Salt Is Leaving

by J.B. Priestley

Maggie Culworth and Dr. Salt, searching for Maggie's missing father and missing patient Moreen Wilks, join forces on a trail leading to Hemtonshire's wealthiest, most powerful man

Genres: Fiction, British Literature, Mystery

247 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

John Boynton Priestley was an English writer. He was the son of a schoolmaster, and after schooling he worked for a time in the local wool trade. Following the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, Priestley joined the British Army, and was sent to France - in 1915 taking part in the Battle of Loos. After being wounded in 1917 Priestley returned to England for six months; then, after going back to the Western Front he suffered the consequences of a German gas attack, and, treated at Rouen, he was declared unfit for active service and was transferred to the Entertainers Section of the British Army.

When Priestley left the army he studied at Cambridge University, where he completed a degree in Modern History and Political Science. Subsequently he found work as theatre reviewer with the Daily News, and also contributed to the Spectator, the Challenge and Nineteenth Century. His earliest books included The English Comic Characters (1925), The English Novel (1927), and English Humour (1928). His breakthrough came with the immensely popular novel The Good Companions, published in 1929, and Angel Pavement followed in 1930. He emerged, too, as a successful dramatist with such plays as Dangerous Corner (1932), Time and the Conways (1937), When We Are Married (1938) and An Inspector Calls (1947).
The publication of English Journey in 1934 emphasised Priestley's concern for social problems and the welfare of ordinary people.
During the Second World War Priestley became a popular and influential broadcaster with his famous Postscripts that followed the nine o'clock news BBC Radio on Sunday evenings. Starting on 5th June 1940, Priestley built up such a following that after a few months it was estimated that around 40 per cent of the adult population in Britain was listening to the programme.
Some members of the Conservative Party, including Winston Churchill, expressed concern that Priestley might be expressing left-wing views on the programme, and, to his dismay, Priestley was dropped after his talk on 20th October 1940.
After the war Priestley continued his writing, and his work invariably provoked thought, and his views were always expressed in his blunt Yorkshire style.
His prolific output continued right up to his final years, and to the end he remained the great literary all-rounder. His favourite among his books was for many years the novel Bright Day, though he later said he had come to prefer The Image Men.
It should not be overlooked that Priestley was an outstanding essayist, and many of his short pieces best capture his passions and his great talent and his mastery of the English language. He set a fine example for any would-be author.

Reviews

[La Tonya Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book did not captive my interest. For me the reading stlye was hard to follow, it is considered a cosy crime. Written in 1966, the arthur was reflecting on the realities of provincial England at that time in his writing.

In summary, Dr. Salt was a physican in Birkden, England whose patient Noreen Wilks disappeared. He turns into a larger than life I-Spy (detective) to find her. He meets the Culworths. Maggie and her bother Alan as well as their father. Together with determination, zeal, wit, and cleverness of Dr. Salt the disappearnce is solve. It was a murder case with some unsual twists.

Quote
Maggie looked at Dr Salt, rather a lump in a very low chair, and, to her surprise, he winked at her. He really was the oddest man.

Jill Frinton might not have been able to handle Dr Salt, but she was not standing any nonsense from Maggie. 'Life isn't a bookshop, dear-'

[Julian Worker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr Salt - the title character - is one of the least likeable heroes (or perhaps anti-hero) I've ever discovered in a book. However, he is incredibly determined and rather clever.

Salt is leaving the rather grim town of Birkden, a fictional place just north of Birmingham (in England), but before he does he has to find out what's happened to one of his patients, Noreen Wilks, a young woman who requires a drug to remain alive. The police refuse to help as they believe Noreen is a young, irresponsible girl who has run away with one of her lovers. Dr Salt knows otherwise.

Dr Salt teams up with Maggie Culworth whose father has also disappeared. Together they gradually discover what has happened. To make matters even more complicated, Noreen's current boyfriend, the son of the local Mr Big, shot himself the night she vanished.

