Sat 3 Apr 2021
An Archived Review by Doug Greene: PAUL McGUIRE – Murder by the Law.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews[4] Comments
PAUL McGUIRE – Murder by the Law. Supt. Fillinger #2. Skeffington, UK, hardcover, 1932. No US edition.
Paul McGuire is known almost exclusively for his classic, A Funeral in Eden, taking place on an imaginary island. Many of his other novels, set in more prosaic locales, deserve better than the almost complete neglect which has been their fate.
A case in point is Murder by the Law. The crime – -murder of a thoroughly detestable author – is standard, but the book is enlivened by the setting, the character of the detective, and McGuire’s sardonic writing style, The events take place at a meeting of The New Health and Eugenist Conference, and McGuire so thoroughly punctures the movement that even R. Austin Freeman, had he read the book, might have had second thoughts about Eugenics.
The narrator, Richard Tibbetts, wonders whether a convinced Eugenist might have killed Harold Ambrose simply because the world would be a better place without him. There are, of course, additional suspects, as Ambrose was writing a novel which would embarrass every woman with whom be had an affair.
The case is competently handled by Superintendent Fillinger, McGuire’s series detective who also appeared in at least two other books, Daylight Murder and The Tower Mystery (which Tibbetts calls “an odd, queer volumeâ€). Fillinger, at more than 400 pounds, may put even Dr. Fell and Nero Wolfe almost literally in the shade. But he is not so eccentric as those worthies. The investigation is straightforward. And it is not until the final four lines that the murderer is revealed.
Bibliographic Update: As it so happens, there are now known to be seven recorded adventures in Fillinger’s case file, to wit:
Murder by the Law. Skeffington 1932.
The Tower Mystery. Skeffington 1932.
Death Fugue. Skeffington 1933.
There Sits Death. Skeffington 1933.
Daylight Murder. Skeffington 1934.
Murder in Haste. Skeffington 1934.
As for Australian-born Paul McGuire (1903-1978), he has sixteen works of mystery and detection listed in Hubin, all between 1931-1940, including the seven above. Five of his novels have been published in the US, but as noted above, not this one.
And, not surprisingly, while Al Hubin reviewed this one here earlier on this blog, there is not a single copy to be found offered for sale. But also by Paul McGuire and previously reviewed here is Murder in Bostall (US: The Black Rose Murder), this time by Bill Deeck.
April 3rd, 2021 at 9:27 pm
Another unjustly neglected writer, this one with at least one genuine classic to his name.
April 3rd, 2021 at 9:57 pm
With quite a few other even more obscure mystery writers being reprinted today, I think McGuire’s work ought to be given a shot as well.
April 3rd, 2021 at 11:15 pm
Full props to anyone who conceives an original idea or articulates a known-about concept in a fresh way. Kudos to anyone who even completes something with a fresh style or spin. I salute anyone who even strives. It used to be the case that ‘many try but few succeed’ These days …I’m unsure how many are even “trying” to break new ground. I don’t know who to admire anymore 🙁
April 4th, 2021 at 6:35 pm
Lazy,
In a FUNERAL IN EDEN McGuire succeeded admirably creating what Barzun and Taylor called a “Masterpiece” of all elements, plot, setting, color, action, character, mystery, and detection. His ENTER THREE WITCHES is his next best known book and almost as good though the corpse shows up late in the book.