To date I have read three other books by Dalton: The Strange Case of Harriet Hall (1936), The Art School Murders (1943) and The Condamine Case (1947). However, not only is The Night of Fear, my earliest Dalton read, but it is also my first encounter with one of Dalton’s series sleuth, private enquiry agent Hermann Glide. Other mysteries that he appears in include The Body in the Road (1930) and Death in the Cup (1932). Curtis Evans, in his introduction to this Dean Street Press reprint, opines that Agatha Christie’s Mr Goby (from The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928)) was a possible influence on Dalton’s creation. Curtis also includes a quote from The Body in the Road, in which a Scotland Yard official says that Hermann Glide “is none too scrupulous about the means he employs to attain his ends, though I fancy he is clever enough to keep within the law […] We don’t approve of him – but we find him useful.” This earlier mystery also reveals that Hermann Glide prefers, when talking with a client, ‘to devote his surface attention to a lump of modelling wax, which during interviews he molds into “fantastic shapes” with his “long slender supple fingers.”’ This mannerism put me in mind of Baroness Orczy’s The Old Man in the Corner, who ties knots in string when talking to others.
Synopsis
‘A Christmas gathering of young and old in a great country house in England—a masquerade—and the lights are turned off for a game of hide and seek. Silence—then a man’s cry for “Lights!” The lights come on, revealing Hugh Darrow, blind since the War, standing in the main hall, fresh blood dripping from his hands and covering his white Pierrot costume. He tells the story of having discovered a dead man, stabbed through the heart, lying in a curtained window embrasure next to the one in which he was hiding. The murdered man proves to be Stallard, one of the visitors, and a writer of mystery tales. There follows a thrilling tale in which the life of an innocent man hangs in the balance. A grand and baffling tale for the mystery lover.’
Overall Thoughts
Interestingly although it is Hermann Glide who solves the case, the narrative begins with a different Dalton series sleuth, Inspector Collier. There is no dilly dallying at the start, as within a few sentences the local police have already been informed of the dead body. Sergeant Lane takes his friend along with him to view the crime scene, that friend, who happens to be on holiday, being Inspector Collier. Now you might expect this to become a straightforward mystery in which the vacationing police officer ends up on a busman’s holiday. But Moray Dalton is far more creative than that, as the first 50 or so pages see many abrupt switches in which policeman is investigating. Police politics, personal grudges and even a near fatal accident all shape who is left in charge of the case. These back-to-back changes provide the opportunity for the clues to be missed or destroyed and this situation also makes a plausible opening for Hermann Glide to be get involved, when he is invited to help the defence of the arrested man. The changing of policemen effects the suspects, and it is interesting to see who they prefer. Superintendent Purley is definitely not a popular choice, and he is described as a ‘human’ mammoth’ and as ‘something the cat brought in.’ In contrast Hermann Glide is said to look ‘exactly like a sick monkey’.
The murder occurs during a game of hide and seek, and Dalton was not the only author to use this setup as R.C. Ashby also published a mystery in 1931, called Death on Tiptoe, where a killer takes advantage of this game. Both authors use a different murder method, and their plots branch out in differing ways as a consequence. Ashby’s method probably has the edge in terms of most chilling manner of death, but Dalton’s book is not short on thrills. Edmund Crispin would go on to use the hide and seek setup in his short story ‘The Hours of Darkness’ (1949). So, I think if you live in a mystery novel, it is best to avoid this party game.
The victim in The Night of Fear is Edgar Stallard, who prior to his death had been working on a book about murder cases from the 1890s. Yet after the murder none of his typing on the project can be found. Edgar’s body is discovered by Hugh Darrow, who has been blind since WW1, and it was interesting to see Dalton weave in the economic difficulties of veterans into her narrative. You know you are in a country house mystery when the host assumes he and his guests can defer being interviewed until the following morning. Well, really, you can’t expect people to stay up past their bedtimes after all…
Inquests are not always the most interesting part of a mystery story. Sergeant Beef complains about this to Lionel Townsend in Leo Bruce’s Case for Sergeant Beef (1951), saying:
‘What you mean is you hope to fill a chapter with it. […] I’ve noticed that when you fellows want to make your story go further you always put in the inquest. What for? Nothing ever comes out that you don’t know already.’
This is not the case with Dalton’s inquest in The Night of Fear, as the reader learns some new information about the mystery.
Moray’s Dalton’s book mostly moves at a quick pace, and there are always new dramatic events around the corner. Charles Williams, in a review for the Westminster Gazette wrote that Dalton was ‘one of those delightful writers who go on introducing fresh thrills throughout’. Some of these ‘thrills’ are more melodramatic than others, but I think they do still develop and propel the case.
I think having such an extensive trial, dampens the narrative a little, as it entails a lot of information being repeated and the pace slackens. Surprisingly though, Glide does not make a good impression in the witness box, his calm and cool nature seems to leave him. This presents him as a more vulnerable figure than I had anticipated.
Charles Williams, when commenting on the denouement, said: ‘The actual solution comes rather camel-like, but I have swallowed so many gnats that it gave me no undue strain to gulp it.’ I think this is a fair comment, as in keeping with a typical trial mystery, there are numerous twists and turns in the case, some of which you could not work out for yourself. Shock and surprise are the intended reader reactions, I suspect. The choice of killer is a little convenient, but curiously the narrative concludes with some unorthodox justice. Having given it some thought, this feels in keeping with some other contemporary mystery novels. I wasn’t expecting this, although this is not a bad thing, as it arguably makes my future reading of Dalton’s work less predictable.
Rating: 4/5