The celebration of my 10-year blog anniversary continues, with today’s review, as Something Nasty in the Woodshed is Anthony Gilbert’s 10th Arthur Crook mystery. Since 2017 I have been reading mysteries by this author, when I was bowled over by The Spinster’s Secret (1946). During this time, several titles have been recommended to me, and invariably these titles have one thing in common: They’re very hard to get a hold of! But isn’t that always the way? Something Nasty in the Woodshed was one such recommendation, so I was really pleased when I finally tracked down a copy last month which did not require me to commit a bank robbery. The American title for this book is Mystery in the Woodshed.
Synopsis
‘Middle-aged spinsters of independent means shouldn’t answer matrimonial adverts. Agatha Forbes realised this when she saw what her brand-new husband kept in his woodshed and screamed in mortal terror. By then her husband’s tender caresses had slowly turned into a stranglehold. But, unbeknown to her, the moment that a doctor would scrawl his signature on her death certificate was creeping nearer with each passing day.’
Overall Thoughts
With such a blurb, I was curious to see which angle or direction the author would take the story in. Will it be a variant of the inverted mystery? Or perhaps a howdunnit or maybe a how-to-catch-em? Would it be an intense story of psychological suspense, in the vein of Francis Iles’ Before the Fact (1932)? During the first half of the novel, I thought I had it sussed, and I even feared it was going to be a little too predictable. However, I am pleased to say I was thoroughly wrong, as the second half takes the book in an unexpected direction, and I would further argue that armchair detectives are in danger of being caught napping.
The tale opens with Edmund Durward renting a new home, The Haven, it being ideal for his purposes:
“A lady’s house,” he decided. “Very suitable for one whose profession is a ladies’ man.”
[…]
The solitude had no terrors for him. The activities he had in mind he could have found no place more convenient.
This is the first of many moments where the well-known tune from Jaws, may play in your head. From the first page there is no doubt that Durward is no one’s hero…
I liked how Gilbert described the long driveway to the house (half a mile) being ‘as sticky as a Christmas pudding’ in bad weather (reminding me of where I used to live where there was more pothole than road). The woodshed is quickly mentioned, with Durward dumping lots of his luggage inside, the door soon padlocked afterwards. Characters and readers alike are suspicious of this, and the author has much fun teasing the reader with what the secret in the woodshed might be. Durward is very much the mystery man of his local neighbourhood. Our first impressions come from delivery workers and the daily he hires. The former suspect him of being a Nazi spy, whilst the latter is initially taken with his film star looks. Next, we have the local spinster, the usually enterprising Miss Martin, who fails to draw anything out of him that Duward does not want known. Apparently, his wife will be joining him in 2-3 weeks, but the reader quickly finds out that he is still in the process of finding one… He places the following matrimonial advert in the newspaper:
‘MIDDLE-AGED Gentleman, single, wishes to meet Gentle-woman, aged 35-42, view matrimony. Independent means. Should appreciate quiet country life. No family ties essential […]’
This advert yields more than one red flag, yet Agatha Forbes is completely oblivious to all of them. Unlike Arthur Crook, who also sees the advert and says to his employee: “Might as well file that […] There may be a job of work for us within the year.” Murder is expected from the get-go in this story.
No one, reader or character, is surprised when Agatha is no longer around, in chapter 7, Durward offering Crippen-like reasons for her absence. Yet rather than the reader sitting down to a predictable narrative, the reader starts asking a number of questions. Is Agatha dead or alive? If the former, will Durward be caught or not? Why is Durward simultaneously acting like the predictable villain, but also seeming like he has been caught off guard? Suffice to say things do not proceed as expected. In 1942, Amy Loveman, of Book of the Month Club News wrote about this book: ‘You haven’t finished this mystery by half when you think you’ve got all the parts neatly resolved… Keeps interest at fever heat.’ I think this is a very apt comment, as Gilbert really does keep you guessing, as it is not obvious which narrative path she will take, and even then it is not a case of whether she will simply pick option A, B or C, as it transpires that Gilbert has ideas of her own…
When I found out the solution, I had a complete face palm moment. It is rare to see another author demonstrate duplicity at the level of Agatha Christie, in which the reader is told the truth but in such a way that you think A when it is really B. I have not been tripped up so badly in quite a while. But just when you think you have the story down pat, you realise there is still a chunk of book to go – Gilbert is not finished, yet. Normally this is when the book ends, so naturally I was curious to find out what could happen next. Let’s just say Gilbert has more cards up her sleeve and there is some table turning at its best.
The first third of the novel is the slowest, as it depicts how Agatha and Edmund come together, get married and set up home. Edmund has never had such an easy victim, who almost gleefully takes more and more steps to signing her own death warrant. She is not unaware of stranger danger but seems to think herself immune from it. I was reminded of something Miss Marple says in Nemesis: “A very nice woman. The kind that would so easily marry a bad lot. In fact the sort of woman that would marry a murderer if she were given half a chance.”
Arthur Crook is less present in this story, or at least less of an active sleuth, although his page presence picks up as the novel progresses. His appearances are enjoyable though and he is very good at needling people. As a sleuth he sails close to the wind legally at the best of times, but this is perhaps his most dubious outing in some respects.
All in all, I think Gilbert does an excellent job in this book of taking a very commonplace premise and doing something really interesting with it. It is a thoroughly enjoyable mystery. What stopped it getting the full 5/5 is that the first third is a bit slow. It is a book whose wow factor builds, but that can be a risky strategy. I also found the ending too clipped.
Rating: 4.75/5