Dr Salt leads the police to a deserted house where Maggie's father was concussed and a body is discovered. Who committed the crime? Well, it's not straightforward, but do read to the end.

The reason I don't give this wonderful books five stars is that the romantic choices of Maggie Culworth and her brother, Alan, are rather hard to believe. Read the book and you'll see what I mean.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thriller wrote in 1966 with a Dr Salt looking for a missing patient, Nora Wilkes. He doesn’t like living in a provincial town and is leaving after he finds her. Coincidently, a bookstore owner has disappeared and his daughter Maggie becomes partners with Salt in their investigation.

The police are reluctant to investigate as the big shot of the town son committed suicide on the night Nora disappeared. Salt is threatened, bribed, appealed to by the big shot, police and thugs to stop investigating and leave Birkden. He ignores them all and solves the mystery.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Salt finds Maggie’s father who was assaulted and put in a nursing home. He mistakenly thinks Nora was his illegitimate daughter. He then discovers Nora’s body and that the daughter of the big shot who pretended to be a lesbian wasn’t. She was sleeping with her brother and she in a rage killed Nora and her father tried to cover it up. Of course Maggie and Salt get together on the final page.

[Bev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dr. L. H. (Lionel Humphrey) Salt wants nothing more than to leave the depressing mill town of Birkden behind him. He's a middle-aged widower who likes whiskey, cigars, books, and music. He plans to leave for warmer climes. And he'll gladly do so as soon as he can find out what has happened to one of his patients. Noreen Wilks has been missing for three weeks and nobody seems particularly interested. The police assume she's just one of these flighty girls who has run off with a man or headed off to London for a more exciting life than what can be found in a backwater mill town. But Salt is pretty certain she must be dead--or nearly so. Because Noreen has a rare kidney disease that requires special medication and treatment and if she doesn't check in with a doctor on a regular basis, she will die.

Noreen isn't the only one missing though. Maggie Culworth's father, an unassuming owner of a bookshop, has disappeared as well. He's never gone away without telling Maggie and/or her mum and now he's packed a small suitcase and headed for Birkden. Maggie's determined to find out what has happened and when a letter leads her to the rooming house where Noreen Wilks used to live, she hears the name Dr. Salt mentioned in connection with the missing girl. Not sure how he fits in, Maggie goes to Salt for help finding her father. The doctor becomes convinced that there is more to the disappearances than meets the eye and assures Maggie, that while he believes Noreen to be dead--most likely from foul play--he is just as certain that her father is okay.

Their investigations lead them to reexamine the suicide of a young man who was in love with Noreen, run-ins with some local toughs who want nothing more than for Salt to leave town, and a wild evening at a local night spot which ends with Salt finding the final resting spot of his young patient. With everyone from the local police to the man who runs the town to small-time punks trying to run him out of town, Salt is even more determined to discover who wanted his patient dead. Of course, he does so and reunites Mr. Culworth with his worried family.

Dr. Salt is a rather enigmatic character--very self-assured and imposing, he certainly isn't going to be intimidated by the big shot who runs the town or the police or the local toughs who threaten him if refuses to leave; and yet he is very attentive to Maggie and ready to play the hero when they're in danger. I have to confess, I thought he was much older than a youngish middle-age, so when he and Maggie wind up together at the end I was a bit surprised. I think I got it into my head that the reason he was giving up his up practice was retirement (so I'm thinking he's in his sixties). Not that this had much to do with my enjoyment of the novel--but it's part of my impressions.

Salt and Maggie make a good team and they work well together, so it's not surprising that they wind up a couple (once you figure out the age gap isn't that big). Their personalities play well off of each other as well. The rest of the characters are also well-drawn and the mystery plot is fairly good, though I do think the motives are a bit convoluted. Overall, an entertaining story by an author with a flair for characters and diaglogue. ★★★ and a half.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is your basic classic mystery--with a little extra. Because Priestly is such a great writer he offers the read a neaat puzzle, but also fills the story with interesting, fleshed out characters...

