Mitchell, Gladys - Noonday and Night (1977)

Review by Nick Fuller

3/5

Coach tours have been used by Mitchell before, in The Devil’s Elbow (1951), and so has antique smuggling, notably in The Dancing Druids (1948), both more than a quarter of a century before this tale. When two coach-drivers, Noone and Daigh, disappear in Wales and Derbyshire, Dame Beatrice is asked to investigate, and, Laura Gavin in tow, begins an odyssey which culminates in the discovery of something nasty on the gate-house roof, a rather improbable hiding-place. Despite the busyness of travelling, the book is rather leisurely in pace, with two many interviews with possible witnesses, although the second half, which contains both Laura’s adventures in Scotland and the burglary with murderous intent of the Stone Cottage, is quite entertaining. The characters, however, are flat, and, due to the small number of suspects (two), the murderer’s identity is obvious from the beginning (although his character is not at all) – thankfully, the villain is a central character, a relief from the arbitrariness of many late Gladys Mitchell novels, with two excellent clues, one about Commandos, the other about the coach-drivers’ moving the bus. The solution, however, is extremely muddled and rather illogical.