Berkeley, Anthony - The Wychford Poisoning Case (1926)

Detective novel w/ Roger Sheringham (2^nd book in series)

One of Berkeley's scarcest book and deservedly so. Not really worth tracking down. Was this stupid and silly at times.  The spanking scenes – what the hell?  Did Alec have a fetish for hitting young women?  This was written in 1926 and the "Bright Young Thing" air about it all was really grating and annoying.  Some of Sheringham's arch speech is funny but most of it reeks of the smart alecky, pseudo-sophisticate that belongs firmly to the 1920s.  He is painted as a misogynist, but a close reading reveals that this is only a mask.  I think Sheringham really appreciates most women.  He alludes to having been truly in love once but the object of his affection married another man.  This is supposed to explain why he is such an asshole at times.  But overall the dialogue and "Aren't I a clever chap?" kind of garbage makes this extremely dated.  Lots and lots of purportedly witty banter – entire chapters could've been excised that have absolutely no point whatsoever (the chapter in which Sheila is first spanked, for example).  The investigation of the poisoning crime, however, is neatly done.  Most interesting observations – the difference between French and British legal systems, the irony of "everyone being innocent until proven guilty" having the exact opposite effect and vice versa, the hypocrisy of the legal system and how it views crime of passions as the acts of "monsters" and not ever taking into account the ferocity and irrationality of the human emotion of love.  Berkeley must be given credit for adding "psychology" to the detective novel.  This book is supposedly the first that tells a story of a crime based on the "psychology" of the characters – that is, it pays more attention (as do crimes in real life) to human behavior and why the people involved acted the way they did, rather than laying emphasis on the collection of clues and evidence as the primary tool in solving the crime.  Multiple solutions morph from murder to accident to suicide disguised as murder (foreshadowing Rebecca) to finally... ah, but that would be giving it all away.  (June 2009)

J.F. Norris