Spring Adventure by Molly Clavering

Spring is an enchanting season almost everywhere, whether its approach is hesitant, primrose by primrose, under a grey northern sky, or it comes overnight in a mad tropical rush of growth. She had left Upton St. Clare beaten upon by chill sleety rain which was battering the early fruit-blossom and stripping the trees of their tender leaves. Here in Touraine spring was reigning triumphant. The warm air had already brought a wealth of gay green to wood and meadow, and covered the gnarled black stems of the grapevines with pale leaf-buds.

Spring Adventure, Molly Clavering’s fourteenth and final novel was published in 1962 by Robert Hale Limited. She also wrote a non-fiction book, From the Border Hills, and twenty-four pocket novels that were originally published in serial form in The People’s Friend magazine between 1952 and 1976. There is a lot more information about Molly Clavering to be found on Scott’s blog, Furrowed Middlebrow. Dean Street Press have republished eight of her books, including Yoked with a Lamb which I loved. And thank goodness for that, because if it was not for Scott and DSP, I would likely never have found this author that I have come to love. The books that have not been republished are extremely rare. If you are in the UK, I think the National Library of Scotland would be a good resource to look into.

I was over the moon to get my hands on a copy of Spring Adventure, because, as I said it is extremely rare and because I love Molly Clavering’s writing. Since most writers hone their craft over time, I thought this one might even be her best book. Let’s see if this one lived up to my high expectations. 

Twenty year old Joanna Clay lives in the tiny—“hardly more than a village”—town of Upton St. Clare. At the outset, Joanna is waiting outside of her house for the post to arrive. When it does, she swipes a letter addressed to her, and goes down a quiet lane to enjoy her letter in private. The letter is from Kenneth, the man she has been seeing, but instead of an affirmation of his love, he is breaking it off with her. She has barely had time to process the letter when she runs into Mr. Trevithick who is out walking his wife’s fox-terriers, Bijou and Toutou. This exchange between Joanna and Mr. Trevithick is pure Molly Clavering. It’s funny and perhaps all the more ridiculous because of the contrast between the well-meaning Mr. Trevithick and Joanna’s very real pain. We also find out she christened him Mr. Terrific, very inappropriately, and we find out that this re-naming of people is something she has done with a number of people throughout her life. This provides us with some insight into Joanna’s character early on. She is not normally crying over men—this is the first time—usually she is loving, light hearted, and looking to have fun. 

Back at home, she finds her mother in a state. A letter has arrived from Joanna’s father’s cousin, Nigella Dinwoody. The woman is expected to arrive in time for tea that very afternoon and stay the night.

Miss Nigella Joanna Dinwoody was as imposing as her name. Tall and stately, she towered above Mrs. Clay’s short plumpness in a manner which justified the latter’s complaint that it was like talking to a cathedral to converse with Cousin Nigella. Cathedrals are sometimes breathtakingly beautiful, which Miss Dinwoody was not; sometimes they are majestic, sometimes overpowering, but almost always they are worth looking at, and this Miss Dinwoody certainly was. (15)

Dressed head-to-toe in grey with a “tall and stately” personage, and “long Gothic face”, Joanna describes her cousin as looking like a cathedral. And as odd as it sounds, it was a description that worked for me. I was able to picture Miss Dinwoody better than any other character in this book, including our heroine, Joanna. Whether it is the breakup that left Joanna with more of a devil-may-care attitude, or the blunt honestly of Miss Dinwoody, in this first scene with the two of them we begin to see the strong woman that Joanna is capable of being. She has just turned twenty, but is not employed and still lives at home with a mother who babies her. Miss Dinwoody is planning a research trip to France for the new children’s book she is working on and invites Joanna to come with her as a sort of companion/research assistant. Joanna is shocked, as Miss Dinwoody is a relation that they are not close to and have not visited with much. It seems like Joanna might even turn down the offer.

Then the phone rings. It’s Joanna’s friend Rosamund Wye calling with big news. She’s engaged to none other than Kenneth Quarrinder. The same Kenneth who has just broken up with Joanna by letter. Needless to say, the first thing Joanna does when she extracts herself from that truly nightmarish phone call is to accept Miss Dinwoody's offer to accompany her to France.

