Breaking with traditions

Press, 16 January 1982, Page 13

Breaking with traditions

Murder Mystery. By Gene Thompson. Gollancz, 1981. 275 pp. $19.25.

(Reviewed by

Ken Strongman)

"Murder Mystery" is an interesting hybrid. It is a traditional “whodunnit” very much in the English mould, in which all is revealed in a proper denouement. This even involves a series of possible solutions being put before the suspects assembled in a drawing room. In the time honoured way, this is done by the amateur detective while the professional policeman looks on in bewilderment and gratitude.

But the ratiocination does not take place in deepest Berkshire. Rather, it is centred in Los Angeles, although there is no mention of sex, drugs,' or avant-garde religious sects. The amateur 'tec is a lawyer in his 60s, a man of fortitude and stamina rather than rapid action. His 45-year-old wife coddles him. but with difficulty. His name is Dade Cooley (shades of the Deep South there) and he is a well-intentioned trouble maker. He has seen much, has profited by his experiences and wishes to give the deserving a nudge in what he is sure is the right direction. He has the delightful confidence of advancing years and

manifests it with a sense of humour which would do credit to Puck. He uses this humour to greatest effect against bluster and pretence. So, Dade cracks wise in the

proper Californian way, although in a simpler style. He is not unlike a mixture of Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin, with a tinge of Philip Marlowe, and a hint of Hercule Poirot. Thompson has put together an intricate maze of a plot, with the right number of blind alleys, false trails, mixed motives and tricky customers. It would spoil the fun to describe it. It is enough to say that

there are three murders, art thefts, a locked room, steamy relationships, wealth tied up in complexwills, and so on. Dade Cooley is a match for it all as he makes periodic forays from his motel room and then gains relaxation and inspiration by night walks along the beach with his wife. Not all* hybrids turn out well, but “Murder Mystery” is a success. Not only does it combine cleverly many of the good characteristics of its progenitors, but it also has new qualities of its own. It is remarkably apposite that its author is called Gene. Hopefully, we have not seen the last of Daue Cooley’s cultured and amusing fight against crime.