The Corpse in the Garden of Perfect Brightness

by Malcolm Pryce

The perfect quirky nostalgic crime read – a tale of steam trains, giant squid, missing screenplays, missing mothers and a quest for the truth, from the inimitable Malcolm PryceIt's the winter of 1948. The four great railway companies have just been nationalised and Jack Wenlock – the last of a fabled cadre of railway detectives – is thrown out onto the street. Penniless, with new bride Jenny to support, and hiding from a murderous organisation called Room 42, Jack's prospects look bleak.But then a letter arrives from a mysterious Cornish Countess revealing that Jack's mother – long believed to be dead – may have survived a shipwreck off the coast of Java. Seizing the opportunity to track down his only remaining family member, Jack and Jenny board a boat heading East. The trail takes them to a run-down Siamese hotel where a motley assortment of drifters has washed up. Here a spy, an assassin, a deserter, an old soldier and a fading Hollywood movie star all await the arrival of a missing part for a flying boat and a journey that will take them into the realm of myth.But if Jack is ever to see his mother again, he has to stop them…

365 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 19, 2020

About the author

Malcolm Pryce is a British author, mostly known for his noir detective novels.

Born in Shrewsbury, England, Pryce moved at the age of nine to Aberystwyth, where he later attended Penglais Comprehensive School before leaving to do some travelling. After working in a variety of jobs. including BMW assembly-line worker in Germany, hotel washer-up, "the world's worst aluminium salesman", and deck hand on a yacht in Polynesia, Pryce became an advertising copywriter in London and Singapore. He is currently resident in Oxford.

Pryce writes in the style of Raymond Chandler, but his novels are incongruously set on the rainswept streets of an alternate universe version of the Welsh seaside resort and university town of Aberystwyth. The hero of the novels is Louie Knight, the best private detective in Aberystwyth (also the only private detective in Aberystwyth), who battles crime organised by the local Druids, investigates the strange case of the town's disappearing youths, and gets involved in its burgeoning film industry, which produces What The Butler Saw movies.

Reviews

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like price’s other books, not for everyone, but a treat for the lover of his own special brand of absurd noir. I know they are supposed to be pastiches, but I still find them somewhat moving. This one, involving the railway detective, his new wife, his missing mother, a Japanese girl dying slowly from the atomic bombs dropped in WWII and… of course… King Kong … is another gem

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply Brilliant!

I’ve read all of his previous books and this is by far my favourite. A super noir story with amazing characters bought to life in exquisite quirky detail. Thank you and please keep writing!

[Malcolm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jack Wenlock’s second outing sees the former railway detective, reduced to track maintenance after nationalisation, hired to search out a missing son – and perhaps his own mother – last seen in Singapore. This is an adventure of ships, trains and late British Empire Bangkok, of Imperial skulduggery ratbaggery, and what-how jolly good chaps. Jack and Jenny alternate between being perplexed Imperial ingénue and knowing investigators, with Jenny playing a little too much of the domestic sidekick for my tastes, and there are rather too may long explanatory speeches by assorted figures.

It might be that I enjoyed the parody of genre, of the hard boiled loner, of the Aberystwyth series with its network of characters and developed sense of place, but I’m rather underwhelmed by Jack’s adventures thus far, enjoyable as they are.

[David Grieve · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a clever idea and is well written, in its stylised way, but it felt convoluted and the 1940s language and speech patterns began to get a bit annoying after a while. Everyone seemed to be a caricature which meant that nothing felt real throughout. This was enhanced by the exotic setting with its slightly dreamlike quality. Not up to the Aberystwyth novels in my opinion.

[Ronald Schoedel III · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even better than the Hail Mary Celeste. A modern noir classic. The convergence of Pryce’s comic style with the Far East and post-war British culture was perfect.

[Charis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book, with an interesting plot. The interjection of pages of screenplay was cool. I wasn’t fully satisfied, though.

[Mike Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second Jack Wenlock book and a cracking read, as Jack himself might say. 9nce again, Jack is caught up in a tale of intrigue, travel, love, trains and origami.

I steamed through this book like a 4-6-0 Saint Class locomotive, pausing only to look up place names and to note interesting facts. A fine story of the further adventures of a Gosling. Chuff! Chuff!