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent enough mystery but the pleasure here is primarily in Priestley's prose which is lovely but not at all showy, and for the character of Dr. Salt who might have become an iconic literary detective had the author chosen to continue in the genre.

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not just a whopping good mystery but a grand novel, witty and beautifully drawn.

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the sixties Priestley wrote several novels mainly for his own amusement, works that he considered distinctly minor, but as it turns out are much more entertaining than the overblown major work from the sixties that Priestley himself wrongly considered his most important and greatest work of literature The Image Men. Salt is leaving isn't Priestley at his very best, most of the array of characters don't leap out from the page as they do elsewhere in his works, although the title character Dr Salt is a great creation. The story is just a fairly straightforward whodunnit, that interests but doesn't grip. But still it's a perfectly entertaining book, a lesser writer would next have turned Dr Salt into the star of a series of books, but instead as ever Priestley moved onto something totally new.

[Kelvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a 1966 mystery novel by English novelist John Boynton Priestly. J.B. Priestley was a prolific playwright and novelist. However, “Salt is Leaving” is Priestley’s only detective novel. The setting of the book is in early 1960s in a fictional small industrial town in the Midlands region of England called Birkden. I think the book is extremely well written and is a very engaging and smooth read. It also has a fair share of satire and social criticism of small towns, including how one single rich industrialist who controls the main industries can do whatever he wants. The early 1960s is also the period when many small towns in England saw their railroad services being eliminated only to be replaced by the initially less reliable bus service. Priestley gave us a glimpse of how that affects society and people’s life at that time. Readers who are looking for “fair play” mysteries might be disappointed here. Priestley did not take a puzzle solving approach in this book and Salt is the kind of detective who relies more on intuition and bluffing his opponents than in searching for and analyzing clues.

Spoiler Alert. The two main characters of the story are Dr. Lionel Salt and Miss Maggie Culworth. The two did not know each other before the story starts but ended up teaming up to find out what happened to a few disappearances in Birkden. Dr. Salt, who has a medical practice in Birkden for seven years, decided he had enough of small town English life, and he was planning on leaving England to start a new chapter in his life. Salt is a very obstinate, clever, eloquent and observant person. When he was tying up loose ends in his Birkden practice, he was bothered that one of his patients, a young party girl called Noreen Wilks, has gone missing for a few weeks. Given Noreen has a special medical condition that requires constant medical care, Salt is worried about her and was determined to find out what happened to her before he leaves Birkden. Connected to Noreen’s disappearance is another disappearance, a middle aged bookseller called Edward Culworth. When Edward’s daughter Maggie tried to find out what happened to him, Salt and Maggie’s investigation ran into each other and they joined forces. What followed is the story of how Salt, using a lot of intuition, analytical skills and a lot of bluffing and reading of body languages, solved the case.

It turns out Noreen Wilkes (who was poor) was in love with the son of Birkden’s richest industrialist Sir Arnold Donnington, who owns a big industrial concern called United Anglo-Belgian Fabrics that employs a lot of people in Birkden and he owns the local newspaper and has great influence on the police force. When Salt started looking into Noreen’s disappearance, the police tried to dissuade him saying she is probably just vacationing with her boyfriend overseas. Finally, when Salt singlehandedly discovered Noreen’s murdered body, the police tried to stonewall Salt and to quickly close the case by blaming it on Sir Arnold’s son, Derek Donnington, who shot himself the night Noreen disappeared. Finally, despite Sir Arnold and his people’s attempt at sweet-talking Salt, at threatening Salt with physical violence, at bribing him and a failed attempt to frame him, Salt persevered. Salt first was able to find where the missing Edward Culworth was and freed him. Subsequently, Salt was also able to figure out it was Sir Arnold’s mentally disturbed daughter Erica who murdered Noreen. Salt, true to form as a doctor and not as a detective, agreed to keep the discovery confidential and Salt convinced Sir Arnold to put Erica in an institution to try to heal her. As poetic justice, Salt also blackmailed Sir Arnold to divest his business interest and one-man control of Birkden and to leave Birkden forever.

