Any Shape or Form

Henry Gamadge #9

by Elizabeth Daly

Just about any of the guests at Johnny Redfield's party seems to have a good reason to have killed the guest of honor, Johnny's Californian aunt who, with her astral name and vague pretensions of mysticism, does not exactly blend in the elegant New York atmosphere that surrounds her. And what's more, no one has a solid alibi. It will take all of Henry Gamadge's ingenuity to figure out this closed-room mystery.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Cozy, Crime, Golden Age Mystery

159 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1945

About the author

Elizabeth Daly (1878-1967) was born in New York City and educated at Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania and Columbia University. She was a reader in English at Bryn Mawr and tutored in English and French. She was awarded an Edgar in 1960. Her series character is Henry Gamadge, an antiquarian book dealer.

Daly works in the footsteps of Jane Austen, offering an extraordinarily clear picture of society in her time through the interactions of a few characters. In that tradition, if you knew a person's family history, general type, and a few personal quirks, you could be said to know everything worth knowing about that person. Today the emphasis is on baring the darkest depths of psycho- and socio-pathology; contemporary readers raised on this style may find Ms. Daly both elitist and somewhat facile. But fans of classic movies and whodunits know that a focus on polished surfaces brings with it the possibility of hidden secrets and things unsaid; for those who disdain the obvious confessional style of today, the Gamadge books have much to recommend them.

Elizabeth Daly now seems sadly forgotten by many which a shame as all her books are superbly crafted and plotted, indeed she counted none other than Agatha Christie as one of her fans. She published sixteen books all of which featured her main series character Henry Gamadge. He is a bibliophile and expert on rare books and manuscripts which makes her books particularly appealing to fans of the bibliomystery. There was some disparity between UK and US releases some being published out of sequence, the bibliography shown follows the US editions which are the true firsts. Murder Listens In and Shroud for a Lady are re-titled reissues of earlier books.

Reviews

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Early Bird Book Deal | Mixed Bag | A slower build than most in the series, and finally all stays in one place (literally, it's a country house killing, everything happens at the house, but the suspect pool is so tiny (six, technically, but really only five if you know classic mysteries) that it's hard not to suspect the right person quite early. One of the ways that Agatha Christie managed to successfully confound many of her readers was by really building up the world. There's enough rich detail in her books that nothing stands out as an obvious clue. Daly sketches everything so lightly and briefly that if she lingers on anything, gives it much description, it's the same as hanging a flashing neon light on it. This happens again in this installment, and makes the reader consider what was intended to be a big ending twist, before the first murder has happened.

[Kathy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've had it with this series, and this author. While the mysteries are interesting enough, the characters are such terrible snobs, even those who, like Henry Gamadge, think of themselves as enlightened and progressive. It's pretty apparent that they reflect the author's own attitudes and prejudices. Henry's "man," Theodore, is a gem (of course), but doesn't he have a family or a life of his own? Apparently he's just a servant, so there's no need to make him a real person. That's just one example.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Elizabeth Daly is my favorite mystery writer. This mystery is set in 1945 out in the country, but not too far from New York City. This book was written in 1945. The style of this book is not swashbuckling, but instead rather quiet, intelligent, and suspenseful. Not boring... you constantly have the feeling that something very bad will happen.

[Jessi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Henry Gamadge has been invited to a party next door. He's maybe not particularly interested but his cousin encourages him to go. And it is there that he meets a colorful cast of characters. He knows the Drummonds, nearby neighbors but the young Malcolm siblings are unknown to him. And they are equally unknown to his neighbor's aunt, even though she was their step aunt. And there is the added complication that their father left his money to her for the extent of her lifetime. So they are potentially wealthy, but only on expectations. Until then, they live off Vega's largess and the allowance their father left them.
Vega herself is a colorful lady. Her name has only recently been chosen as she has joined a cult that worships the sun. She even gifted the home owner, her nephew Johnny, with a sculpture that was possibly originally Apollo but now is rather faded and missing whatever it once held.
There are undercurrents all around the party but Gamadge doesn't expect Vega to be shot, while he's standing next to her in the garden no less. The perpetrator could have been anyone as they had all split up previously.
An unexpected guest shows up and then she is also murdered. The police are looking at the wrong person and it will be up to Gamadge to set them right.
I am not sure that this was really a fairly clued story but it was a good one. Recommended by Classic Mysteries podcast.

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

On a visit to his elderly Aunt Abby's, Henry Gamadge attends a gathering at neighbor Johnny Redfields country home. There, Redfield's aunt is set to meet her stepchildren for the first time. The aunt turns out to be an oddity--she calls herself Vega, dresses in makeshift togas, and claims to worship the Sun. Meanwhile, her stepchildren, David and Cora Malcolm, are skeptical and reserved; they need the allowance Vega has offered them, but dislike her enough to consider turning it down. The other guests, Walter and Blanche Drummond, appear to be very interested, each in a different Malcolm.
Still, Henry is unprepared for what follows... he is often brought in or murder cases, but is seldom standing next to the victim when the murder occurs. And having witnessed the death, but not the person committing it, Henry finds himself in the unhappy position of suspecting friends and new acquaintances alike of opportunistic homicide. No one confesses to an accidental shooting; and no evidence points clearly to a single suspect. Then a new player arrives on the scene--David's wife. Can she be the murderer... or the next victim?
This isn't bad as Gamadge mysteries go, but the characters aren't that likable, and I was just as happy to have the crime solved so I could move on to another book. Gamadge remains a pleasure, I just didn't find the plot that engaging.

