistaken Rebecca was a Jewish maiden.
ReplyDeleteClare
You are right, but she was wearing the right clothes!
DeleteCarr and fortune tellers... I did not forsee this one! I was thinking of Till Death Do Us Part.
ReplyDeleteThe bookseller I often go to offered this one to me when I told him I was looking for Carr. I turned him down. Unsure if that was the right decision. (Used book prices have gone up so much since then that it was probably the wrong one!)
The other one is coming soon! I looked at both of them and decided to post on this one (which is bazaar) rathat than TIll Death, focusing on fortune tellers. I have a particularly good picture for it, which I used when I did a very brief item on it a few years ago.
DeleteThe idea of stall holders dressing to match their wares is intriguing. What would be suitable attire for a book stall? Or the white elephant with all its old china and glassware?
ReplyDeleteThat was me.
DeleteI know - there are all kinds of ideas there aren't there?
DeleteNot quite the same - when my children had to dress up as a literary character for World Book Day at school, I really wanted them to wear full cycling gear and claim to be Lyra (Lycra) from the Philip Pullman books. They refused to be amused by what I thought was a splendid joke
I think that would have been brilliant, but children have their own ideas from a very young age.
DeleteYes, sigh. I suppose there isn't a general category of Mum Jokes, in parallel with Dad Jokes, but that would probably have gone straight in if there were
DeleteVirtue should have had some Delft blue in her Dutch outfit....
DeleteWell I think the top lady does!
DeleteWell tha bazaar was fun, but I still think some were disappointed that no one went as Lady Godiva as suggested.
ReplyDelete(I thought I'd answered this) Yes, I should've mentioned Lady godiva from the planning stages of the bazaar. No picture though!
DeleteBy the way, poison pen letters, like blackmail, seem to be crimes that have gone somewhat out of fashion. They still happen but in Golden Age detective fiction they seem one of the most common types of crime after murder.
ReplyDeleteThat is so true. You supect that (rather like amnesia) the incidence in crime books was far higher than in normal life.
DeleteThere was always a ponderous moment where someone said blackmail was worse than murder - which even when I was quite young and trusting I did not believe to be correct.
Nowadays people have the internet with which to bully and threaten people....
Deleteindeed, and I do get spam mail threatening to reveal my internet history if I don't hand over money. I love the idea of shocking the world with my list of obscure fashion sources, magazines of the 1930s, out of print books at the digital archive, theatre collections at the NYPL...
DeleteI wonder if there would be more of an attitude of publish-and-be-damned today? Sometimes it seems as if there's nothing so shocking that a person couldn't live it down--and might even enjoy the publicity!
DeleteYes I think you are right, I can remember a shift in my years of journalism, when people stopped being horrified about being on the media, stopped being embarrassed about personal details being publid. And many of them liked it...
DeleteAs you probably know, Mrs Bradley believes that there can be "justifiable homicide" and that blackmailers would be one of the most appropriate targets for it. I think blackmailers are reviled because they make people suffer over a long period (even indefinitely, as far as the victims can tell) in the pursuit of money and/or power. GA murders tend to be over relatively quickly, but blackmail is more like a lingering death, and it's not for nothing it's described as bleeding people dry!
DeleteCarr would also definitely sympathize with the murder of a blackmailer in many circumstances. One of his plays has that as an ending, the police officer solves the case but lets the perpetrator go because he was liberating his girlfriend from a blackmailer.
DeleteYes, well, I still think people are a bit too lavish in letting off people who deal with blackmailers. I understand the argument, I just don't agree with it. I mean, I'm not PRO-blackmail, it just seems an excessive reaction. Similar to the view when I was young that rape was 'a fate worse than death'. It's not. And I couldn't be more dedicated to finding and punishing rapists.... but overplaying the crime is entirely based on the fact that the WOMAN has been shamed and dishonoured. I think attitudes are shifting now.
DeleteHe is pretty much also readable even when not at his best. Actually I have just read The Judas Window which is supposed to be one of his best. Really? Chrissie
ReplyDeleteExactly - the only one I really disliked was The Blind Barber, which went too far into farce and I found totally unfunny. But otherwise, they all have something.
DeleteWe must make a list and compare - i think we may feel the same. A few years back someone (probably Sergio) did a poll asking crime bloggers for their 10 best JDCs. I felt my list diverged wildly from everyone else's!