Wed 16 Nov 2011
Reviewed by William F. Deeck: R. C. WOODTHORPE – Death in a Little Town.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[11] Comments
William F. Deeck
R. C. WOODTHORPE – Death in a Little Town. Doubleday Crime, US, hardcover, 1935. First Edition: Ivor Nicholson & Watson, UK, hardcover, 1935.
A usually enjoyable subgenre of the crime story is the English village setting. This is one of the most delightful of them. Mr. Woodthorpe, in this and other novels, can be compared — but, since comparisons are odious, this reviewer won’t stoop to it — to Robert Barnard in one of his more mellow moods.
The most hated man in the town in murdered shortly after the villagers have torn down the fence he put across a public right-of-way. The murder is investigated by the local police sergeant, one Whalebone, who is himself an interesting and intelligent character, and by some anonymous individuals from Scotland Yard who deal mostly with paperwork.
In the novel we meet Miss Mathilda Perks, former schoolmistress, with a blunt tongue and a foul-mouthed and surprisingly bright parrot named Ramsey MacDonald; Miss Perks’ brother Robert, who has a tendency to disrobe on occasion wherever he might happen to be; Daphne Chrystal, a slattern who could give Gracie Allen some pointers in witless conversation; her husband, Walter, who suspects her of infidelity for reasons best known to himself…
More: Frank Thornhill, a former pupil of Miss Perks, who is of independent means and no particular ambition except maybe to set up a nudist colony; the Rev. William Chandos, whose biggest concerns are neutrality in all things and how to handle the various views in the village about public bathing on Sunday; and Michael Holt, about whom the police say:
A novel well worth trying to find by those inclined to enjoy the English village setting and somewhat eccentric characters. The humor, it should be added, is natural and unforced. The detection, however, does leave something to be desired.
(Whole #33), Fall-Winter 1987.
Bibliographic Update: Miss Mathilda Perks also appeared in The Shadow on the Downs (1935). Woodthorpe’s other series character, Nicholas Slade, also made two appearances, one of which, Death Wears a Purple Shirt, was also reviewed by Bill Deeck in that same issue of Poisoned Pen. It was posted here earlier on this blog.
November 17th, 2011 at 5:22 pm
Sounds quite interesting, but his books , used, no reprints available, go from 10 to 300 bucks on amazon.com.
That’s on the hefty side of expensive, mostly.
The Doc
November 17th, 2011 at 6:00 pm
Yes, these are the kinds of books you really have to have gotten 30 or 40 years ago, when $10 was the top price, Fine in Jacket.
November 17th, 2011 at 11:48 pm
He’s a good author. There was a sequel of sorts to this one.
November 18th, 2011 at 5:13 pm
The sequel you’re referring to, Curt, is THE SHADOW ON THE DOWNS, published later the same year, 1935. Both books in the series were published in the US by Doubleday under their Crime Club imprint, so I own both, but I’ve not read either.
All of Woodthorpe’s books are hard to find today, but of his eight books, the four not published over here must be really hard to find.
November 18th, 2011 at 5:19 pm
Looking at my previous comment, I see I didn’t mention that at one time — back in the 1970s — one of my collecting goals was to put together a set of all of the Crime Club mysteries.
I may have been 90% complete at the time I stopped and sold off the ones I knew I’d never read. I probably shouldn’t have. I also probably should have gone for dust jackets, but there were so many in the series, and I had only limited funds for collecting, I didn’t.
So, referring back to Comment #2, I spent maybe 50c to $2 for ex-library copies without jackets (which were plentiful back then) rather than $10 for real collectors’ items. And the Woodthorpe’s were among those I still have, none in jackets.
November 19th, 2011 at 3:49 pm
You can read this book free on-line at the Hathi Trust.
I did – and didn’t like the book at all. It seems like a poor imitation of Gladys Mitchell’s THE SALTMARSH MURDERS.
Even the woman sleuth is a poor man’s version of Mrs. Bradley.
November 19th, 2011 at 6:45 pm
I was wondering about Bill Deeck’s last line, Mike.
Bill was a master of understatement, and when he said, “The detection, however, does leave something to be desired,” I said to myself, “Uh oh.”
I think I could read a detective novel filled with eccentric characters and enjoy it as much as Bill did, but if someone’s looking for a Detective Novel (capitalized) I had a feeling that this wouldn’t be it.
November 19th, 2011 at 6:48 pm
Mike
PS. Thanks for letting us know that we can find the book at the Hathi Trust. It would be easier than finding my copy, I’m afraid, boxed up and shelved somewhere in back of the basement.
November 22nd, 2011 at 3:58 pm
I liked the second better than the first, though most reviewers saw it the other way round. I disagree that the detective is a poor imitation of Mrs. Bradley. She struck me as an original and worthy creation.
November 22nd, 2011 at 4:00 pm
Loved Miss Perks’ house, by the way! Even Mike should like his last one, Rope for a Convict, I believe it’s called. He did present a mixed bag of works.
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