Smallbone Deceased
Smallbone Deceased is a 1950 mystery novel by the English author
Plot
Horniman, Birley and Craine are a respectable firm of
Chief Inspector Hazlerigg investigates with the help of Henry Bohun, a newly-qualified solicitor and employee of the firm. Bohan has a condition (called in the novel 'parainsomnia') that means he needs less than two hours sleep a night, giving him a great deal of time to help with the investigations. Suspicion falls initially on the recently-deceased partner, the theory being that Smallbone had been killed to prevent him from publicly denouncing Abel Horniman’s misuse of the Trust funds. Miss Cornel, who had been Mr Horniman’s devoted secretary for over 20 years, helps his solicitor son Bob Horniman take over the Ichabod Stokes Trust work. But when Miss Chittering, one of the secretaries, is strangled, suspicion switches to Bob himself, who is clearly lying about where he was on the day in question.
Bohun realises that Bob Horniman is in love with another of the secretaries, Anne Mildmay. The pair had had a romantic liaison in the office on the day Miss Chittering was killed, and he lied about it to protect her. The true killer was Miss Cornel who, in an act of misguided loyalty to her ex-employer, had dispatched Smallbone to avoid Abel Hornman’s fraud coming to light; and when it appeared that Miss Chittering had information that would have implicated her, had killed her as well.
Bob Horniman sells his newly-acquired share in the firm, marries Anne Mildmay, and takes up farming.
Principal characters
- Mr Marcus Smallbone (deceased)
- Mr Abel Horniman, deceased senior partner and founder of the firm
- Mr Tristram (‘Tubby’) Craine, partner
- Mr Birley, partner
- Bob Horniman, solicitor, son of Abel Horniman
- Henry Bohun, newly-qualified solicitor and amateur investigator
- Eric Duxford, solicitor
- John Cove, trainee solicitor
- Miss Elizabeth Cornel, previously secretary to Abel Horniman; then to Bob Horniman
- Miss Anne Mildmay, secretary to Mr Craine
- Miss Florrie Bellbas, secretary to Eric Duxford and John Cove
- Miss Cissie Chittering, secretary to Mr Birley
- Mrs Porter, secretary
- Sergeant Cockerill, office clerk and housekeeper
- Chief Inspector Hazlerigg, police investigator
Reception and critical appraisal
On the book's first appearance, Margery H Oates of the
A later appraisal comes from the 1973 Catalogue of Crime by Barzun and Taylor who called the book "Gilbert's masterwork". They noted that the motives are 'good', and the detection by Inspector Hazlerigg and an amateur assistant 'excellent'. The two murders they considered to be 'splendid'.[3]
In a 1984 review, George N Dove noted that Smallbone Deceased is widely considered to be Gilbert's most successful novel.[4] It has, he said, an air of bright originality along with the characteristically plausible atmosphere of a solicitor's firm, dry whimsical wit, and a serene atmosphere that is shattered by a sensational murder.[4] There is an especially strong playful portrayal of the English lawyer's talent for solemn pomposity.[5] The book is important in Gilbert's development as a transition toward the police procedural novel, a form in which he would later excel.[4]
In the
The novel has regularly appeared in 'Top 100' lists. In 1987 Keating featured the novel among the 100 best crime and mystery books ever published, writing that the book "is in every way as good as those of Agatha Christie at her best: as neatly dovetailed, as inherently complex yet retaining a decent credibility, and as full of cunningly-suggested red herrings".
In The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books (2017) Martin Edwards wrote that Michael Gilbert had "exploited his knowledge of life in a solicitors’ practice to witty effect in one of the finest workplace-based detective novels".[10] Edwards also wrote the introduction to the 2019 British Library reissue in which he said that the book "blends in masterly fashion an authentic setting, pleasingly differentiated characters, smoothly readable prose, and a clever puzzle". He opined that few British detective stories of the Fifties came close to matching it in quality.[11]
References
- ^ a b "British Library Item details". primocat.bl.uk. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
- ^ Oates, Margery H (5 November 1950). "Criminals at Large: Office Intrigue". The New York Times. p. 219.
- Harper & Row. p. 209.
- ^ a b c Dove 1984, pp. 173–174.
- ^ Dove 1984, p. 192.
- ^ Keating, HRF (10 February 2006). "Obituary: Michael Gilbert". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
- ^ a b "Michael Gilbert". The Daily Telegraph. 10 February 2006. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
- OCLC 60057335.
- OCLC 31605503.
- ISBN 978-0-7123-5696-1.
- ISBN 978-0-7123-5297-0.
Bibliography
- Dove, George N (1984). "Michael Gilbert". In Bargainnier, Earl F. (ed.). Twelve Englishmen of Mystery. Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green University popular Press. ISBN 0-87972-250-9.