Ranken, JL and Clunies Ross, Jane (Eds) - Murder Pie (1936)

The greatest parodists are the unintentional parodists. Daisy Ashford; Julia Moore, the Sweet Singer of Michigan; the Cherry Sisters; William McGonigall; and now, Murder Pie.

The Detection Club is really to blame. Having produced two compilation stories in the early 1930s -- The Floating Admiral and Ask a Policeman -- they obviously made it look too easy, with the result that a group of distinguished Australian writers decided that they could do the same thing. One small difference, however -- the Antipodeans had no experience in writing detective fiction whatsoever. Unencumbered by the least idea of what they were doing, this band of luminaries led by Walter Murdoch and Ethel Turner managed to include in their work every single cliche of 1930s detective fiction. Murder Pie is a more delicious concoction than even A Fielding would have dared to attempt.

There is -- deep breath now -- hypnotism, disguises, drugs, psychology, a plot to overthrow the government, a secret marriage, a forged marriage certificate, blackmail, lacerations, safety matches, a dropped handkerchief, a corrupt Minister, tram timetables, bashings, throat-cuttings, gassings, shootings, a list of questions for the investigator, bodies that don't bleed enough, misprints in newspaper cuttings, confusion between parents and step-parents, faints, burned documents, reporters, re-creations, fake ghosts, and a wonderful denouement at which no-one shows up. The lay investigator -- a Psychology lecturer called Sterne -- is suspected, beguiled, threatened and bashed on the head and dropped in a tunnel which emerges -- providentially -- just opposite his Club. The police, meanwhile, led by Inspector Stephen, gallop madly off in all directions like Leacock's hero.

But the crowning glories of the book come at the beginning of each chapter as each new author, totally befogged by the previous contributions, comes up with his or her own new theory about whodunnit, how and why. The book is really sixteen Chapter Ones. Evidence is brought forth, dismissed, repudiated, rediscovered. Bereaved old ladies metamorphose into sinister adventuresses as the authors desperately scrabble for suspects. The sweet young heroine turns tramp overnight. Clean-limbed young Psychology students become double-dyed villains, and the victim emerges as the earliest case of Multiple Personality Syndrome on record.

A description cannot do it justice. Murder Pie is a must-read for anyone steeped in the genre. Its very innocence makes it a valuable historical document. Get it if you can.

Jon.

The authors:

Walter Murdoch

M Barnard Eldershaw

S Elliott Napier

GV Portus

Ethel Turner

WJ Dakin

JL Ranken

CH Bertie

Jane Clunies Ross

Ruth Bedford

E Marie Irvine

Francis Jackson

Noelle Brennan

Allan Clunies Ross

Bruce W Pratt

Leslie Victor