Although I have been busy celebrating my 10-year blog anniversary this month, I have still been able to take some time to continue 2025’s Green Penguin reading project, which you can find out more about, here.
I first came across this novel on the blog, In Search of the Classic Crime Novel, and knowing that my husband is fond of cricket mysteries, I tracked a copy down.
Synopsis
‘To be murdered on the occasion of the annual cricket match between the Squire’s eleven and the village side was perhaps typical of Elizabeth Elliot, the Squire’s wife. She had always been the fly in the ointment, as contemptuous of her husband’s passion for cricket as she was of his pedigree cattle and his quiet country life. The only detectable sweetness about her was in the saccharine of her trashy but highly successful novels. Not surprising that she should be murdered, nor that almost everyone at the Manor had excellent reasons for wishing her dead.’
Overall Thoughts
The story begins by introducing us to the local squire, Pierce Elliot, who is cricket obsessed:
‘The annual cricket match between the Squire’s eleven and the village side was the happiest event of the year for him. He looked forward to it eagerly for six months, and enjoyed it critically in retrospect for six months afterwards. It was his favourite topic of conversation all through the summer, and even in mid-winter his friends used to bring up the subject for the pleasure of seeing his enthusiasm.’
This picture is immediately contrasted by the initial portrayal of his wife, Elizabeth:
‘The only person who would not allow it to be mentioned was his wife. The squire did not expect his wife to enjoy the cricket match, or even to watch it, but he did wish that she would not persist in regarding it as a game of tip and run played by a gang of noisy louts which disturbed the serious business of life. the serious business of Mrs Elliot’s life was writing novels, and the Squire could never see that this was more important, or of greater ultimate value, than village cricket. Indeed, he felt sure that her novels must be bad for the poor fools who perused them, whereas he was convinced that cricket did nothing but good.’
At this early stage, the reader might be mentally deciding which is better, cricket or novels? However, in terms of which character you like the most, Pierce or Elizabeth, the narrative quickly pushes you on to the side of Pierce, as his wife is so horrible to everyone, family, friends and the local community, that you would be struggling to support her cause.
So, the first page of the book is quite interesting in that it starts upbeat, but by the end it is surprisingly bleak, as Worsley-Gough paints a picture of the mismatched marriage of the Elliots:
‘[…] he had learned to long ago control his anger because he lived with a tyrant. He had become very patient and gentle as a result of trying successfully for many years not to hate his wife. He did not like her, because that was more than flesh and blood could compass, but he did still love her a little, out of Christian charity and a strong sense of fitness, and because he had almost no one else to love.’
However, this bleakness is like a passing cloud. Soon after being introduced to this pair, we get to grips with the guests and family members coming for the cricket match. This is mostly enjoyable, although there is one character, a niece, called Rosebay, who was rather irritating. Her sole goal in life is to marry so she doesn’t have to go to work, and she comes across as remarkably empty-headed, so fatuous comments are not far around the corner. Even other characters begin to find her annoying such as her cousin, Anthea, who ‘find[s] her cousin’s preoccupation with her matrimonial prospects a little tedious.’ Rosebay is the sort of character who gets ‘eager about almost everything, even when she asked for a stamp at the Post Office.’ She even calls her uncle, Squuncle. Just no…
The author recreates the cricket match well on the page, suggesting many hours having watched the game in real life. The match covers multiple chapters, which offers opportunities for characterisation and there is one character whose actions will cause some speculation for most armchair detectives, pondering how it might relate to the murder. Is this character trying to make an alibi for themselves because they are guilty or fear they will be thought guilty? Or do they have another reason for doing what they do?
It is only after the match has concluded that the murder of Elizabeth is discovered. We receive suggestions from various characters as to who did the deed. This reveals more about the person doing the suggesting though, and it also depicts how the young, affianced couples are ill-suited to one another, as some of our main characters have got themselves engaged to some pretty heartless and tactless people. Two more minor characters go through the crime more systematically, in the manner of armchair detectives, but I did not find this scene to be very effective.
The police are barely on the page and despite the conversations mentioned above, there is little sleuthing in this story. Who will marry who, gets the greater narrative priority and naturally there must be picnics and activities to entertain the guests whilst they are being detained.
The choice of killer was disappointing for me. The solution is just blurted out by the killer at the end and social class bias mars how it is dealt with. Some might feel this gives the book a more light-hearted Wodehouse vibe, but it left an unpleasant taste in my mouth. Not everyone has felt this way about the book as Christopher Pym writing for the Daily Dispatch found the novel to be ‘delightful… sparkles with amusing character sketches, besides springing a very pretty surprise solution.’ Moreover, John Connell for the Evening News opined that this book was ‘a deft, coolly sophisticated and most agreeable whodunit… Mlles Sayers, Spain, and the rest had better dust up their laurels; here is a new challenger.’
All in all, I think on balance that readers who love cricket will get more out of this novel, but readers should bear in mind the limited on-page detective work, as that might dampen the reading experience for some.
Rating: 3.75/5
