Bush, Christopher - The Case of the Happy Medium (1952)

Review by Nick Fuller

2/5

A book that would have been much better had its author not spent his time barking up the wrong Bush. It begins well at a séance, but swiftly peters out into a morass of inconsequence and dithering, Bush rivalling Macdonald’s worst instances of making much ado about nothing. Although the basic plot, which involves the murders of a popular novelist and the clairvoyant fraud of the title, isn’t bad, and the end is excellent, there is too much following and interviewing, too many telephone calls and street names, and very little worthwhile detection and few memorable scenes. One simply cannot get excited about the details, the murderer’s identity, or any of the characters, for the whole thing is so lifeless.