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Sir Clinton Driffield #13
Murder Will Speak
After his employer is taken ill, Hyson takes advantage by putting himself in complete charge at the office. Always on the lookout for financial gain or female conquest, his controlling behavior both at work and at home ends only with his death. But was it suicide or murder? Sir Clinton Driffield must untangle this puzzle, with the further complication that another criminal seems to be on the loose. A poison-pen writer has been targeting the community, warranting attention from an investigator with the Post Office. This challenging case will capture the interest of any golden-age mystery enthusiast and delight the J. J. Connington fan.
- GenresMystery
282 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1938
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 9, 2024
like a 3.8 rounded up.
(read in July ... I'm sooo behind!)
full post here at my hopelessly backedlogged reading journal:
http://www.crimesegments.com/2024/08/...
Murder Will Speak (1938) is book number thirteen of eighteen in author J.J. Connington's series featuring Chief Constable Clinton Driffield. It is my first outing with this author, even though I have three more Coachwhip publications by Connington sitting on my shelves at the moment. After finishing this one, I bought two more, trying to line up as much of the series as possible for future reading in order.
The blurb on the back cover of this edition hints somewhat cryptically at what the reader is about to encounter:
"A Poison Pen, ubiquitous, outspoken --
A murder (or was it suicide?) --
A suicide (or was it murder?) --
Who? -- Why? -- and Why? --"
It's the poison pen aspect of this novel that grabbed me from the outset. Someone has been sending "the most awful anonymous letters" that say the "most dreadful things." There has been so many in fact, that one character describes it as a "perfect epidemic," bad enough to have garnered the attention of the Investigation Branch (IB) of the General Post Office (GPO), under the supervision of a man named Duncannon. According to him, the "poison-pen affair" has grown "to such major proportions" that it's time for "all hands to the pumps." As he also notes, if the IB doesn't clear it up, "some really bad damage may be done." As it turns out, he's completely right, but he has no clue of how "really bad" that damage may be. While the GPO is running its operation trying to find the poison-pen writer, the police find themselves in the thick of their own investigations after two deaths.
I quite enjoyed this book, and even though Sir Clinton wasn't what I would call an exciting sleuth, he is extremely thorough in his methods, taking time to slowly layer what clues he has so that by the end, there is little room for doubt as to what happened, why, and by whom. It was rather fun to watch this process; on the other hand, I didn't find it too difficult to figure out the identity of the poison-pen author because it was just way too easy. Unfortunately, figuring out the solution to the murder here before the Chief Constable did wasn't too hard either. There was actually one point where I page tabbed a brief bit of conversation that pretty much gave away the show and once that was stuck in my head, I started to have a bare inkling of how the killer was able to pull it off and then come up with what seems to be an air-tight alibi. All of that was fine though, in comparison to how the author deals with the women in this story, with some pretty awful (and extremely dated) psychological hypotheses about what makes them tick. While I won't go into detail here, some of these parts were just cringeworthy, to be honest, but then again, the novel was published in 1938 so I'm not really all that surprised.
As a whole, I can certainly recommend this book to readers of vintage crime/mystery and readers who enjoy a good story centered around the havoc that is wreaked when a twisted mind has little else to do but to disrupt the lives of others via the poison pen. I love this stuff.
By the way, do not miss Curtis Evans' most informative introduction to this edition -- while he goes into some great detail about the author, he doesn't give away too much about the mysteries in this book so it's perfect.
(read in July ... I'm sooo behind!)
full post here at my hopelessly backedlogged reading journal:
http://www.crimesegments.com/2024/08/...
Murder Will Speak (1938) is book number thirteen of eighteen in author J.J. Connington's series featuring Chief Constable Clinton Driffield. It is my first outing with this author, even though I have three more Coachwhip publications by Connington sitting on my shelves at the moment. After finishing this one, I bought two more, trying to line up as much of the series as possible for future reading in order.
The blurb on the back cover of this edition hints somewhat cryptically at what the reader is about to encounter:
"A Poison Pen, ubiquitous, outspoken --
A murder (or was it suicide?) --
A suicide (or was it murder?) --
Who? -- Why? -- and Why? --"
It's the poison pen aspect of this novel that grabbed me from the outset. Someone has been sending "the most awful anonymous letters" that say the "most dreadful things." There has been so many in fact, that one character describes it as a "perfect epidemic," bad enough to have garnered the attention of the Investigation Branch (IB) of the General Post Office (GPO), under the supervision of a man named Duncannon. According to him, the "poison-pen affair" has grown "to such major proportions" that it's time for "all hands to the pumps." As he also notes, if the IB doesn't clear it up, "some really bad damage may be done." As it turns out, he's completely right, but he has no clue of how "really bad" that damage may be. While the GPO is running its operation trying to find the poison-pen writer, the police find themselves in the thick of their own investigations after two deaths.
