Tue 5 Oct 2021
Mystery Review: ANTHONY BOUCHER – The Case of the Seven of Calvary.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[6] Comments
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.
October 5th, 2021 at 7:02 pm
Thank you for a very good review!
Jeffrey Marks has said that Boucher did write a second novel featuring sleuth Dr. John Ashwin. It was not published, but the manuscript survives among Boucher’s papers. So do many unpublished sf and mystery short stories.
October 5th, 2021 at 7:12 pm
Now that’s interesting news. Ashwin was perfectly set up for a second appearance, and it’s way too bad it never worked out.
October 5th, 2021 at 8:13 pm
While I love Boucher’s novels in one way he always seems to be having too much fun, and I sometimes wish he was working just a shade harder than he is enjoying himself.
This one is a bit more classical than some of his later more screwball books. Here he feels as if he is taking things more seriously than usual.
October 5th, 2021 at 9:08 pm
Right, right, right. Boucher had a lot of fun writing this book, and it shows, but he was still very very serious about the classical form he was using to hold it all together.
October 6th, 2021 at 10:50 pm
Any chance of getting some of Boucher’s unpublished works out? Were they abandoned or not accepted for some reason? He’s one of my favourite classical mystery/SF/fantasy authors.
October 7th, 2021 at 7:01 am
Hi,
Yes, there is a 2nd Ashwin mystery. It’s at Indiana University’s Lilly Library if you’re ever there.
Pre-Covid, Wildside had talked about publishing that novel. My understanding was that they would publish it at the 50th Bouchercon (in Dallas), but the book needed more edits and would not be ready. I have not heard a status since then.
I’ll reach out and see if I can get a status.