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Death in (Little) Venice
Feb. 1st, 2018 03:13 pmI posted only the briefest note of the day we spent in London before Christmas, walking by the canal from Paddington to Little Venice. It was cold, and bright, and I was pleased with this picture:
Looking for information about the area, I found this listing on the 'Hidden London' website, which claims the name 'Little Venice' originates with Margery Allingham's novel Death of a Ghost: "The name caught on with estate agents after the Second World War and is still much used for the pricey properties in the locality." I hadn't heard this before, and I'm hesitant about it. It's certainly true that the murders in Death of a Ghost (which was published in 1934) take place in a house called 'Little Venice', by the Regent's Canal. Is it more likely that post-war estate agents would adopt the name from an old detective story, or that the canalside location should inspire the same idea independently? I'd love to give credit to Allingham, who I think is the most underrated of the Queens of crime's Golden Age, but I think I'd need to see the missing link before I was convinced.
Once I'd taken Death of a Ghost down from the shelf, though, and flicked through it to find the recurring references to the house called Little Venice by its artistic owner, I couldn't put it back without re-reading it. It starts out as a classic Mr Campion mystery, with a cast of eccentric characters, the household of the late John Lafcadio R.A. - his widow, his 'muse', his model-turned-cook and his granddaughter, plus assorted hangers on. There is a murder with no apparent motive, which takes place at a curious social occasion, the unveiling of one of a series of paintings which the late artist has specified should be revealed at yearly intervals after his death. So far, so whimsical.
But as the narrative progresses, it takes a turn, and I think this is what the author has in mind in her prefatory 'Note on Mr Campion'. Every now and then, she says, he encounters cases which are "less highly coloured but even more grave" and this is one of them. What distinguishes it from his usual mysteries is that by halfway through the book, not only has Mr Campion identified the culprit, he has shared his suspicions with the police (and with the reader) who agree that he is right, but that he has no evidence which justifies an arrest. The remainder of the book is a game of cat and mouse, a thriller in which Mr Campion tries to protect his friends by making himself the target of this very clever and unscrupulous opponent, to provoke actions which will enable to police to intervene, without actually getting himself killed. People - and I'm one of them - talk about The Tiger in the Smoke as if it were unique among Allingham's books in being a thriller, a novel of suspense rather than of deduction; but that is what Death of a Ghost turns into.
( But. There will be spoilers, about the character and fate of the murderer. )
This sounds as if it is a large enough matter to spoil my enjoyment of the book. It isn't, but it may go some way to explain why I had remembered so little of the plot.
Looking for information about the area, I found this listing on the 'Hidden London' website, which claims the name 'Little Venice' originates with Margery Allingham's novel Death of a Ghost: "The name caught on with estate agents after the Second World War and is still much used for the pricey properties in the locality." I hadn't heard this before, and I'm hesitant about it. It's certainly true that the murders in Death of a Ghost (which was published in 1934) take place in a house called 'Little Venice', by the Regent's Canal. Is it more likely that post-war estate agents would adopt the name from an old detective story, or that the canalside location should inspire the same idea independently? I'd love to give credit to Allingham, who I think is the most underrated of the Queens of crime's Golden Age, but I think I'd need to see the missing link before I was convinced.
Once I'd taken Death of a Ghost down from the shelf, though, and flicked through it to find the recurring references to the house called Little Venice by its artistic owner, I couldn't put it back without re-reading it. It starts out as a classic Mr Campion mystery, with a cast of eccentric characters, the household of the late John Lafcadio R.A. - his widow, his 'muse', his model-turned-cook and his granddaughter, plus assorted hangers on. There is a murder with no apparent motive, which takes place at a curious social occasion, the unveiling of one of a series of paintings which the late artist has specified should be revealed at yearly intervals after his death. So far, so whimsical.
But as the narrative progresses, it takes a turn, and I think this is what the author has in mind in her prefatory 'Note on Mr Campion'. Every now and then, she says, he encounters cases which are "less highly coloured but even more grave" and this is one of them. What distinguishes it from his usual mysteries is that by halfway through the book, not only has Mr Campion identified the culprit, he has shared his suspicions with the police (and with the reader) who agree that he is right, but that he has no evidence which justifies an arrest. The remainder of the book is a game of cat and mouse, a thriller in which Mr Campion tries to protect his friends by making himself the target of this very clever and unscrupulous opponent, to provoke actions which will enable to police to intervene, without actually getting himself killed. People - and I'm one of them - talk about The Tiger in the Smoke as if it were unique among Allingham's books in being a thriller, a novel of suspense rather than of deduction; but that is what Death of a Ghost turns into.
( But. There will be spoilers, about the character and fate of the murderer. )
This sounds as if it is a large enough matter to spoil my enjoyment of the book. It isn't, but it may go some way to explain why I had remembered so little of the plot.
