Scandalize My Name

by Fiona Sinclair, Martin Edwards (Introduction)

On the eve of Elaine Southey's 21st birthday, Ivan Sweet has been found dead in his flat in the basement of the Southeys' historic north London home. A slick charmer to some of the tenants and a loathsome young scoundrel to others his death doesn't draw out many tears among the house's residents and neighbours. And yet the sordid truth starts to seep into the heart of their small community a murder is living among them, and who's to say when they might strike again? The shrewd Oxford man Superintendent Paul Grainger finds himself faced with a small circle of suspects whose connections and hidden motives heap complexity upon complexity in this tightly wrought mystery, shot through with a chilling touch of the macabre.

Genres: Mystery, Classics

223 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Fiona Sinclair was the pen name of Fiona Maud Peters (1919-1961), an actress and writer of five detective books published between 1960 and 1965.

Reviews

[Adam Carson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once I got over the pace of the first chapter - which introduces all the key characters like a relay race - I found this book a great read.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hugely enjoyable!

[Trevor Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

As mentioned by Martin Edwards in the introduction to the British Library edition, "she introduces a large number of characters very quickly". I had therefore to resort to making a list of them indicating their relationships and where they lived. However one significant name does not appear until p.139 when Grainger plays a hunch and asks his subordinate to look up the will of this person. This is the first time this name appears (as far as I can see) and we are given no indication, at this point, as to how Grainger came upon this hunch. We have to wait until p. 226 in the dénouement before this is explained. Is this really playing fair with the reader?

The faint-hearted should avoid reading the first half of Chapter 3, which contains a description of a post-mortem. It doesn't advance the story in any way as we are not told the result until sometime later.

On the whole it is readable, but I was irritated by some of the evidence which Grainer had collected not being revealed until the dénouement.

[Verity W · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the more recent BLCC releases (it came out in April) and is one from a much lesser known author who, based on this, really deserves rediscovery. The murder happens at a house in North London that has been divided into flats. While the residents and neighbours are assembling for a 21st birthday party, one of the residents has been killed in the basement. There is no shortage of people who might have wanted the victim dead, and Superintendent Grainger has a tight group of suspects all of whom had motive and opportunity. Sinclair introduces a lot of characters in a hurry at the start of this which might put you off initially, but stick with it and it's a good and clever read. I skipped back and read the first chapter again after I had read the solution and spotted a few really neat details hidden in plain sight, although it doesn't really gives you all the clues to be able to solve it yourself.

[S.K. Conaghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars in fairness

Interesting that we fall to these ploys of insane women and unfaithful men, and just accept it as the norm. Were women meant for centuries to endure intolerable men as husbands, they would do so without having to commit anyone to an asylum or hospital. They’d just get on with it. Unless they chose by arsenic to rid themselves of the burden.

But that’s not this mystery. The two detectives on this case would have made an interesting team for a few novels, if Sinclair had lived, perhaps she would have continued with a series for this duo.

I won’t give anything away, just as this novel doesn’t in its sparse pages, but for bare hints here and there in a veiny ping-pong chase to find the killer of a man no one laments is dead.

The writing style is immersive, leaving much to the imagination as the plot is revealed primarily through dialogue that acts in place of description and explanation. I could get used to it.

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the portrait of postwar England - Sinclair does a nice job placing the reader in the time and place, developing the characters in the context of their era. However, I felt the pacing of the mystery could have been better. As others have mentioned, a large crowd of suspects — er, characters — are introduced somewhat rapid-fire in chapter 1, and as such some of these are necessarily neglected for large intervals while the story follows others. There was a satisfying slow-build as Grainger uncovers motive after motive among the group, but the final resolution seemed hurried, even to the point of skipping over what I felt would have been valuable details, leaving the reader to infer them from characters’ reactions.


Small point, but I was disappointed by the copy editing. Particularly: the Jonas family were referred to throughout as “the Jonas’s” (rather than the Jonases). !!!

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ivan Sweet was a nasty man by anyone's standards so when he's found poisoned in a bathtub in his basement flat, there's no shortage of suspects. Superintendent Grainger is soon on the case. He quickly finds out that nobody has a convincing alibi and begins the laborious process of chasing clues and back stories.

I really enjoyed this story. Like its companions in the Crime Classics series, it feels luxurious to read with rich descriptions and low stakes. I found it difficult to remember all the different characters and the mystery itself was just so-s0.

[Laura Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars Writing style was a bit rough when it would jump from scene to scene and I could have done without that grisly autopsy, but I hope BLCC publishes more of Sinclair's work.

[Bine · Rating 5 out of 5]

“A most promising first novel.” This statement by Francs Iles aka Anthony Berkeley made me very curious and heightened my expectations and I wasn’t disappointed.

When you start reading ‘Scandalize my Name’, get ready to meet lots of characters through different viewpoints but even though I was worried for a moment that it would get too confusing, it didn’t for me as I was soon too much engaged in the story.

What is it about? A dead man gets discovered under suspicious circumstances just when a 21st birthday party is about to begin. Shock and relief at equal measure spreads through the guests as the police is called and Superintendent Paul Grainger starts the investigation.

“Even after all these years, he reflected, I feel the same about the start of a case, a compound of interest and effort; the effort of breaking into a circle of people who, however suspicious of each other, are united in their suspicion of you; the interest on the other hand of discovering the pattern of their lives and how and why murder arose out of it. The sense of effort diminished rapidly as you got your teeth into a case though.”

Grainger isn’t only smart and methodical in his work but we also get to see a little bit of his private side as he sits at night in his home and contemplates the case. Not too much as it would have been distracting but enough glimpses for me to take a liking to him and I would certainly have loved to read many more mysteries with him but sadly the author passed away too early.

This was certainly another great read for me and a fab addition to the #BritishLibraryCrimeClassics series.

Thank you so much @bl_publishing for sending me a copy of Scandalize my Name. I was reading late into the night and it was totally worth it.

The book was a gift but opinions are all my own.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

For my full review click on the link below:
https://crossexaminingcrime.com/2025/...