I quite enjoyed this book, and even though Sir Clinton wasn't what I would call an exciting sleuth, he is extremely thorough in his methods, taking time to slowly layer what clues he has so that by the end, there is little room for doubt as to what happened, why, and by whom. It was rather fun to watch this process; on the other hand, I didn't find it too difficult to figure out the identity of the poison-pen author because it was just way too easy. Unfortunately, figuring out the solution to the murder here before the Chief Constable did wasn't too hard either. There was actually one point where I page tabbed a brief bit of conversation that pretty much gave away the show and once that was stuck in my head, I started to have a bare inkling of how the killer was able to pull it off and then come up with what seems to be an air-tight alibi. All of that was fine though, in comparison to how the author deals with the women in this story, with some pretty awful (and extremely dated) psychological hypotheses about what makes them tick. While I won't go into detail here, some of these parts were just cringeworthy, to be honest, but then again, the novel was published in 1938 so I'm not really all that surprised.
As a whole, I can certainly recommend this book to readers of vintage crime/mystery and readers who enjoy a good story centered around the havoc that is wreaked when a twisted mind has little else to do but to disrupt the lives of others via the poison pen. I love this stuff.
By the way, do not miss Curtis Evans' most informative introduction to this edition -- while he goes into some great detail about the author, he doesn't give away too much about the mysteries in this book so it's perfect.
June 26, 2017
Oswald Hyson is making hay while the sun shines in the absence of his employer on his sick bed. His colleagues do not like him because he is a bully and probably dishonest as well as making advances to the typists. When he is found dead it appears to have been suicide but Sir Clinton Driffield isn't satisfied.
There are too many people who could have wanted him dead and an assortment of people who are all too keen to provide the police with apparently cast iron alibis. Then there is the recent suicide of Mrs Telford - did it have anything to do with Hyson's death?
There is also a massive campaign of poison pen letters doing the rounds. I thought the investigations by the Post Office into the poison pen letters was really fascinating reading as was the way the author of the letters was finally unmasked.
J J Connington's attention to detail in building up the clues is marvellous and he is probably one of the best of the Golden Age authors in my opinion. It is a pity he isn't more widely read today. Hopefully now his books are available as ebooks he will attract a wider audience. This book is number twelve in the series though the books can be read in any order.
There are too many people who could have wanted him dead and an assortment of people who are all too keen to provide the police with apparently cast iron alibis. Then there is the recent suicide of Mrs Telford - did it have anything to do with Hyson's death?
There is also a massive campaign of poison pen letters doing the rounds. I thought the investigations by the Post Office into the poison pen letters was really fascinating reading as was the way the author of the letters was finally unmasked.
J J Connington's attention to detail in building up the clues is marvellous and he is probably one of the best of the Golden Age authors in my opinion. It is a pity he isn't more widely read today. Hopefully now his books are available as ebooks he will attract a wider audience. This book is number twelve in the series though the books can be read in any order.
August 5, 2018
I had a few reservations about this, but think it merits 3.5 stars.
There are two deaths which could be suicide or murder, a not uncommon situation in Connington novels. There is one blissful marriage and one very much less so. There are lots of poison-pen letters.There was a fair amount of VERY 1930's science and medicine which now seems fairly odd.
For me, the solutions to both deaths were pretty obvious, again not an uncommon feature of the books. The trouble was that it was none of it very engaging or involving despite a lot of build-up to the deaths.
Interesting for the period curiosities but not on my favourites list.
There are two deaths which could be suicide or murder, a not uncommon situation in Connington novels. There is one blissful marriage and one very much less so. There are lots of poison-pen letters.There was a fair amount of VERY 1930's science and medicine which now seems fairly odd.
For me, the solutions to both deaths were pretty obvious, again not an uncommon feature of the books. The trouble was that it was none of it very engaging or involving despite a lot of build-up to the deaths.
Interesting for the period curiosities but not on my favourites list.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews