ANTHONY BOUCHER – The Case of the Seven of Calvary. Simon & Schuster, hardcover, 1937. Collier, paperback, 1961.

   Although Anthony Boucher has several differing series characters in his brief but illustrious mystery writing career, TCOT Seven of Calvary has none. Even so, the gentleman who solves the case does so with both precision and aplomb, and if he’d had the opportunity to have been involved in another, I’m sure he would have done equally well.

   He’s Dr. John Ashwin, Professor of Sanskrit at the University of California, Berkley, and what you might call an “armchair detective,” as all of the details of the case are related to him by one of his students, a chap by the name of Martin Lamb. (And as far as I know, the latter never appears again in any of Boucher’s works of mystery fiction, either.)

   While probably not unique, the structure of the tale is unusual. It has a prelude, a postlude, and (I think) three interludes. In these various “ludes” Tony Boucher discusses the case with Mr. Lamb, who is telling the story to the former, who then is tasked with transcribing it into third person book form.

   These discussions include, for example, what it feels like to be the “Watson” for a primary detective, not to mention a “Challenge to the Reader” that in the last Interlude Martin dares Tony to determine the solution to the case based on the facts in the case as told to him so far.

   Tony fails, and so did I.

   I love it when that happens.

   I also love it when the setting is as tweedy an academic setting as this one is. The first death is that of an unofficial peace ambassador from Switzerland, as gentle and unassuming man as there could possibly be, without an enemy in the world and with not a single person who could gain anything from his death. Found next to his body is a strange drawing, one which is also prominently displayed on the front of the jacket of the hardcover edition. (See above.)

   Could an obscure cult of Christian heretics be responsible? It is apparently the only possibility, but Dr. Ashwin is not convinced. Nor of course was I, having read as many detective novels as I have in my lifetime – not, as I suggested above, did it help me in deducing who the real killer was.

   I enjoyed this one. As the author, Anthony Boucher is witty, clever and above all, erudite in telling this particular tale. I also enjoyed being so intimately involved in academia life one time more. It was like being back in grad school again.