As much as this progression makes sense for the plot, my heart fell when I realised this book was going to shift settings. The time Joanna spends out and about in the small town of Upton St. Clare held such promise for colourful characters in a close-knit community where everyone knows everyone else’s business and there are plenty of opportunities for humorous situations. It’s a setting in which Molly Clavering is at her best, and I was a little worried about what taking this show on the road was going to mean for the story. 

Clavering does a great job of describing the French countryside, and we see the effect the change in environment makes on Joanna. But there is quite a small cast of characters in the remainder of the book, really just Joanna, Miss Dinwoody, and three young men. Joanna meets the first man, Richard Severn, crossing the channel, and takes an instant dislike to him because he has caught her crying and acts overly familiar with her. The second man, Gervase Deveron who goes by Tim, she literally runs into while looking for the bathroom at the hotel in Tours. Tim is closer to Joanna’s age and she immediately feels at ease with him, treating him like a younger brother. Richard and Tim turn out to be stepbrothers, though they are not traveling together. Richard, who is a Navy Commander, is on a course arranged by his work to improve his French. While Tim has been traveling around France with a friend named Tony, who is our third man. Of course, the brothers both fall for Joanna.

Besides the concierge at the hotel, a shifty character in an antique shop, and some baddies we meet in the last third of the book, that is all we get of local colour in this one. Unfortunately, we don’t find out much about any of these characters outside of Joanna’s observations of them. All of the main characters are British, and if it was not for the fact that the group had to run into some trouble in a foreign country, because all the baddies in this book are French, the group could have just stayed at home. It is not like there is a shortage of castles and stunning landscape that could have been explored in Scotland. But you know, I think I could have overlooked the disappointing use of setting if it was not for the frightful left turn this book takes two thirds of the way through. But more on that later.

Clavering does as beautiful a job of describing the French countryside as I hoped she would. At one point, Joanna goes on a bus trip on her own to Château d’Azay-le-Rideau, outside of Tours, and Clavering lavishly paints the scenes that go wizzing by the bus window. But it is Joanna’s impression of the landscape that I want to share.

And why was this so different from its English counterpart? It was made up of the same component parts: rivers, fields and woodland, farm and village and church, yet one would never for a moment imagine oneself to be in Kent or Hampshire. Perhaps it was that the light was different, lacking the soft brightness induced by a damper climate? Joanna thought this over for a mile or so, but came to no definite conclusion and turned her whole attention to enjoying the passing pageant. (78)

This passage struck me, because I had a similar thought when I was on a train bulleting its way through the French countryside. It may not look so different from home, but you could never mistake one for the other. In classic Clavering fashion, there are beautiful descriptions of the parkland around the château, but what I am particularly interested in is how setting affects her characters. 

And yet, nothing she had seen could compare with Azay-le-Rideau. Her preference had not anything to do with sense or reason. She was quite ready to admit that Chenonceau, for instance, was more beautiful, but Chenonceau had made its appeal to her eyes; Azay-le-Rideau, the Lovely Place, appealed to her heart. It might have been partly because it was a happy place; the great events of history, so often tragic, had passed it by. Whatever the cause, she had fallen under its mild and gracious spell immediately she had walked in at the gates, and a part of herself would always belong to it. Could one fall in love with a place? For that was what her feeling for Azay was like, as unreasoning and as irresistible. (84)

It is here that she realises that “Kenneth would not fit into the Lovely Place” as she has christened the Château d’Azay-le-Rideau. As she cannot find fault with the place, then the fault must lie with Kenneth. This is how she realises she does not love him anymore. Joanna is pictured on the dust wrapper gazing at the Château d’Azay-le-Rideau. The château and grounds are open to the pubic, and from the photos on their website, it is no wonder Joanna found this an inspiring place.

I’m sharing the blurb from the first page of this book, which is word for word the same as the blurb found on the inside of the front flap of the dust wrapper minus the first word, which in that case is simply, “Spring”. The blurb basically tells you everything that happens in this book right up to the conclusion, minus specifics.

