Tue 22 Mar 2022
An Archived Mystery Review by Bob Adey: PAUL McGUIRE – Threepence to Marble Arch.
Posted by Steve under Reviews1 Comment
PAUL McGUIRE – Threepence to Marble Arch. Chief Inspector Wittler #2. Skeffington, UK, hardcover, 1936. Forgotten Books, UK, softcover, 2018. No US edition.
Undoubtedly one of the better writers to turn his attentions to the mystery novel, McGuire seems nonetheless not to have quite made the top grade. This book perhaps illustrates why.
After a promising beginning in which, by paying her bus fare (of the title), hero Michael Grey breaks the ice with heroine Gillian Robartes, and then goes with her to a political rally at which her two cousins Richard and Thomas violently oppose one another, the book falters. True it gets a shot in the arm as Richard is killed in the office of his radical newspaper, but the investigation seems slow and ponderous, as various suspects are sought out and interviewed.
Grey and Miss Robartes are an unusually silly and unlikely pair of sleuths, and I had great trouble in following the plot or retaining my interest. In fact the plot is one of the main weaknesses: thirties politics do not inspire, and there’s too little ingenuity or pace to carry the thing through successfully.
I recall that another of McGuire’s books, Murder by Law, was also very slow, but that at least had an ingenious murder method. This does not, and must be counted as one of McGuire’s poorer efforts.
March 22nd, 2022 at 9:24 pm
There are other reprint editions available other than the one mentioned above. This is, however, not a single copy of the Skeffington edition condition offered for sale on the Internet.
McGuire was the author of 16 mysteries between 1931 and 1940, although he did not die until 1978. Searching for more information about him, he was, according to the GAD Wiki, the “Australian Ambassador to Italy from 1954-1958 and Envoy Extraordinary to the Holy See. He also wrote non-fiction about history and politics. His series characters were Chief Inspector Cummings and Inspector (later Superintendent) Fillinger.”
While this particular book was never published in the US, several others were, including at least one in paperback, that being A Funeral in Eden by Perennial in 1985.