Natural Causes

Colonel Brain #2

by Henry Cecil

When megalomaniac proprietor of the Clarion Newspapers Ltd, Alexander Bean is humiliated in court by judge Mr Justice Beverly, he swears revenge. He engages the services of Sidney York to find a way to blackmail the judge. The situation gets out of hand when Sidney dies in a mysterious accident. The judge and his family fall under suspicion. Thus Alexander Bean becomes involved in a story that runs out of control for all those involved until it reaches its final unexpected conclusion.

236 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1953

About the author

Henry Cecil Leon (19 September 1902 – 23 May 1976), who wrote under the pen-names Henry Cecil and Clifford Maxwell, was a judge and a writer of fiction about the British legal system. He was born near London in 1902 and was called to the Bar in 1923. Later in 1949 he was appointed a County Court Judge, a position he held until 1967. He used these experiences as inspiration for his work. His books are works of great comic genius with unpredictable twists of plot, but are not intended to be realistic or strong on characterization. They typically feature educated and genteel fraudsters and blackmailers who lay ludicrously ingenious plots exploiting loopholes in the legal system. There are several recurring characters, such as the drunken solicitor Mr Tewkesbury and the convoluted and exasperating witness Colonel Brain. He writes well about the judicial process, usually through the eyes of a young barrister but sometimes from the viewpoint of the judge; Daughters in Law contains a memorable snub from a County Court judge to a barrister who is trying to patronise him.

His 1955 novel Brothers in Law was made into a film in 1957 and, later, a television and radio series starring Richard Briers. While at Paramount Pictures, Alfred Hitchcock worked on adapting No Bail for the Judge for the screen several times between 1954 and 1960, and hoped to co-star Audrey Hepburn, Laurence Harvey, and John Williams, but the film was never produced.

Reviews

[Viji (Bookish endeavors) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A satire on the media of the present times. And the book is a good one at what it intends to do. The character called Alexander Bean was real funny because of megalomaniac character. The ending seemed a bit hotchpotch. There was no finishing. It was like the author knew the plot till half of the story and after that let the story progress on its own terms. A nice read,but not satisfying.

[Mushfique · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent satire of insane newspaper owners...it will show you how newspaper owners manipulate public opinions...

[Neer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not as funny as According to the Evidence.

More here:

http://inkquilletc.blogspot.in/2014/0...

[Michael Reilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a comic legal novel first published in England in 1953.

Gilbert Swanley is hired as in-house counsel by Alexander Bean, the owner of the "London Clarion" a prominent London newspaper.

Alexander Bean is a horrible man. He is a petty bully. He uses the threat of lawsuits to avoid paying his debts. He fires employees to avoid paying amounts due to them. He is wildly vindictive and swears vengeance on anyone who he thinks has slighted him.

Swanley, like every lawyer hired by Bean, is fired without notice or full payment. Swanley tells off Bean, including telling him that he is" a vainglorious megalomaniac", and sues him for unpaid wages.

Bean was notorious for never appearing in Court, even if it caused him to lose a trial.
He was so angry at Swanley's insult, presumably because it was true, that he appeared and testified. It was a disaster but what angered Bean the most was that, in his opinion, the trail Judge, Mr. Justice Beverly, treated him disrespectfully. The Judge forced him to apologize for several intemperate comments.

Bean launches a vendetta against the Judge. His reporters covered every trial the Judge presided at and tried to come up with phony outrage. They had no luck, because the Judge was a straight arrow.

Bean was overjoyed when a sleazy character, known under various names including "Sydney York", approached him with a disgraceful charge against the Judge about his actions as an officer in WW1.

York dies falling down stairs in an inn at the Judge's village. The Judge and his son and daughter are suspects and Bean is sure he will finally have his revenge.

Cecil is a wonderful comic novelist. His legal characters are spot on. He has a vainglorious barrister who needs to tell everyone about all of the important cases he has handled, a drunken solicitor, and a second-rate solicitor who is convinced that this case will be his big break.

The plot gets sufficiently complicated. There is a satisfying ending. Great fun is had by all.