Wed 28 Sep 2011
Reviewed by William F. Deeck: DOROTHY BOWERS – The Bells of Old Bailey.
Posted by Steve under Authors , Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Reviews[2] Comments
William F. Deeck
DOROTHY BOWERS – The Bells of Old Bailey. Doubleday Crime Club, US, hardcover, 1947. Originally published in the UK: Hodder & Stoughton, hardcover, 1947, as The Bells at Old Bailey.
While it would at first appear that my bias against detective-story characters who do not report information to the police ought to be shaken by the main event in this novel, later incidents validate my opinion.
Miss Tidy, the proprietress of Minerva Hatshop, Beauty Parlor and Teashop, receives two poison-pen letters following a series of unlikely suicides in Ravenchurch, where her establishments are located, and Long Greeting, where she lives.
Taking the letters to the police, Miss Tidy argues that the suicides were well-executed murders. Dubiety on the suicides greets her efforts, and there’s no small suspicion that Miss Tidy wrote the letters herself. But then —
To go on would reveal information that some readers would rather not know as they begin the novel. Suffice it to say that Bowers has written a charming novel about an English village, with all that that implies — to wit, blackmail and murder — and including an antiquarian bookseller, a detective-story writer, and a mainstream novelist for the biblio enthusiasts.
Also there is fair play for the most part. Bowers is another author I am adding to my long list of writers whose books are sought after.
Bibliographic Notes: Dorothy Bowers wrote four crime novels before The Bells of Old Bailey, all featuring Chief Inspector Dan Pardoe. All were first published in the US by Doubleday Crime Club. They are difficult to find as first editions; if anyone might be looking for copies to read, all four have been reprinted by Rue Morgue Press.
Postscript to Poison. Hodder 1938.
Shadows Before. Hodder 1939.
Deed Without a Name. Hodder 1940
Fear for Miss Betony. Hodder 1941. US title: Fear and Miss Betony.
September 30th, 2011 at 9:53 am
Though she started writing mysteries eighteen years after Agatha Christie started Bowers would surely have been a true rival to Christie had she lived longer. I like FEAR AND MISS BETONY so far as the best of her work. I have yet to read the one reviewed here though I own all of her books. I think she comes the closest among her British female writing contemporaries to matching Christie’s plotting ingenuity. That she was robbed of a longer writing career due to the ravages of tuberculosis is yet another example of Fate dealing genuine talent an awfully bad hand.
September 30th, 2011 at 10:38 am
Thanks, John. I was remiss in not following up on Dorothy Bowers, especially after noting as I did that her first four books were reprinted by Rue Morgue, whose selections are often obscure but never wrong.
Here’s a brief paragraph excerpted from the Schantzes’ writeup about her:
“Indeed, there were many contemporary critics who said she was the logical successor to Dorothy L. Sayers, who a year earlier had published her final Lord Peter mystery, Busman’s Honeymoon, as the mistress of the well-crafted literary thriller. Certainly all five of her books measure up to the highest standards of the genre. Her oft-acknowledged masterpiece, Fear and Miss Betony, was heralded by the Times of London as the best mystery of 1941 and was selected by one of America’s most discerning mystery critics of the time, James Sandoe, for inclusion in his Reader’s Guide to Crime, a list of mystery high spots he recommended as required acquisitions for any library wishing to have a representative collection of detective fiction.”
There’s lots more about her books and even more about her life. Here’s the link:
http://www.ruemorguepress.com/authors/bowers.html
All I can say is that it’s about time I unboxed my copies and read them.