Mitchell, Gladys - The Saltmarsh Murders (1932)

Review by Nick Fuller

5/5

Mitchell's fourth book is one of her best. It has all her virtues (humour, imagination, ingenuity, controlled complications, and style), and none of her faults. Saltmarsh is a loud, unruly village, filled with pornography smugglers, adultery, incest, prudishness and several interesting forms of lunacy. As the vicaress remarks, "The village will get itself a name like Sodom and Gomorrah if things are allowed to go on unchecked." The emphasis of the book is on sex, and only the twice-married Mrs. Bradley's interventions can end the perversions. The plot itself is excellent, involving the strangulations of an unmarried mother and a masochistic actress, and possible infanticide. The solution is equally brilliant — a least-likely person, a clever piece of psychological manipulation, and a clever hiding-place for a dead body. The characters are first-class. All are eccentrics, especially the three old women: Mrs. Bradley the detective, Mrs. Coutts the vicaress, and the batty Mrs. Gatty. The story, narrated by the ingenuous curate Noel Wells, has its own charm. Wells is even less intelligent than Christie's Captain Hastings, yet this, surprisingly, is all to the good. The book has been hailed as a classic several times, most noticeably by Nicholas Blake and Patricia Craig — and no wonder, for the book is a sheer delight.

The Saltmarsh Murders (1932) by Gladys Mitchell is about the most inflammatory work ever packaged as a mystery novel. Its non-conformist social views are unparalleled in other Golden Age mystery authors. The Saltmarsh Murders pays tribute to P. G. Wodehouse, and in part suggests that it is just a parody of English mystery novels, especially the cozy kind that take place in small English villages and which the local vicar is a benevolent character. Such a characterization no doubt helped to get the novel published, and gave it a polite position in the world of English letters. However, the book's full frontal attack goes far beyond anything that can actually be classified as mere parody. Mitchell gives no explicit political position in the book whatsoever. The novel is explicitly Freudian, with its detective heroine Mrs. Bradley being a psychiatrist and follower of Freud.

How does Mitchell's mystery technique compare with other writers of her day? The Saltmarsh Murders is a full-fledged Golden Age mystery novel, with a complex plot. The book starts out with some early, mysterious situations that do not involve murder. These include some disappearances, and a pregnant unmarried woman who refuses to name the father, thus leading to much speculation. Mitchell's treatment of these early mysteries is quite imaginative, with good storytelling and interesting solutions. Only after a hundred pages or so do the actual murders appear in the book. The solution of these murder mysteries is uninventive, and shows little of the skill that distinguishes the earlier sections of the novel. The book's emphasis on psychological abnormalities in its characters recalls H. C. Bailey. The fact that Mitchell's detective Mrs. Bradley is an eccentric and gung ho psychiatrist recalls Bailey's equally eccentric and energetic doctor detective Mr. Fortune. Both authors also like to incorporate thriller items in their works, and do not limit themselves to polite chit chat in elegant drawing rooms. Characters are often attacked, and are in frequent physical danger in both writers. Both also invoke colorful portraits of the English countryside and small towns, as does Miles Burton in some of his novels. Both depict an England that is richly colorful, the very opposite of bland. Despite these points in common, it is hard to argue that Bailey and Mitchell are two peas in a pod. The Saltmarsh Murders lacks Bailey's sense of corrosive evil lurking in the shadows, or sinister conspiracies against the helpless. And Bailey shows little sign of Mitchell's enthusiasm for sex.

Mike Grost