Two Historical Mysteries From My 20 Books of Summer
Many books from the Golden Age of Mysteries involve a detective analyzing all the witnesses’ stories and alibis to determine who is lying (although that does not necessarily mean that person is the killer). I am not very good at this although I read attentively and look at maps, if they are included. It is helpful if there are characters discussing these issues (this is why Watson and his ilk exist; in The Word is Murder, Daniel Hawthorne refuses to discuss, just tells the Anthony Horowitz character how obtuse he is). In this first book below, I think the author cheats somewhat by breaking a convincing alibi on which the reader relies but maybe if I reread it, knowing the murderer, it would all make more sense.
Technically speaking, Murder at Government House by Elspeth Huxley (1937) is not a historical mystery. It is set at Government House in the fictional African colony of Chania – substituting for Kenya – at about the same time it was published. However, it was written nearly 100 years ago which means it depicts a completely different world: an empire that was still ruled by Britain. After a dinner party at Government House, the Governor is found strangled in his office. Police Superintendent Vachell is put in charge of the investigation and follows several red herrings (one of which results in a suspect committing suicide!) before he is presented with a riddle from a local witch doctor who somehow knows what really happened. Vachell’s brashness and unorthodox ways of questioning suspects are gently attributed to his North American background: he has experience as a Canadian Mountie and also worked in the United States where he met Olivia Brandeis, an anthropologist now in Chania studying African tribes. Although she was at the dinner party, she is not a suspect, so he discusses the case with her and she shares her observations of the events prior to the murder, almost like a Watson. The colonial setting results in some unpleasant assumptions and language. Huxley (1907-1997) is best known for a memoir about her childhood growing up on a coffee farm in Kenya, The Flame Trees of Thika. She had a distinguished career as a writer, broadcaster, and government advisor, and even spent time studying at Cornell University (where winter must have been a shock).
Dinner parties are dangerous! A more recent book (2022), A Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poisons by Kate Khavari, set in 1923, also features an educated young woman who attends a dinner party that ends in murder. Saffron Everleigh is the granddaughter of a viscount but has turned her back on society to work as a research assistant at University College London, following in the footsteps of her deceased father, a botany scholar. When the wife of a faculty member is murdered, Saffron’s mentor, Dr. Maxwell, is arrested because of his expertise in poisons. Saffron is determined to clear his name and enlists the help of handsome Alexander Ashton, another member of the biology department. He is too skeptical to function as a Watson but as Saffron convinces him of Dr. Maxwell’s innocence, he becomes a key part of their sleuthing. The Great War haunts Saffron, who lost her father, and Alexander, who served in the trenches. Saffron also has to cope with colleagues who do not take her or her scholarship seriously, including one who sexually harasses her. She is too impulsive and behaves more boldly than a young woman of this era would: inviting Alexander up to the flat she shares with a friend, for example, among other improper actions (her friend eggs her on but they both should have been worried about losing their lease)! I also questioned whether two young working women would have owned a wireless in 1923 – and they would not have called it a radio! I give the author credit for an unusual setting but a good editor would have improved the book by removing Americanisms and/or anachronistic language. If you are going to set a novel in another country, why not ask an expert to proofread?These are books 7 and 8 of my 20 Books of Summer, hosted by Cathy of 746 Books, as well as 16 and 17 for Carol's Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge (not to mention all the Simon Serrailler mysteries I’ve been reading lately – I am only counting the books I review). They are also books 18 and 19 for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.
9 comments:
You bring up an interesting question. I've begun to consider books to be historical fiction, whether or not they were written with that intent, after they reach a certain age. Sort of like some object reaching 100 years of age and becoming reclassified as an antique. I realize that's a stretch but certain of the more realistic classic novels read that way to me these days.
I always want to know if a book set in the past was written close to the time in which it was set or by a modern author. A sort of mixture of these is a book set in the past by an author who was alive (and old enough to be aware) at the time, even if 20 or more years have passed. I can see your deciding to call books written long ago "historical", but to me they deserve a different classification, perhaps "set in its time". For one thing, the depictions of minorities/women/any sort of "others" need to be taken into account.
These both sound like interesting books, but I would go into each with a different set of expectations.
Thank you for your review.
Thanks for reminding me about The Flame Trees of Thika. I wonder if she knew Isak Dinesen? I'd like to read her memoir. I think I had a copy once. I went to Africa in 1990 ... for a few weeks. I've read Out of Africa a couple times. It sounds like you're doing well with your summer challenge.
That mystery by Elspeth Huxley sounds interesting, and also her memoir, The Flame Trees of Thika. Huxley's mysteries don't seem to be very easy to find.
I knew I'd heard the name, Elspeth Huxley, somewhere. The book, set in 'Kenya', sounds interesting and I'll take a look as that appeals to me.I find it interesting to see what their mindset was, despite that mindset not always being pleasant. The other book appeals too, so I'll look into that. You're doing well with your 20 Books of Summer!
I never read Huxley's memoir, which begins with The Flame Trees of Thika, but that might be more interesting than her mysteries, Cath. She was just a child when her parents went to Kenya to be coffee farmers. I know there was a miniseries long ago which perhaps is available online somewhere.
I tend to agree with Jerri about historical mysteries - if it was not historical to the author, can it be historical to me? I don't consider Agatha Christie to be historical (except that one Egyptian mystery she wrote) but Murder at Government House was so very bygone era I simply had to go the other way!
Some of these books really need a cast of characters! When I was an editor, someone wrote a book about a regency house party where a new guest arrived every day. She was very offended when I could not keep them straight and asked for an aide-memoire.
I remember watching The Flame Trees of Thika on PBS as a child, I think there is more than one volume of memoirs, but I've never read them.
I also agree about historical mysteries. A fellow Heyerite and I had the same discussion about her mysteries, which were contemporaries at the time she wrote them, but are perfect examples of "Golden Age" mysteries now - though she is usually left off the list of "Golden Age Detective Writers."
I can fully recommend The Flame Trees of Thika. It is a memoir of Elspeth Huxley's childhood years on a coffee farm in Kenya, so she sees it with a child's eyes. However it is still eye-opening - although set in the early years of the 20th century, it sounded to me very like the wild west transported to Africa! Perhaps its nearest comparison would be the 'Little House on the Prairie' series, which sees American expansion also through a child's eyes.
I know that the accepted definition is that a book shouldn't be written contemporary to the times it is portraying, but it can still provide us with more authentic representation of the time, which might not always be as PC as we would like now.
Thanks for sharing your review with the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge, and for your ongoing participation!
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