The Congo Venus

Dr. Mary Finney #3

by Matthew Head

Stated First Perennial Printing with the full number line present. Paperback is in near fine condition. Tanning to the page margins and to the margins of the rear wrapper.

Genres: Mystery

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1950

Reviews

[Bill Telfer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This innocent paperback, purchased from the library's discard shelf, was my introduction to the remarkable mysteries of Matthew Head (pen name of John Canaday). I ended up finding and reading them all (well, I think I missed one but I'll find it!).

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Far too much conversation and a rather thin plot mar this well-written 1950 mystery, like The Devil in the Bush set in the Belgian Congo (Leopoldville) during WWII. American Hoop Tolliver largely tells the story as Kansas-born 50ish spinster, Dr Mary Finney, tries to untangle who murdered Liliane Morelli, an attractive wife 25 years younger than her husband. There’s really only one suspect as Liliane’s life in the ex-pat community is explored and various incidents detailed. A few well-described scenes just help sustain a very light story

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this unsatisfying because for more than three-quarters of the book, we hear nothing but what happened in the past. We understand from the beginning that Dr. Finney is suspicious of a recent death, but then we just get a leisurely account of what happened before—and it isn’t very interesting. It isn’t until the book is almost over that Finney does something about it. Of course, there is Head’s delicious writing to enjoy, but it isn’t enough.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

worth reading.

But so slow and old fashioned. The situations never would happen today when one may say more things in public without reprisal. So many secrets years ago caused so much pain only because they were secrets.

[Susan Beecher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This mystery takes place in the (then) Belgian Congo in the 1940s. It was published in the 1950s. The "detective " is a woman physician who doubts the purported cause of death of a beautiful woman. I enjoyed it.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: for Leopoldville's ex-pats, it didn't take much to get to the front of the line. Liliane Morelli did that, and then died. Dr. Mary arrives.

[Kelvin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a 1950 book by American art critic and author John Edwin Canaday, writing using the pseudonym Matthew Head. This is the third and last book in Canaday’s Dr. Mary Finney series which all have a setting in Belgian Congo in late 1940s. During that time, Congo was a colony of Belgium. This particular book uses as background of Belgian and American expat lives in Léopoldville (the capital city of Congo) shortly after the end of World War II. Finney and his good friend Emily Collins are itinerant missionaries. They, together with their friend Hooper Tolliver, who works for the American Economic Mission in Congo and is the narrator of the book, looked into the death of a beautiful woman Liliane Morelli. I find the book long-winded and boring. By writing the book as a narrative from Tolliver’s perspective, Canaday ends up using a lot of long monologues that are tiresome to read. In addition, Canaday jumps back and forth across time with various flashbacks that are not easy to follow. While the story and plot are interesting, I do not enjoy Canaday’s writing style.

Spoiler Alert. The story starts with the death of a beautiful married woman Mrs. Liliane Morelli from blackwater fever, a disease which many people at that time mistakenly believe is caused by overuse of quinine which is used to cure malaria. Everybody in the expat community in Léopoldville believed her death is of natural causes. Nonetheless, Dr. Finney, probably the best doctor in that part of the world, was called in to review the case. Finney, who likes to play amateur detective, found out more than she expected. It turns out Liliane was actually murdered. She was the second wife to a Hector Morelli, a Belgian expat. After the first Mrs. Morelli (Jeanne Morelli) died, Jeanne’s sister, a spinster called Madame Hélène de St Nicaise, moved in and kept house for Hector and to help with raising Hector’s young daughter (also called Jeanne). Hélène is mentally insane. She is also mean, domineering, full of hate and suffers from delusions of grandeur. She is also secretly in love with Hector and views Liliane as a rival standing in her way. Hélène stayed on as housekeeper after Hector remarried and totally dominated the passive Liliane. While Liliane got malaria and was attended by the incompetent and often drunk Dr Marcus Gollmer, Hélène took a chance and drugged Liliane with sleeping pills. Then, she suffocated Liliane with a pillow and staged the scene to make it look like Liliane died from blackwater fever. Dr. Gollmer was so drunk he did not notice anything was amiss. Finney finally were able to uncover the crime and tricked Hélène into making a full confession. The title of the book, “Congo Venus” refers to a painting Dr Gollmer has done as a variation of Botticelli’s famous work the “Birth of Venus”. Gollmer painted an almost identical painting but substituted Liliane’s head portrait on the nude Venus, which caused a scandal in the community.