1931 classic English detective fiction; third of Allingham's novels of
Albert Campion. The Gyrth Chalice is unique and unsaleable… but it
seems that someone is setting up to steal it anyway, for a private
collection. US vt The Gyrth Chalice Mystery.
This book has a particularly memorable opening: Percival St. John
Wykes Gyrth, heir to a baronetcy, starving and destitute in London, is
given a shilling by a policeman so that he has "visible means of
support" as he tries to find somewhere to sleep rough. He's quarrelled
with his father and been cut off without a penny… though, alas, this
barely figures into the main plot, and serves primarily to introduce
"Val" to the reader, and then Val and the reader to Campion.
And Campion's progressed further in his process of development from
his first appearance: he still looks fatuous, but unlike the Campion
from Mystery Mile he's clearly saying his sillinesses to relieve
stress at crucial moments, rather than to persuade people he's an
idiot. Lugg returns too, and gets some splendid lines, including a
comment on the decline of country pubs:
"Whilst you're messing about with 'the Motorist's Lunch'—seven and a
kick and coffee extra— I'll go and get something to eat in the bar.
It's mugs like you wot changes 'The Blue Boar' into 'Ye Olde Stuck
Pigge for Dainty Teas'."
What's missing, though, is the whodunnit aspect; this is more
adventure, loosely in the manner of Dornford Yates or John Buchan,
than mystery. The villains of the piece are clearly marked as such at
their first appearance. All that's really up for grabs is how
they're going about their ultimate object, the theft of the Chalice,
and how Campion will stop them (he does lots of that stopping
off-stage in such a way that the reader is never let in on it, and it
isn't even necessary to the finale). While there is a corpse, solving
a murder is not the principal business of this story either. It's much
more about the people, and to me tips the balance too far in this
direction by leaving too little puzzle content.
That said, the people are excellent.
Followed by Police at the Funeral.
Comments on this post are now closed. If you have particular grounds for adding a late comment, comment on a more recent post quoting the URL of this one.