[Nik Morton · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the first page, I was drawn in by the story and the writing style. The last novel of his I read was Saturn Over Water in 1980, which I found impressive.

It begins in a Midlands bookshop owned by Mr Edward Culworth, Maggie’s father. Recently returned from London and a failed three-year affair, Maggie is helping at the shop. At times ‘Maggie felt she was quite attractive, but there were other times, and now more and more of them, when she was almost sure she was just a thick, dull lump’ (p9).

This particular day, however, her father doesn’t appear at the shop – and before long she realises he has ‘gone missing’, something he has never done before. Maggie lives with her parents and brother Alan, a University lecturer in physics.

Dr Lionel Humphrey Salt, a widower, is also concerned about a missing person – one of his patients, Noreen Wilks. At the last consultation he prescribed medicine for her liver problem. If she didn’t take the life-sustaining drug, she would die. Salt is about to depart from the town after seven years and has already been relieved in his GP role; however, he wants to locate Noreen before he goes.

Salt makes enquiries at various places, such as the George Pub: ‘The counter was thick with high blood pressures and potential coronaries, either shouting at one another or at the waiter and the barmaid’ (p24).

A link is made between Noreen and Dr Salt. So Maggie approaches the good doctor. ‘He seemed the oddest mixture – one minute sleepy, simple and rather sweet – the next minute hard and ruthless’ (p46).

Salt takes her to meet a local nightclub owner, Buzzy Duffield, who has contacts and owes the doctor a favour or two... Buzzy is quite a character – ‘He was wide and fat and bald, with an enormous face on which his features merely seemed to be huddled together in the middle’ (p47). He also exhibits a verbal tick, uttering Bzzz from time to time, but not often enough to become tedious.

Another contact they encounter is Jill Frinton, ‘A classy handsome piece – and about as soft and tender as a sheet of high-duty alloy’ (p51).

A daughter of a local big-wig and benefactor is Erica Donnington: ‘no hat but a lot of hair that needed washing, and was an expensive slut with a long loose face and body’ (p102).

Before long, Salt is approached in a heavy-handed manner, suggesting he should depart from the town immediately. ‘Somebody wants me to clear out of Birkden... simply because I’m asking questions about Noreen Wilks’ (p53).

Salt is well travelled, having served in Burma, then lived and worked in the New Territories, Hong Kong, in North Borneo, Penang and Singapore before returning to England. He’s forthright, persistent, brave, and a student of human nature. ‘When they’re deliberately lying, most people can’t maintain a steady tempo. When the big lie comes, either they hurry a little or slow down. There’s a change in tone too... With the early lies, when they feel they’re getting away with it, there’s a faint faint note of triumph, the impudence begins to show’ (p72).

The interplay between Salt and Maggie is one of the book’s strengths.

Priestley throws in the occasional social comment in an amusing manner, such as: ‘There was no longer a railway connection between Hemton and Birkden, the nearest large town, apparently in order to make the road between them even more congested with buses and cars’ (p13). The town names are fictitious.

As the puzzle unfolds for the odd pair, sex, drugs and corruption figure though not too graphically for the reader.

The cover (artist unattributed) is excellent: Priestley refers to the ‘maze that finally turned into a high road’ (p5); the cinema ticket and the hotel room key are relevant, as is the rag doll.

A light quick read.

[Yolanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some aristocrats are up to no good. The Midlands are grim. Young people have sex, whilst older people get angry and waggle their fingers moralistically. Nobody cares about the poor. Some people are gay. Women's bodies are traded cheaply and the author portrays the hypocrisy of those who do it. The National Health Service is mentioned. Yep, folks, it's JB Priestley, everyone's favourite Socialist Hibernophobe (he REALLY didn't like Irish people at all, though there's a happy ending for one of them, who he has pointing out that her surname gives away her ethnicity and makes men think they can exploit her.)