Springtime, in Touraine, ‘the garden of France’: with blue skies, flowering water meadows, the wide Loire flowing by below the historic châteaux ... everything is so different from her Cotswold home that Joanna, suffering from the shock and humiliation of being jilted in favour of her friend Rosamond, finds her wilting self-confidence gradually restored, though she is determined to have nothing more to do with men.

Her elderly cousin Nigella, writer of children's books, who has brought Joanna to France, thinks otherwise but says nothing. Young men ‘bob up’ as Joanna feels, quite unnecessarily, and Cousin Nigella encourages them because she finds them useful. When her interest in history leads Cousin Nigella into strange places, the young men prove very useful indeed; and in the end one of them provides a fitting climax to Joanna's Spring Adventure.

A bit like old movie trailers, which—while enjoyable in their way—make even the best classics sound fairly awful, blurbs on vintage books have a way of making even the best books sound trite. I actually think this blurb does a goodish job of summarising the book. It even hints at something that I didn’t pick up on until after I finished the book and that is the change in tone that I mentioned. The first two thirds of this book are more in the vein of Rosamunde Pilcher’s earlier books than in the Molly Clavering style I am familiar with, that is the writing Clavering was doing between 1936 and 1956. But on page 128 it takes a sharp left turn and becomes a Mary Stewart romantic suspense complete with a kidnapping and a hare-brained scheme the four young adults cook up to go it alone without the help of the police. Then it was an Enid Blyton, with a picnic feast almost immediately after their near death drama. I honestly thought the elderly cousin, Nigella, was not asleep, but dead in the backseat of the car at this point. I was waiting for them to discover the fact in the middle of their scoffing of sandwiches. The final scene was the part that was the most like the conclusion of some of the other Molly Clavering books I have read, which is not terrifically unlike a Rosamunde Pilcher, now that I come to think of it. 

This book was not at all what I was expecting. But you know what I was expecting? More of the same Molly Clavering that I was already familiar with, which, let’s be honest is a bit dim of me. Writers are meant to change and grow their craft over time. If you are lucky as a reader you will grow with them, but sometimes your paths diverge and that’s all right too. This book was not a parting of the ways between Molly Clavering and me. I did have a lot of fun reading it. I will admit that is in part due to the novelty of reading a rare title by a beloved author. But it is also because I will always love Molly Clavering. It does not matter how many eligible bachelors and unlikely occurrences she throws in my way, she will always be a writer of breathtaking landscapes, women who love the outdoors, and hilarious situations, to me. As a whole, this book felt a bit all over the place. It did have bits that were wonderful, but I think Molly Clavering filled the hole in the story that was left by not setting this book in a community with a large cast of characters, by tacking on a high stakes adventure at the end.

As this is not a particularly glowing review, and this book is also a hard one to find, I thought I would end by sharing the Molly Clavering novels that I loved and are readily available. Yoked with a Lamb is full of funny moments and clever dialogue. This one also deals with infidelity in a marriage in a way that I think shows Clavering’s ability to write about topics of more depth with skill. Dear Hugo is one I adored. The epistolary novel is not one that always works for me, but it is done so well in this book. This one does not follow an expected trajectory either, with the main character Sara leading a busy and fulfilling life without a romantic partner. I have greatly enjoyed Susan Settles Down and the sequel, Touch Not the Nettle, too. But I suspect you cannot go wrong with any of the Molly Clavering titles Dean Street Press have republished.  

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Cover Her Face by P.D. James

I have been (very) slowly collecting the P.D. James books Faber published with the beautiful covers illustrated by Angela Harding. And by slowly, I mean I had a total of four. Two that I got secondhand and were so dirty they needed replacing, and two others. Hardly a collection at all really, but I figured I had time to acquire them slowly. I like to remind myself that there is no rush to collect books when they are in print. It keeps the mad book buying in check. Then it happened. Faber released the Adam Dalgliesh series with new covers. Without changing the ISBNs, might I add. They were coming out in instalments and I had only heard about the change after the first 9 or 10 had been reissued. I rushed to order the remaining four, and despite ordering a month before the new covers were supposed to come out, three of the four books that arrived were the new ones. What a disappointment! 

