Sat 2 Feb 2013
Reviewed by William F. Deeck: LYNTON LAMB – Death of a Dissenter.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews[12] Comments
William F. Deeck
LYNTON LAMB – Death of a Dissenter. Gollancz, UK, hardcover, 1969. No US edition.
Old Silas Finch doesn’t like the church bells ringing in the English village of Fleury Feverel, or anything or anyone else for that matter. He defiles the cricket field, threatens his neighbors, lets the air out of bicycle tires, and is accused of molesting a quite molestable young woman. So it is nothing of a surprise that he ends up dead, but quite astonishing that he dies in the church ringing chamber, where someone has apparently bashed him in the head with a bench.
As the evidence accumulates, Detective Chief Superintendent Quill and Detective Inspector Bruce are somewhat dumbfounded to find that the facts point in only one direction: toward the rector of the parish, Frank Fenwick, an inveterate truth teller who says he didn’t do it.
Fortunately for a U.S. reader, the cricketing is brief since, at least to me, it was quite incomprehensible. Also a problem is the local dialect, which is almost as impenetrable as the cricket and there’s more of it. To make up for that there is a great deal of humor, some fine writing, a solid investigation, information on campanology, and an unusual solution, which I guess is possible. All in all, a nearly first-class first novel, particularly if you understand cricket and the local dialect.
By the way, could there really be such a thing as a Surveyor of Ecclesiastical Dilapidations?
The Supt. Quill & Insp. Charles Glover series —
Death of a Dissenter. Gollancz 1969.
Worse Than Death. Gollancz 1971.
Picture Frame. Gollancz 1972.
Man in a Mist. Gollancz 1974.
February 2nd, 2013 at 11:32 pm
I posted the list of the books in the series as I found them in Al Hubin’s REVISED CRIME FICTION IV without noticing the discrepancy in the name of the secondary detective. I don’t know if Bill was in error, or Al, or perhaps both are correct (in that Glover was in DISSENTER without being so noted by Bill).
February 2nd, 2013 at 11:35 pm
My new word for the day is “campanology,” which I thought I knew without looking it up, but I wasn’t sure, so I did, and I did.
February 3rd, 2013 at 6:13 am
According to the Wiki-article on ‘Dilapidations’ , there IS a Surveyor in each diocese for this .
The Doc
February 3rd, 2013 at 6:16 am
Reminds one of ‘The Nine Tailors’ by Sayers .
The Doc
February 3rd, 2013 at 8:02 am
I know I was able to provide Bill with at least two of the Lamb books.
February 3rd, 2013 at 9:01 am
When one looks up Lynton Lamb in Michigan’s MeLCat library catalog, there are no fiction or mystery books, alas.
But there are numerous books Lamb illustrated. Plus manuals he wrote on illustration and painting. He looks like a prestige illustrator, who often worked on literary classics.
February 3rd, 2013 at 9:38 am
I will say to the original reviewer: If we in the UK have to put up with endless references to Baseball in American books, then you’ll just have to put up with our Cricket!
February 3rd, 2013 at 9:57 am
Passages concerning arcane sports, Baseball, Cricket, Golf, Bridge, Hockey, I just skip.
Rarely are they of any relevance.
The Doc
February 3rd, 2013 at 11:43 am
Baseball, Cricket, Golf, and Hockey are hardly arcane! (Bridge I’ll give you) Doesn’t arcane mean known to only a few? Those sports have huge worldwide followings. The few are the people who don’t understand those sports/games.
I’d nominate curling as the ultimate in arcane games. What a mystery it all is. And it looks so silly. Has anybody written a curling mystery? Yes — Louise Penny. And I’ll buy a drink for anyone who knows it without Googling. Course I’ll never know if you cheated.
As for Lynton Lamb I have never heard of him nor come across his books in my constant bookhunting. This one sounds like the kind of esoteric mystery that I’d like. Cricket, bell ringing and “dilapidation studies”! How can you pass on that combo?
February 3rd, 2013 at 1:51 pm
For a REALLY arcane sport, google ‘Hornussen’ of Switzerland .
The Doc
February 4th, 2013 at 9:48 am
For a sport that “probably developed in the seventeenth century,” according to Wikipedia, there is remarkably little else they have to say about it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornussen
February 4th, 2013 at 11:48 am
Steve, look for a video of Hornussen – it is pants-wetting funny to see !
The Doc