Hidden Death

Northern Advocate, 18 March 1939, Page 2 (Supplement)

Hidden Death

Some while back I lay in a hospital bed, my arm prepared for a surgical inspection. I was interested in the syringe, and speculated upon what /would happen if a certain expert caution were omitted. “You’d pass out quietly, without knowing anything about it, and your friends would wonder what caused your death.” That’s years ago, under war treatment. But it came back vividly when I read “Unnatural Death.” The clever authoress, perhaps from some similar experience, had discovered this surgical sceret, and until the very end her plot baffles Inspector Parker and Lord Wimsey much as it baffles the reader. I can’t say more about it without disclosing the secret that keeps one on tip-toe of eager suspense all through the book. It is one of the best detective yarns I know upon which to exercise cne’s wits. And my Lord Sleuth is as amusingly smart in his talk as he is socially smart in his dress, his London flat, his wines and his dinners. The Detective in Real Life It is uncommonly pleasant to immerse oneself for an evening in the adventures of a super detective, and watch him gradually uncovering the footprints of a mysterious crime till they lead unmistakably to the criminal. But, when the excitement subsides, one realises that those who have unlimited wealth, like my Lord Wimsey, don’t spent it in this kind of investigation, and mostly haven’t the gift to conduct a case. And those who have the gifts.and do the work with persevering patience have no spare mcney to spend. That, doesn’t detract from the exhilaration of the novel. But it is just a plain bit of truth that restores our good opinion of the Inspector Parkers and all the lesser ranks who carry on daily as a matter cf duty, not choosing, but taking the rough and ugly with the smooth and pleasant, and expecting little recognition beyond a long delayed promotion.