Wraiths and Changelings

Mrs. Bradley #53

by Gladys Mitchell

An evening of exchanged ghost stories on a windy Hallowe'en night leads Dee Crieff-Tweedle to an inspired idea: she'll organize a ghost hunt. She and her complacent husband (affectionately called "Dum") soon organize a group of thrill seekers, including a curiously muscular clergyman, a male medium calling himself Madame Arcati, and Eiladh Gavin, Laura's daughter and Dame B.'s goddaughter.

Dee has planned out the itinerary with a thoroughness that would make a sergeant-major proud. Among the sites to investigate: a ghostly mass in a Salhouse churchyard, a body thrown over a Roman Fort wall in Burgh Castle, and a benevolent ghost monk (with dutiful ghost dog) in a ghost boat in the waters of Ranworth Broad. In Eiladh's letters to Dame Beatrice, she reports that there's trouble from the start, due to ill will between hostess and just about everyone else in the party. Eiladh records an escalating series of practical jokes to re-enact the ghostly scenarios, culminating in the strangling murders of two group members. Dame B. steps in and, after a round of interviews, clears Eiladh's name whilst collaring the murderer(s?).

Genres: Mystery

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Aka Malcolm Torrie, Stephen Hockaby.

Born in Cowley, Oxford, in 1901, Gladys Maude Winifred Mitchell was the daughter of market gardener James Mitchell, and his wife, Annie.

She was educated at Rothschild School, Brentford and Green School, Isleworth, before attending Goldsmiths College and University College, London from 1919-1921.

She taught English, history and games at St Paul's School, Brentford, from 1921-26, and at St Anne's Senior Girls School, Ealing until 1939.

She earned an external diploma in European history from University College in 1926, beginning to write her novels at this point. Mitchell went on to teach at a number of other schools, including the Brentford Senior Girls School (1941-50), and the Matthew Arnold School, Staines (1953-61). She retired to Corfe Mullen, Dorset in 1961, where she lived until her death in 1983.

Although primarily remembered for her mystery novels, and for her detective creation, Mrs. Bradley, who featured in 66 of her novels, Mitchell also published ten children's books under her own name, historical fiction under the pseudonym Stephen Hockaby, and more detective fiction under the pseudonym Malcolm Torrie. She also wrote a great many short stories, all of which were first published in the Evening Standard.

She was awarded the Crime Writers' Association Silver Dagger Award in 1976.

Reviews

[Alex Sarll]

Far and away the latest Mrs Bradley I've read; Mitchell had been cranking them out for just shy of half a century at this point, so little wonder if she's reusing elements. The fractious, mismatched group on an esoteric expedition, the ensuing shenanigans, even the shining apparition and the lateness of the murder recall Come Away, Death – but where that had a tour of Greek mystery cult sites, here it's just ghosthunting in the Norfolk Broads, as though Mitchell had forgotten that prose doesn't need to worry about budget constraints. Similarly, she's oddly sparing in her use of Dame Beatrice, who makes a few consulting appearances early on but then fades out until the final third of the book – and even then leaves the big denouement to a copper doing almost exactly the Columbo routine, but proving that it doesn't work half so well with a comedy Welsh accent. Still, Dame B doesn't seem quite herself either; we only get a couple of cackles, and I don't think there was a single reptilian comparison, which serves to make her feel a little younger than she used to be, despite the de facto lead being the adult daughter of her strapping schoolgirl sidekick from the earlier books. This all feeds into a sense of being somewhat unmoored in time which I suppose is easier to roll with given the location: did punk ever happen in Norfolk? Though there is the odd perfectly seventies detail, like the character who's been suborned by the possibility – not even the promise, mind! – of a job at Anglia TV. Really, though, the biggest problem is that I'd been hoping the series would drift ever further into outlandishness and vibes-based detection as it went along, whereas here we get an awful lot of arguments very carefully establishing the details of who's going in which car, which are almost as boring in fiction as real life, and a solution that somehow manages to be both obvious and stupid. If I make any further attempts on the later volumes, I shall do so with caution – not least because there, as here, I'd likely be relying on ebooks which are further handicapped by an unsympathetic font.

[M. White · Rating 4 out of 5]

Designs and Changelings

I love the Mrs. Bradley books by Gladys Mitchell, but they are --in my opinion-- of widely varying quality. (Not surprising in 66 books written over a 55 year period.) This is one of the better ones. The plot is cleverly crafted and the characters well developed. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Gillian Kevern · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have enjoyed this more if I hadn't read it immediately after A Hearse on May Day, which it closely resembles structurally. Long rambling set-up that is more interesting than the mystery tacked on to the end. It makes me wonder if Gladys Mitchell had a paranormal novel in her wanting to be told.