This is a longwinded way of saying how thankful I am that I was able to find seven more of the Angela Harding covers after that initial incident. There are fourteen books in the Dalgliesh, so I do not have a full set in the Angela Harding covers, but I am telling myself this is fine. Who knows! Perhaps I will find the others secondhand at some point in the future. Preferably without mysterious stains on them like the other two I have. I do hope so!

My takeaway is that if in future I do decide to collect a number of books in a series to either commit to buying them as they are issued or buy one per month until I complete the collection. Otherwise, just don’t do it. 

I think I have rattled on long enough about my little collecting conundrum. Let’s chat about the first book in this series, Cover Her Face.

Faber originally published Cover Her Face in 1962. The dust wrapper has a striking illustration by Charles Mozley of a woman’s face. With just a few brushstrokes the artist has perfectly captured the stillness of death. It is as striking as it is grim. Certainly a cover to grab one’s attention, but I’m not sure if I would have been attracted to it, though I do think the that cover both encapsulates the kind of sparseness that I find in P.D. James’s writing as well as the serious crime in this book. The Angela Harding covers do add a certain romanticised ideal to these books that make them more easily palatable, I think.

St. Cedd’s Church fête is held on the grounds of Martingale manor house on a July afternoon. What with running stalls, ushering nosy visitors out of the house, and checking on her bedridden husband, it’s a busy day for Mrs. Maxie, especially with guests staying over who have come up for the festivities. Oh, and the sudden engagement of her son and the parlour maid, which was not on the agenda. But the final straw is when the aforementioned parlour maid is found dead the next morning. Detective Chief Inspector Adam Dalgliesh is called in and the household is not at all helpful with the investigation. 

The P.D. James novels I have read have felt slow-paced for the genre, and this one was no different. These are quiet novels with few dramatic moments. That might be why when peace gets interrupted—as we know it must, these are crime novels after all—it hits all the harder. 

Dalgliesh is himself a quiet man. He is more than competent, working along with Detective Sergeant Martin who is junior to him in position, but not in age. Dalgliesh is as meticulous and methodical as one would expect of a Scotland Yard detective. He is also obsessive. Living and breathing the job to an extent that he  might not have done, had his wife and son not died. 

One of the things that always strikes me about P.D. James’s novels is how out of date they feel. That doesn’t quite explain it. Neither does calling her novels old or dated. What I mean is that I doubt I would be able to guess what year they were published in. The setting of this one is “a typical Elizabethan manor house” that is very well-staffed, especially for the time (57). It could be the setting for a novel from a decade or two earlier. But then there is the unexpected clash of the modern. In this case, it is the unwed mother working as a parlour maid, who ends up dead. If this was set in the interwar years, I don’t think you would find an unwed mother working at a house like Martingale, even in fiction. Especially not one who was allowed to have her baby living in with her. The parlour maid, Sally, had been recommended by the woman running the local home for unwed mothers, a Miss Liddell, and Mrs. Maxie is busy looking after her bed-bound husband, so the family do not pay much attention to the servants as long as they keep the house running smoothly. 

I won’t give any more details about Sally’s death, than what you would find out from reading the back cover copy. But I will say that I think P.D. James does a good job of subverting reader expectations regarding Sally. Well, to an extent anyway. Sally is our victim, so she certainly does not escape unscathed. However, there is no moralising lesson about Sally’s death being a punishment for her life choices. Thank goodness. She is a good mother, though perhaps not the best parlour maid, if the cook is to be believed. 

Martha had to admit that the baby was at first very little trouble. She put this down to Miss Liddell’s excellent training since it was beyond her comprehension that bad girls could be good mothers. James was a placid child who, for his first two months at Martingale, was content to be fed at his accustomed times without advertising his hunger too loudly and who slept between his feeds in milky contentment. This could not last indefinitely. […] Sally was beginning to spend more time with her child and Martha would often see her during the mornings, her bright head bent over the pram where the sudden emergence of a chubby leg or arm showed that Jimmy’s long periods of sleep were a thing of the past. No doubt his demands would increase. So far Sally had managed to keep up with the work allotted to her and to reconcile the demands of her son with those of Martha. (19-20)

I like that we get a glimpse of the woman that Sally was when her guard was down. With many murder mysteries, there is an unknowability to the victim, and this book is no different. Because the same woman who “screamed with laughter” at her son when he fussed over his food and “caught him to her in a whirl of endearments, loved and fondled him” also shows up to the fête in a similar dress to the daughter of the house, throws her engagement to Mrs. Maxie’s son in the woman’s face, in front of a table full of guests, and threatens to divulge more than one person’s dark secret if they fail to tow the line.