This is actually a pretty solid whodunnit detective novel, which most readers into murder mysteries would enjoy. It also shows a glimpse of the interesting side of the 50s and early 60s, so incredibly absent from the Jacqueline Wilson borefest I read earlier this summer. It would be worth a read for anyone interested in finding out about the author's work beyond 'An Inspector Calls.'

[José Contreras · Rating 3 out of 5]

"'You're quite right, Mag. I've been a bit much. Would you like an apology, Dr Salt?'. 'No, thanks, Alan. Apologies don't work. By the time people have made 'em, they're beginning to resent you all over again'".

Un libro bastante entretenido de leer, de buen ritmo, que va atrapando de a poco y con personajes bien desarrollados, los cuales emprenden la búsqueda de dos personas desaparecidas y sin vínculo aparente entre ellos, pero que cuya trama los va uniendo de a poco, lo que lleva a los protagonistas a llevar una investigación.

Sin embargo, el libro decae mucho al final. El desenlace es medio débil en comparación a cómo se desenvuelve la trama y deja una sensación rara al final por lo flojo del término. Eso le quita valor a un libro que tenía rasgos como de película y que les da a los personajes tintes bien británicos en el humor. Un buen libro policial de misterio para pasar el rato.

[Cynthia Grove · Rating 4 out of 5]

A re-read from my shelves. This is both a detective story and a treatise on the problems of 1960s British culture. Published in 1966 it is of course dated in many ways yet the mystery is good and the societal problems have only changed superficially. I have read quite a lot of J B Priestley's work, both fiction and non-fiction and can see common themes of concern being expressed. In a couple of places the authorial voice comes through very strongly. One of the most interesting aspects of the book shows how so much more can be seen if people just think about what they see and hear.
A book I'd thoroughly recommend.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in England's midlands about half a century ago, Salt Is Leaving features a somewhat curmudgeonly doctor anxious to move back to more interesting places, as he has lived all over the world. But before he can leave he must find a vanished patient who needs constant medication to stay alive. Coincidentally, a local bookseller also seeking the same woman has also vanished. Where are they? Why have they disappeared? What do they have in common? Seeking the answers, Salt delves into sordid but funny corners of small towns and villages and finally finds them. A good read.

[Hugo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A seemingly 'cosy murder mystery' reveals itself to be a rather cutting critique of '60s England, featuring a reluctant yet dogged detective figure in the shape of the disillusioned Doctor Salt, an investigator possessed of morals, logic, and instinct. The mystery is solid and intriguing, the satire on the culture of the time rather pointed and weary, the characters are plentiful and varied, and the prose—often scathing and pompous—is delightful.

[Katy Koivastik · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful British police procedural, except the sleuth is a doctor quite adept at following the evidence, thank you very much.

Dr. Salt is determined to find out what had happened to his missing patient whom he firmly believes has been murdered. He is equally determined to leave his practice and industrial town behind and soon, but not before solving the mystery. The clock is ticking ....

[Gareth Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Priestley’s stab at a detective novel. He makes a pretty decent fist of it, although he is more concerned with his ‘detective’, Dr Salt, than writing a real whodunnit. If you like Priestley as a writer, this a pleasant diversion. It’s not a great crime novel, but stands pretty well against much that was written in the 1960s.

[Russell L · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this cozy mystery. A good,short book with no gory happenings.

[Alisanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay. The Dialog was good. But the plot is very straight forward without any twists.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dr Salt is leaving the dismal and depressing town of Birkden, but won't go until he's solved the murder of a young girl that no one else wants to solve.

[Lea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Retro detective story in style of 50s: simple, slow, slightly intelligent

[Dave · Rating 1 out of 5]

Had high hopes for this one--the title is the best thing about it.

[Sally Liverman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: Dr. Salt has retired and plans to leave Birkden but first, why has a patient disappeared? He suspects foul play.