Symons, Julian - The Blackheath Poisonings (1978)

A

The Symons I’ve enjoyed most so far.  It’s not really a detective story, more a mystery in the line of Wilkie Collins, although several of the characters recall Galsworthy’s Forsyte Saga (Isabel a femme fatale like Irene).  The murders emerge as part of the plot, rather than being investigated in great detail; instead, there are a lot of character vignettes and scenes, making it more of a novel with detective interest than a detective story per se.  The ending is pretty easy to anticipate—I worked out that it was ***George*** two-thirds of the way through (the clue of the corset is pretty much the only clue in the book, and its meaning is obvious; also ***his reluctance to marry), and knew that Paul would probably kill him well before the deed was done***.

The Victorian period detail is well done (nice touches in the early Sherlock Holmes stories in The Strand and a first run of Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan), and the Victorian hypocrisy and morality are effective.

·        ***Paul is at once detective and murderer.  His investigations do harm—lead to Irene’s arrest; to secure her release, poisons the murderer (destructive rôle of detective—executioner, inasmuch as Great Detectives bring guilty parties to the gallows?).***

Nick Fuller.