P.D. James answered my burning questions about Sally Jupp. Because as the story goes along I became more and more interested in solving the mystery of Sally. And thank goodness, Dalgliesh has the presence of mind to realise that to uncover a killer, he must first uncover the victim. The title, Cover Her Face is more than just a line from this book where a character quotes John Webster’s play, The Duchess of Malfi. (Although, I should perhaps have read The Duchess of Malfi before even addressing the reference. Oh, well. Too late now!) The full line is, “Cover her face. Mine eyes dazzle. She died young” (IV, ii). There is the heavy suggestion that Dalgliesh, if not ‘cover her face,’ at least, look outside of Martingale for Sally’s murderer. But Dalgleish knows when he is on to something, and gives a most emphatic ‘no’. 

I had such wonderful time with this one that I did something I rarely do. I went ahead and started reading the next book in this series right away. I will have a review for that one up shortly. For now I will say that I enjoyed A Mind to Murder even more than Cover Her Face. I am very much looking forward to continuing on with this series, though I may have to skip some titles until I find those coveted Angela Harding covers!

Speaking of which, I have shared affiliate links to the current editions of Cover Her Face and A Mind to Murder. However, if you prefer the Angela Harding covers, I got mine from an online bookseller in the UK called Postscript Books. They are selling the first four Dalgliesh books together. (You can see them in the last photo.) This is not sponsored or an affiliate link, but I was really impressed with the care they took in packaging my orders, and I will always advocate buying from small businesses, like Postscript Books, when possible. It appears that sell a lot of publisher remnants, and they recently acquired some Handheld Press titles, but they also sell new, non-remnant books as well.

This blog post contains affiliate links for Blackwell’s. As a Blackwell’s Affiliate, I may receive a small commission, at no additional cost to you, if you decide to make a purchase through one of the links on my website. I recommend Blackwell’s because I use them myself. This helps support me in sharing—what I hope is—valuable content. Thank you for your support!

Malice Domestic by Sara Woods

5 Days of Sara Woods — Day 2

“It sounds an interesting case, sir,” said Antony Maitland, hopefully. 

Sir Nicholas Harding regarded him in a considering way, and then remarked, “No doubt,” in no very encouraging tone. After a moment he added, rather more emphatically, “I will not take a case involving an insanity plea. As you very well know.” (1)*

So begins Malice Domestic, the second book in Sara Woods’ 48-book Antony Maitland series. Dean Street Press Ltd. are republishing the first five books in this series on 2 December 2024! To celebrate, I’m posting a review of one book per day leading up to the big day. Yesterday, I reviewed book one, Bloody Instructions. If you haven’t read that post, you may want to read that one first and then come back to this one. There, I talk about the author and provide a more in-depth overview of the main series characters.

Briefly, I will explain that Antony Maitland is junior barrister to his uncle, Sir Nicholas Harding, Queen’s Counsel of the Inner Temple, London. As well as working along side his uncle, Antony and his dependable wife, Jenny, live in a mostly self-contained apartment on the top two floors of Sir Nicholas house at Kempenfeldt Square. Antony was wounded in the Second World War, still carrying injures to his right arm and shoulder, which cause him pain and make it all but impossible for him to drive. Thankfully, Jenny is happy to act as chauffeur when need be.

As I mentioned in my review of Bloody Instructions, it appears there is a trend of Antony bringing interesting cases to his uncle, which his uncle is more than a little reluctant to accept. In this one, Paul Herron has been arrested for shooting his great uncle, William Cassell. Paul was caught with the smoking gun in his hands, literally. He was discovered in the bushes outside the study window through which William had been shot, holding the .22 riffle in question. Paul is described by his grandfather, Ambrose, as having been prone to sleepwalking and odd, as a child,—so unlike his twin brother Timothy—which is why Ambrose insists on a plea of insanity.