[Vee Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any Shape or Form by Elizabeth Daly is a classic house party murder mystery. It opens with Henry Gamadge visiting his cousin in the country. They are invited to a neighbor's party. The neighbor is honoring his aunt Vega who is leaving soon after a lengthy visit at his place. Add to this party the attendance of Vega's two resentful grown step-children as well as the handsome couple Mr. & Mrs. Drummond. Daly is a master at doing sharp characterizations of every person in the book so that you get drawn in and keep turning the pages. Keep in mind that in her stories, everyone has a secret.

Very early in the book, Vega meets her demise and now Gamadge has to find out who did it.

All in all, this is a great mystery which I highly recommend. It's an interesting vignette of life in the 1940s.

Family Corner: Nothing objectionable. There are vague conversations about someone who had an affair. As well, someone is pushing for a divorce to marry someone else.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it well enough. It is old, so beware of those altitudes that make the past a different country. And this book is thick with the specialness of the high society born. But even high society can commit murder -although the book ends before we know if the killer go to a high society specialty jail. Oh, there are snide comments about those not high born. If you can put up with that sort of theme, the book is fast reading, puzzle semi-fair. Who dun it is fairly clear, but catching the clues is probably hard for most readers, or at least for me. I liked some of the oddness of the theme of the sun worshiper.

[Ron Kerrigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a well-written, easy-to-swallow tale (except for a few undigestable bits at the end). Daly's story has all the golden age mystery elements, including her amateur detective Henry Gamadge.

There is so much emphasis on where various suspects where when the murder takes place that a map of the estate would have been useful, and provided another golden age element.

Not a spectacular success as mystery story, it's an okay read for those looking for this 1940's type of puzzler.

[John R. Goyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm getting the hang of Henry after this second book. The writing is good and it's an enjoyable and interesting read. The confusing part, in a way, is the absence of substance for Henry Gamadge. We get little or no description of him, he isn't the narrator, we have no background or development of any kind for him, and until the end part of the book he doesn't do all that much. I'm pleased for the stories, but these don't appear ever to challenge Christie and Poirot.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Above average entry in the Gamadge series, though once again Henry didn't make use of his specialized skills - I hope that aspect of the series (his knowledge & skill with documents & antiquarian books) isn't phased out.

[Virginia B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this very much, the time period, the country house and gardens setting, the diverse characters. Gamage figures it out early on, and in plain sight of the reader, too. Did I get the clues? Absolutely not.

[Cindy Ladensack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aside from the unfortunate characterization of the domestic staff and the un-likability of many of the characters, this was a good mystery with an interesting if kind of slowly developing plot and a satisfying twist at the end.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I twigged to one aspect of the mystery early, but I don't think there was any way to guess the rest.

I was very surprised by numerous aspects of the ending and am dismayed if one person becomes a recurring character.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Couldn't quite follow the "big clue."

[Jlnpeacock Peacock · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightfully entertaining mystery with a nice plot

[L · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm tempted to rate all of Elizabeth Daly's books 5 stars because she's a master of the classic mystery. She doesn't rely on deep, dark psychological horrors to make the story work. You open her books and find a very strange puzzle, a group of ordinary people politely looking at you, and then you accompany the quiet, not-too-handsome sleuth as he follows every clue. The whodoneit is perfectly executed. In this story the murder is set in a garden and nobody seems to know where anyone else was at the time. No motive and no alibis? I loved all those potential suspects wandering among the trees and Gamadge coolly sorting it out. I didn't tumble to the switch of identity, and I should have. For me the ending was a surprise. This is a sweet, classic little mystery.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, solid mystery. An old woman is shot in a friend's garden. Several people had motive and opportunity. It's up to Henry Gamadge to figure out which one was responsible.

I'll admit, I was surprised by the identity of the murderer. I had part of it right, but that almost made me even more wrong than if I had guessed nothing, if you see what I mean. Took me by surprise. I guess my biggest complaint is the way the murderer was handled at the end of the book. I thought the motive was basically selfish and unjustifiable, while the other characters seemed to think it was a mere breech of manners.

Worth reading.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Josephine Malcolm is visiting her nephew Johnny Redfields, largely to meet her unknown, and unfriendly, stepchildren. Josephine is eccentric, following a Sun cult and calling herself Vega, but Gamadge is puzzled by her. She seems too practical and hard-headed to fall for a cult. But when she's murdered, none of the people at the party have alibis.

[Cece · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun read by Daly-her mysteries are well-crafted and intricate within a relatively short page count. Character development is preeminent-her settings are quickly done in broad strokes that are clear but not detailed.

[Allison Henle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very clever mystery. The author completely "plays fair" with you, the reader.