1940 murder mystery. Toby Dyke the journalist vaguely knows the young
and naïve Lou Capell, so when she comes to him in tears wanting a
place to sleep and to borrow fifteen pounds, he provides them, even
though she refuses to explain why. Soon afterwards, he gets a phone
call saying she's been murdered… US vt Rehearsals for Murder.
It's an odd book. All the pieces of a mystery are there, but the
style is farcical: people are always interrupted just as they are
about to disclose important information, and there are constant
comings and goings even when two people are having a quiet chat in the
woods. And someone is setting little murderous traps, like a match
that'll start a fire when the door is closed or a spring-loaded
needle, but making them harmless by adding a pan of water or leaving
out the poison.
It does get a bit formulaic at times, and the characters are both
numerous and determinedly unmemorable, but there's still the germ of
something a bit beyond the standard mystery that was already fading
away and would largely be killed off by the war. Ferrars is still very
early in her career here, and the homage to Christie is sometimes
rather obvious, but she's finding her own voice too. I rather liked
it.
(And what was the significance of the sergeant recognising the
poison? It's specifically called out later so presumably something was
meant to be developed from it, but then it's just ignored.)
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