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The Case of the Missing Diary

Page history last edited by PBworks 17 years, 10 months ago

Fielding, A - The Case of the Missing Diary (1935)

 

A. Fielding's The Case of the Missing Diary is a Golden Age mystery that is comprised of the routine, the coincidental and the downright silly.

 

Charles Dawnay, businessman and faithful diary keeper, is discovered battered to death in his summerhouse. A quick inspection of his belongings discloses that his diary is missing, seemingly replaced by another diary written in a cipher that Dawnay himself never used. Could the diary have been stolen by one of Dawnay's houseguests about whom Dawnay had made an incriminating entry? Suspicion falls

on:

 

1) Sebastian Dawnay - the long lost cousin who may be an impostor

 

2) Walter Lyall - another cousin who may be involved in shady business deals

 

3) Colonel Richards - an unethical business promoter whom Dawney was intent on unmasking

 

4) Edith--Charles' jealous wife

 

5) Doctor Ozier - who loves Edith

 

6) "Gypsy Joe" - local vagrant who swore revenge on Charles after he ran over Gypsy Joe's dog (!)

 

The case is further complicated when after the discovery of Charles' body, Doctor Ozier is discovered in his room suffering from a narcotics overdose. Is he too the victim of Charles' murderer or is his overdose the action of a guilty killer?

 

I don't admire Fielding's plotting. Her technique is apparently to dispose of as much plot as quickly as possible without really developing any individual scenes or atmosphere and the resulting effect is one of casualness (or carelessness). For example, in the opening chapter, Charles' actions are described thusly:

 

"Dawnay glanced at his watch and stepped in at his bank. After which he found Walter and had a brief but very guarded word with him..."

 

Simple enough. Except that Dawnay witnesses a near fatal accident involving a bus and a pedestrian near the bank and this incident isn't mentioned for another seventy pages when it's casually dropped into a response to police questioning. In all fairness Fielding is underplaying this incident in the interest of mystification. However, just dropping it into the conversation attracts all the more attention to the incident (and all but erects a neon sign pointing to the murderer).

 

Any other faults with the mystery? Yes - too much of the mystery depends on coincidences or on characters doing capricious or foolish things, including the fate of the missing diary which relies on the foolishness of both Dawnay and the murderer. And speaking of the murderer, the scene in which the killer is revealed is a complete throwaway. Did I mention casualness?

 

Overall, mystery lovers won't find much to celebrate in The Case of the Missing Diary. Too poor to mystify, too casual to admire and comes awfully close to farce in the closing chapters (Should I really be snickering about a murder attempt?).

 

Verdict: Pacing is brisk - so is the rate at which the quality sinks.

 

Harry Vincent

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