Serial Killer: The White Cottage Mystery

The White Cottage Mystery by Margery Allingham

Penguin

Pp.139

The blurb on the back of the book informs us that, “The White Cottage Mystery was Margery Allingham’s first detective story, published initially as a newspaper serial. Her sister Joyce has now skilfully revised the text to reveal a sharply plotted period piece stamped with the genius of a great and familiar hand.” Mostly this revision is apparently removing some of the repetition which would occur in a serialisation to remind readers of the story from last week rather than the previous page.

It is a country house mystery of the type favoured by the Queens of Crime and follows the formula expertly. The blurb also summarises, “Seven people might have murdered Eric Crowther, the mysterious recluse who lived in the gaunt house whose shadow fell across the White Cottage. Seven people had good cause. It was not lack of evidence that sent Detective Chief Inspector Challenor and his son Jerry half across Europe to unravel a chaos of clues.” The clues involve people trying to cover their secrets, such as blackmail, homosexuality, adultery, class pretence, and other sins. Attitudes may have changed, but the well-plotted drama and general motivation to keep things hidden remains.

On one occasion, W.T. Challenor is exasperated with a woman who doesn’t appear to grasp the sliding scale of the importance of secrets. He tries to explain, “An elephant is large compared with a mouse, but it is ridiculously small compared with Mount Etna. That secret may have been immense six months ago, but now we are faced with a larger and much more terrible secret. Don’t you realise what a murder means?” Women frequently exasperate W.T., and he dismisses them as stereotypes. “Grace Christensen was a woman of the pretty, graceful, feminine type that is not too clever.” Other of-the-era outlooks are reserved for foreigners and ‘abroad’, where father and son head later in the novel to track down a suspect. There is an unwritten code of conduct and honour, which is also familiar from early 20^th century novels. W.T. states plainly, “I am an Englishman, and we like our facts like our food – without subtlety. If you will honour me with your trust you will find that I shall respect your confidence.” Far more serious is the stance towards childhood trauma and the notion that the best way to approach distressing events is to forget them.

As with all Golden Age detective mystery fiction, however, the crime is treated as something of a game. W.T. muses on the suspects, “They all behave as if they were innocent, and yet each one is hiding something. Each has a motive for killing Crowther, and admits it freely. No sane person would dare to do that unless they felt safe.” It is, of course, baffling to the duo attempting to solve it. The White Cottage Mystery is a gripping, short caper, capable of being consumed in a day, and the fine plotting ensures that everything is neatly tied up with a bow after all. This is highly recommended for fans of the genre.

Friday Five: Books read in March

 

1. Iron by Rona Munro (Nick Hern Books) - This play for four actors, mainly concerns a mother daughter relationship as Josie goes to visit her mother, Fay, in prison for the first time in 15 years. Fay is imprisoned for the murder of her husband, Josie's father. Throughout the course of the play, set mainly in the visiting area, the two try to learn about each other, with Fay asking for details of Josie's life in an attempt to live vicariously through her experiences and Josie asking for annecdotes of the childhood she can't remember. Meanwhile the guards interject as all privacy is removed and people question motive and emotion. Fay tells Josie,  “It’s not the zoo, you know, you can’t come in when the fancy takes you and throw me a bun!” The dialogue is grim and brittle with rapid shifts of mood and tone as the playwright questions boundaries and how we would react if we are pushed beyond them. 
2. Outspoken by Father Rod Brown (Ebury Press) - I have a signed copy of this book from when I saw Father Rod speak at the Canberra Readers and Writers Festival in 2019. Rector of Gosforth Parish, Father Rod is most known for putting up billboards with pithy sayings espousing love and tolerance, and denouncing bigotry and hate, 'because justice is always social'. The story begins with his autobiography, and then moves into a call for a discussion about morals and faith, and how he believes they relate to issues such as migrants, marriage equality and the review of child abuse within the church. While holding onto his values, theology, and decency, he rejects much of the Bible-thumping conservatism often equated with Christianity. He is actually the Anglican priest we should welcome into our hearts and homes for thoughtful and rational debate in a space of respect and compassion for all. 
3. The White Cottage Mystery by Margery Allingham (Penguin) - Margery Allingham’s first detective story, published initially as a newspaper serial,is a country house mystery of the type favoured by the Queens of Crime and follows the formula expertly. The blurb on the back summarises, “Seven people might have murdered Eric Crowther, the mysterious recluse who lived in the gaunt house whose shadow fell across the White Cottage. Seven people had good cause. It was not lack of evidence that sent Detective Chief Inspector Challenor and his son Jerry half across Europe to unravel a chaos of clues.” The clues involve people trying to cover their secrets, such as blackmail, homosexuality, adultery, class pretence, and other sins. Attitudes may have changed, but the well-plotted drama and general motivation to keep things hidden remains. As with all Golden Age detective mystery fiction, the crime is treated as something of a game. W.T. muses on the suspects, “They all behave as if they were innocent, and yet each one is hiding something. Each has a motive for killing Crowther, and admits it freely. No sane person would dare to do that unless they felt safe.” It is, of course, baffling to the duo attempting to solve it. The White Cottage Mystery is a gripping, short caper, capable of being consumed in a day, and the fine plotting ensures that everything is neatly tied up with a bow after all. This is highly recommended for fans of the genre.

4. Cat vs Cat: Keeping Peace When You Have More Than One Cat by Pam Johnson-Bennett (Penguin) - This is a practical book full of information about feline dynamics and how to handle them. It covers topics from introducing a new, younger, cat to the household where there is already an established resident (and why you might choose not to do that in the first place) to calming a scared or anxious cat, and the trouble with anthropomorphosising your pet. The main piece of advice is to always give the cat a choice (including plenty of places, on a variety of levels, to hide, if that's what they want) and provide enough resources that the cats don't have to share. This includes food and water bowls, litter trays and human playtime or interaction. Cats will happily curl up to sleep and groom together, but they always need their own space and independence. I respect that.
5. All That I Am by Anna Funder (Peungin) - First published in 2011, this novel about characters involved in left-wing activism in 1930s Germany received stacks of awards in Australia, including the Australian Book Industry Award Book of the Year. The author is Australian. The four main characters are forced to flee Munich and become exiles in London. Based on real people, the fictionalised version of their lives seems simultaneously sanitised and dramatised for clearer narrative. Justifiable paranoia and a sense of betrayal afflict the remaining members of the once tight-knit group who narrate their stories in alternate chapters from Sydney and New York. It's gripping with elements of secrecy and espionage with a high sense of danger. Of course I was far too contrary to read it when it was on everyone's book pile, and more than ten years on, I wonder if it still meets all the hype.