Sat 27 Sep 2014
Reviewed by William F. Deeck: ELIZABETH HELY – A Mark of Displeasure.
Posted by Steve under Authors , Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters[3] Comments
William F. Deeck
ELIZABETH HELY – A Mark of Displeasure. Scribner, hardcover, 1960. Heinemann, UK, hardcover, 1961.
Visiting Edinburgh, Scotland, for the first time, Commissaire Antoine Cirret of the Paris Sûreté is somewhat bemused. The references to the weather by everyone he meets lead him, temporarily, to believe that many of the inhabitants of that city are weather fetishists.
In Edinburgh at the request of a friend to support him while he’s giving a concert, Cirret goes to sleep during the “Emperor Concerto.” This does not, Cirret would assure you, mean he does not think much of his friend’s technique; it’s just that he does not care that much about music.
Alec Trevor, the friend and pianist, also has friends in the city, one of whom dies while leaving the concert. Except for Cirret’s curiosity, the murder of a not-much-loved widow by nicotine poisoning would not have been detected.
The poisoner is known to the reader and maybe to Cirret. Since she is also a friend of Trevor’s, Cirret disturbs the musician by wanting to investigate the case. Actually, Cirret doesn’t care who did it; he, as a humanitarian, merely wants no repetition of the crime.
Hely presents a wicked but well-liked murderess whose motives are, she assures herself, of the highest, and a delightful detective in Cirret, who looks much like a monkey and may have that creature’s sense of humor. There aren’t that many French detectives that I have enjoyed reading about, but Cirret is an exception.
Bio-Bibliographic Notes: Elizabeth Hely was the pen name of Nancy Elizabeth Brassey Leslie Younger, (1913-1981). Her criminous output as a writer consisted of three books in the Cirret series (see below), plus one standalone, The Long Shot (Heinemann, 1963).
The Commissaire Antoine Cirret series —
Dominant Third. Heinemann, UK, 1959. US title: I’ll Be Judge, I’ll Be Jury. Scribner, 1959.
A Mark of Displeasure. Heinemann, UK, 1961. Scribner, US, 1960.
Package Deal. Hale 1965. No US edition. TV movie: Universal, 1968, as The Smugglers (with Shirley Booth and Emilio Fernández as Inspector Cesare Brunelli).
From ThePeerage.Com:
Nancy Elizabeth Brassey:
Nancy Elizabeth Brassey is the daughter of Lt.-Col. Harold Ernest Brassey and Lady Norah Hely Hutchinson. She married, firstly, S/Ldr. Reginald Frederick Stuart Leslie on 16 July 1935.1 She married, secondly, William Anthony Younger, son of Sir William Robert Younger, 2nd Bt. and Joan Gwendoline Vanden-Bempde-Johnstone, on 25 July 1945.
From 16 July 1935, her married name became Leslie. From 25 July 1945, her married name became Younger.
September 27th, 2014 at 5:24 pm
I suppose it is the influence of Simenon, but European sleuths in general tend to a certain literary vein and or drollery I enjoy.
It may just be that fewer writers following the European tradition (as Nicholas Freeling did)don’t come out of the tried and true British and American schools and are less stymied by genre expectations. Not that there aren’t writers like Jerome Charyn or K.C. Constantine who also extend or ignore genre clichés, but in general whether they are European, British, or American those who choose Continental sleuths seem to be more experimental, and prone to less conventional detectives.
Sounds as if I should check these out. At least it isn’t as if there are twenty or so to catch up with.
Great observation though about Edinburgh and the weather, though a week or two there and you begin to understand why.
September 27th, 2014 at 5:31 pm
I haven’t decided whether or track this one down or not. I have too many books that haven’t even been cracked open yet. But if I do, I think I like the cover of the English edition more, the second one down. Maybe it’s too plain and simple for most people’s tastes, but the US edition looks way too busy for me.
September 27th, 2014 at 9:05 pm
I agree about the cover, and while you can’t tell a book by as they say, the second one is the edition I would want. The first one looks as if the artist couldn’t figure when to put the pen down.