Masters of the "Humdrum" Mystery: Cecil John Charles Street, Freeman Wills Crofts, Alfred Walter Stewart and the British Detective Novel, 1920-1961

by Curtis Evans, Cecil J.C. Street, Freeman Wills Crofts

In 1972, in an attempt to elevate the stature of the "crime novel," influential crime writer and critic Julian Symons cast numerous Golden Age detective fiction writers into literary perdition as "Humdrums," condemning their focus on puzzle plots over stylish writing and explorations of character, setting and theme. This volume explores the works of three prominent British "Humdrums"--Cecil John Charles Street, Freeman Wills Crofts, and Alfred Walter Stewart--revealing their work to be more complex, as puzzles and as social documents, than Symons allowed. By championing the intrinsic merit of these mystery writers, the study demonstrates that reintegrating the "Humdrums" into mystery genre studies provides a fuller understanding of the Golden Age of detective fiction and its aftermath.

Genres: Mystery

309 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2012

About the author

Curtis Evans is a crime fiction historian.

Reviews

[Jay Maxfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written & structured book about Golden Age Classical Crime writers J.J. Connington, Freeman Wills Crofts, Miles Burton/John Rhode. The book covers biographical details of the lives of these three writers and analyses many of their works against known facts about their lives. It also considers how the authors wrote which now sheds light on how society operated and was organised at the time of their writing - he then declares that novels from this time are a useful perspective of these decades 20s - 40s (which I totally agree on). Evans also takes his analysis to a higher level and plucks out the many and varied descriptions contained in these novels covering such topics as: racial discrimination; sexually orientation and female & working class observations - taking into account the major viewpoint of the time in regards to these groups as a comparison. My criticism of this work is that it doesn't give a full bibliography of all three writers and although many of the novels deserve not to be labelled as humdrum - some of them actually do deserve that title as some of them are little more than quickly dashed off puzzles e.g. Death at the Cross Roads (Miles Burton) with little or nothing that hasn't been cut and pasted (re-worked) from the authors other works.
Curtis Evans has made a valuable contribution to the study of Golden Age Classical Crime studies - which is a very academically neglected area of popular cultural literature - and is almost completely overlooked by academics (with exception of the famous Crime Queens e.g. Agatha Christie or the Hard Boilers e.g. Dashiell Hammett. I would give this book 8.5 out of 10.

[Rich · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book well worth reading if you have an interest in the history of crime writing. The tone of Masters will come as no surprise to readers of Curt’s blog: eminently readable, affectionate for his subject, and full of original research. He has a keen eye for the apposite (and often hilarious) quotation, and is even-handed in his treatment of his three subjects. This would be an ideal book for any collection of literary criticism or cultural history as well as for fans of Golden Age crime.

[Jeffrey Marks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is not only a great read, but it also goes a long way towards rehabilitating a number of authors who are not well-known or well respected today. I'm glad to see these mystery authors get their due.

[Christophe Van · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very thoughtful and informative monograph on three authors of detective novels from the Golden Age of Detection who were prominent and commercially successful in their day, but who today are known only among true aficionados.

Unlike several research monographs or academic studies on the genre, this book is written in an engaging style while still being thorough in its treatment of the material. A rare feat.

The chapter on Alfred Walter Stewart, alias J.J. Connington, is especially notable because the author obtained biographical tidbits directly from his daughter and was able to use hitherto unpublished correspondence between Stewart/Connington and Rupert Thomas Gould in which they discuss several facets of Connington's work.

[Puzzle Doctor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating, well-researched and very readable. Full review at classicmystery.wordpress.com

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A comprehensive study. The many, many plot spoilers get tedious as they make up about a quarter of the book.

[AC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, will finish it after I've read more of these three authors

[Pietro De Palma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buyed directly from Curtis.
Very interesting.
It's divided into four sections. The first is introductory and speaks briefly about the importance of the three authors and the Detective Novel 1920-1961, the other three each speak about an author, which are: Connington, Rhode, Crofts.
However, the sections are not treated uniformly: we immediately see that among the three, the author, to which Curtis is more interested, is Rhode, to which Curtis reserves a discussion of 100 pages, while in case of the other two authors space is exactly half. It's for this reason that I check 4 stars instead of 5 (would be 4 stars and a half), only for it, and not instead for the subject matter that is extremely interesting. Four appendices complete the book.