All the way back in 2018 I read The Corpse is Indignant (1946) by this writing duo and on the whole I very much enjoyed it. I meant to try more mysteries by them, but it has taken me a little longer than expected to do so. I am sure other readers have been in a similar position too.
Reading the information at the back of the Coachwhip Publications reprint, Douglas and Dorothy Stapleton seem to have had a lot of energy as American Magazine described them as ‘the people who work 48 hours a day.’ For example, ‘while on their honeymoon, they co-produced a Broadway play, “The Questionable Ladies,” and wrote their first novel together, The Corpse is Indignant.’ Even ‘for relaxation, they both obtained their pilot’s licenses.’
Synopsis
‘“You’ll be late for your funeral,” called Bill Taylor to his bride as he left for a business meeting, because she wasn’t yet dressed to accompany him downtown. It was only a few hours later, though, that Penny was found brutally murdered. The police have their suspicions, but Bill has the support of elderly hurricane Miss Emily Cole, who plans to do some investigating of her own . . .’
Overall Thoughts
Initially, the reader might be unsure if Bill Taylor is to be a sympathetic spouse or not, as the opening scene sees him struggling in his new marriage, how new it is, only being spelled out later in the book. He is snapping at Penny his wife, and slamming doors, yet he is not pleased by this behavioural development, as a response to her irritating him. It is clear he still loves Penny, but he seems to be grappling with his own sense of self, such as when he looks at his new watch:
‘Looking at it, he grinned. Me with a platinum wrist watch – pink ribbons on a baboon. The watch had been Uncle Ralph’s wedding present to him, probably a not too subtle reminder that even a construction engineer doesn’t have to be an oaf. But I am an oaf. He could see, reflected in the curved watch crystal, a miniature of his face. It was the face of an oaf.’
In the end Bill has to leave his wife at home, as she is not ready to go in the car with him – or so it seems. The narrative offers some ambiguity on this point. Was she actually ready and was going to surprise him by her timeliness, only for his harsh words to put her off? It’s certainly one theory and the plot which unfolds will provide more. Both Bill and the reader have a lot to learn about Penny.
The reader might be undecided about Bill, but at least we can vouch for his arrival at a remote farmhouse waiting for his colleagues to turn up, to discuss a potential new building project. Unfortunately, no character in the book can prove his alibi, as no one shows and when he drives to the nearest telephone, he is summoned straight home, to find his wife has been murdered and that the police have him in the frame for committing it. It was Penny who passed on the phone message for the meeting at the farmhouse. And now’s she’s dead. The note she wrote has gone and Bill’s work colleagues deny any knowledge of this meeting being arranged. One thing that is for sure is that Penny’s actions raise a lot of questions. Did she want Bill out of the way for some reason? Or did the killer fake the call? I liked how the plot had a good number of possibilities as to which direction it would take.
One thing I found interesting is that when Bill first learns of his wife’s demise, he is not bashful in properly crying. I am curious, how often do we see this kind of response with male characters in classic crime fiction? Following on from this we witness a visceral depiction of shock when Bill has to identify her body in situ and he has to be restrained. The police create a tension within the narrative. Whether they think Bill is guilty or not, sits on a knife’s edge.
Chapter four sees the introduction of Emily Cole and our first impressions are shaped around her similarities to her car:
‘It was an immense limousine, as rigid and uncompromising as a shoebox, with enough gleaming windows to make it seems a rolling hothouse. And there was only one person who would be seen in such a monstrosity – Miss Emily Cole, who, in her way, was as outmoded, as impressive and as immense as the car.’
When we think of older female sleuths, we might consider characters such as Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, Gladys Mitchell’s Mrs Bradley, Patricia Wentworth’s Miss Silver, Stuart Palmer’s Hildegarde Withers or Erle Stanley Gardner’s Bertha Cool, and I was interested to see which character Emily Cole would be most like. It does not take long to rule out parallels with Miss Marple and Miss Silver…
‘He watched her shake herself more solidly into her gray suit that gave her the appearance of a battleship in “moth-balls,” and then she started toward the house.
“Oh, no!” It was, he realised, a futile protest. Nothing stopped the avalanche of Miss Emily’s progress […] When he flung open the front door he discovered he wasn’t going to get sympathy.
“Bill, I’m a fool!”
Miss Emily slammed past him like a tank in full charge […] She passed with such swift and overpowering majesty that Bill was still holding open the door and staring into the street when she bellowed again from the living room.’
Emily Cole definitely comes across as a “loud” personality, someone who will always be heard, her physical size helping her in this endeavour. It also seems like she is a person who tends to get their own way. Later in the book we find out a little more about her including the fact she is a widow, but she has returned to her maiden name and that she is not strapped for cash. In some ways I think she is more like Mrs Bradley, minus the career in psychology. She is 65 years old and 250 pounds, which makes her larger than Bertha Cool, I think. Although I think Emily Cole shares a little of Cool’s determined personality, and I had to smile when she stormed into a policeman’s office roaring: “I said ten minutes, and thundering wallupuses, I’m going in!” In addition, Emily is not above damaging police property and after one set-to with the police it said that:
‘[…] the personnel looked shattered. Casey and a uniformed policeman looked like men who had just lost an argument with a steamroller – not that they were actually battered but they had the dazed, uncertain stance of recent accident victims. Fentress, though reasonably calm, wore the stunned look of an auction bidder who has just learned he has bought a tiger but no cage.’
I just love that final line! And I think we all know who came off best in this situation!
Emily Cole’s involvement in this case is not through the invitation of Bill, and instead she has turned up at his home to apologise for finding Penny’s body and calling the police. Apparently, Penny had invited Emily to dinner, a suggestion which is deemed out of character. Yet vitally Emily heard Penny scream on the phone. The reader is curious as to what is being set up here. Are there shades of The Murder at the Vicarage after all?
Emily is not shy about withholding evidence from the police, when she thinks it might be harmful to Bill. Bill on the other hand is keener for her to share what she knows. From the readers’ point of view, it is clear to see that certain events have more than one possible interpretation. It is also evident that in order to solve the case more needs to be known about Penny’s past, but this is not such a straightforward task. In addition, like Bill’s information, Emily’s statement is also called into question. She claims to have had a call from Penny, but the medical examiner says it would have been impossible, Penny would have already been unconscious by this point. So once again is the evidence giver lying, or is someone manufacturing situations to make others appear guilty? It is interesting to see this happening to a character who might be deemed the amateur sleuth. A huge strength of this book is that the tables are always turning, and the plot regularly throws out twists and surprises, even before the reader hits the fifty-page mark! The reader consistently needs to keep adjusting their ideas as to what is going on and who is involved.
This is a great mystery, which hinges upon Bill really not knowing much about his wife and the more he digs, the more lies he uncovers. This reminded me of a TV series I recently watched on DVD called Melissa (1964) by Francis Durbridge. I would say the final fifth of the story becomes more thriller like, with a cat and mouse element as Bill tries to narrow in on the guilty party, while the police keep an open mind as to whether Bill is involved or not. However, this does not mean the denouement lacks surprise. In fact this was one of the most surprising endings I have encountered for a while. The conclusion is a little talky, but it has a nice Hitchcock hue to it. The Stapletons withhold one piece of information from the reader (although maybe there is a small clue pointing to it), but I think they get away with it.
All in all, I can strongly recommend this mystery, and I definitely need to read more by these authors.
Rating: 4.5/5