It has been just over 8 years since I have read anything by John Rowland. Back in 2016 I reviewed Calamity in Kent (1950) and Murder in the Museum (1938), which had been reprinted in the British Library Crime Classics series. However, my return to this author’s work sees me taking a look at their debut mystery novel, Bloodshed in Bayswater, whose title pleasingly places the garish alongside the respectable.
Synopsis
‘Margery Latimer living in a Bayswater boarding house was awakened one night by a scream. Slipping from her bed and crossing to the window she was in time to see a man hurrying down the street. The first in a series of crimes, which were to horrify the public and baffle the authorities had been committed! But the mystery was further deepened by the strange behaviour of Marjory’s employer who, in the apparent effort to be rid of her, had told her of another and more lucrative position. Having accepted this position, she then recognised in her new employer the man she had seen hurrying away from the scene of the crime. A second murder then takes place and Inspector Henry Shelly soon finds that he has uncovered a hornet’s nest of criminality.’
Overall Thoughts
The first page jumps straight into action, with Margery Latimer waking up due to hearing a scream. Peeping out of her window she sees a man hurrying off. Naturally this is going to become important later:
‘There was something curiously stealthy about the man’s movements. He walked slowly across the road, and as he came under the direct light of a streetlamp he hastily pulled up his coat collar, as if to hide himself from any inquisitive onlooker. But his move was not quite speedy enough. Before his face was hidden Margery had seen enough of it to be sure that she would know the man again […] It was a face in a million, and Margery found herself memorising it, though she could not tell why.’
Perhaps in true crime fiction fashion, she sensed murder…
And if that was the case, that idea is soon revealed to be true when a policeman discovers a corpse in the car the mysterious man vacated. At least Margery decides she ought to share what she saw with the authorities, and she does this promptly. This is not all that common in crime fiction where rabid amateur sleuths or heroines in jeopardy withhold information for little or no reason. However, before you develop hopes of Margery being a smart thinking sensible soul, it is only prudent to point out that Margery’s sense of civic duty peaks at page 3, as her common sense is rapidly demolished by romantic feelings.
Inspector Shelley is called into investigate the murder. He is a professional and friendly policeman, although annoying behaviour from the witnesses and suspects rather frays the edges of his good temper later in the book. That said he is remarkably fair and kind towards Margery, even when she doesn’t really deserve it. Instead, his bad humour tends to come out when he is around his fellow police officers, particularly if something has gone wrong:
“I’m very sorry, sir,” said Stuart, flushing scarlet under this sarcasm, “but I’m sure that the trick she played would have beaten anyone. If you’d been on her trail, sir, she would have done the same to you.”
“Thank you for the compliment, Stuart,” said Shelley, “but get on with your story. This is Scotland Yard, you now, not a mutual admiration society.”
However, to jump back in time to earlier in the plot, I think alarm bells will be ringing for the reader when the following happens to Margery:
- Margery’s employer (who is unexpectedly retiring) reacts very oddly when she mentions she is a witness to a murder case. Upon hearing the victim’s name, he gets angry and faints. Suspicious event number one.
- Her employer, due to his retirement, has found her a new job without telling her. This job is a secretarial position for a one man-band organisation, the National Anti-Speed Association. It is run by John Cook and her employer says of him that he:
‘[…] has a great dislike of speed in all its shapes and forms. Racing motorcars, aeroplanes, speedboats all of these things he wants to do away with. And he’s got a good deal of money, derived from ground rents in one of these rapidly-expanding suburbs, so I understand, and has started this association to do away with all these things.’
The man murdered near Margery’s house was a famous racing driver. Suspicious event number 2.
- The salary for this new job is £500. Suspicious event number 3.
- Then of course Margery recognises her prospective new employer as the man she saw that night. Suspicious event number 4.
What do you imagine she does? Race to Scotland Yard to tell Inspector Shelley about the man? Nope. Does she turn down the job? Nope again. Does she take on the job fully convinced that her new boss is innocent? Nope once more. Alas it is like her feelings have been doused in fertiliser, as her sudden and instant love for her boss rather deadens her sensible impulses. However, I tried to remind myself that all of this probably comes under the heading of necessary stupidity in order to further the plot.
Is John cook guilty or not? Is he being framed? If so, why? What is his secret? Rather than confide in the police or Margery, John vanishes without a trace and Margery has to grapple with unusual circumstances, unsure what is going on. Reflecting on the narrative as a whole I think this is a plot which is sustained by characters openly sitting on information en masse. Some readers are more irritated by this than others, and for me I did find it a bit tiresome, as it felt like it dragged things out.
The villain of the piece is easy to identify, and this is maybe because this is a first mystery, where an author might still be finding their feet when it comes to showing character guilt more subtly. The solution certainly has a preposterous component to it, although this is less of a surprise to the police who knew a lot more than Margery and the reader. Perhaps because everyone else has been withholding information, they decided to join in too. I think this is more of a thriller detective story and during the denouement Shelley wonders if the situation they are in is from real life or “[…] from a play by Edgar Wallace?” This is a mystery which crams its murders in early as three murders occur within the first fifty pages and overall, I would say Rowland has an easy prose style to read. But I am maybe not completely convinced by John Cook’s decisions in this story.
Rating: 3.75/5
Source: Review Copy (Galileo Publishing)