“Eighteen years ago Paul Herron’s father shot and killed his wife, his twin brother, and then himself.” The solicitor’s tone was matter-of-fact. Antony murmured, “Women and children first,” and his uncle exploded into violent speech.

“So this is your interesting case!” He turned an accusing glare on his nephew. “A case not only involving an insanity plea, but also two sets of twins (identical twins, in the best story-book tradition, I make no doubt!). And beyond all this—I am to involve myself in the investigation of a shooting eighteen years old!” (5)

I appreciate an author who isn’t afraid to point out the ridiculous in their stories, and Sara Woods does it to such great effect through Sir Nicholas, who is never afraid to speak his mind, especially when he is in conversation with his nephew, Antony. But you know what? The whole two sets of twins thing was handled really well, and it didn’t feel the least bit ridiculous once the story got going. Now, that I’m halfway through book four in this series at the time of writing this review, I would expect nothing less from Sara Woods.

Even when we have an additional two brothers who look very much alike, though they are not twins, I was still onboard. William, the murdered man, and Ambrose, the grandfather of the accused look so similar that Ambrose is certain his grandson, Paul, intended to murder him. What Paul is reported by his brother to have said at the time seems to only confirm this.  “[Paul] turned and looked at Grandfather, and he looked as though he was dreaming; and he said very slowly, ‘I don't understand. I thought it was you!’” (18-19).

I have one last quotation that I want to share. It’s one of those domestic scenes that are what I believe make this series so special.

Jenny Maitland was at home; curled up on the sofa, and half asleep over a book. Antony stood in the doorway for a moment, watching her: her brown curls were ruffled, but touched with gold in the lamp-light; she looked relaxed and contented as a kitten before a fire. He was feeling tired, and discouraged (most illogically), and his shoulder was aching; but he was comforted, as always, merely by finding her there among all the familiar things in the big shabby room. (23)

After this, Antony leans in to kiss Jenny, but interrupts himself. His mind is elsewhere. But instead of being perturbed, Jenny asks him if it’s the case. It’s a small moment, but evidence of why this couple works so well together. The whole beleaguered wife has been done a lot in detective fiction, and I just think it’s such a treat to see a couple that works together as a team, instead of being in confrontation, which I think gets overused as a way of increasing the tension on all fronts, very often to the detriment of the characters.

I cannot express to you how much I am enjoying these books. Sara Woods is such a good storyteller. Her plots are engaging, her pacing is spot on, and her writing is strong. But, as I said in my review of Bloody Instructions, what I think sets these books apart from other detective fiction are the domestic scenes and the strong personal relationships, and that comes down to her well-drawn, fully-fleshed characters.

Bloody Instructions was set between June and July and in the opening of Malice Domestic the Michaelmas term is about to commence, which means it is late September or the beginning of October. So neither book is set in during Christmas, but these red and green book covers were simply asking to be dressed up for the holidays. But I did want to clarify, just in case anyone got the impression these were set during the holidays based on how I had dressed the photos. However, I do think the pair would make a very handsome Christmas gift!

Thank you to Dean Street Press Ltd. for kindly sending me a copy of Malice Domestic for review. As always, all opinions on the book are my own.

Standby, because my review of book three, The Third Encounter, is coming up tomorrow and—you’re not going to believe this—but I think it’s my favourite one yet. If you’re sensing a theme, you are not alone. This series starts strong and stays there. I hope to see you back here tomorrow!

*All page numbers are from the ebook and are not likely to correspond to the paperback edition.

Bloody Instructions by Sara Woods

5 Days of Sara Woods — Day 1

Wow! I actually said that out loud at two o’clock in the morning when I read the last page of Bloody Instructions by Sara Woods. This is the first book in her 48-book Antony Maitland series. I cannot tell you how excited I am that Dean Street Press Ltd. are republishing the first five books in this series on 2 December 2024! To celebrate, I’ll be posting a review of one book per day leading up to the big day. I think a lot of people are going to love these books. I’m so excited to tell you about them!

First off, let’s talk about the brilliant author. Sara Woods is the pen name of Eileen Mary Lana Hutton Bowen Judd. (Try saying that five times fast!) She was born in Bradford, Yorkshire in 1916, married in 1946, and after a dozen years spent farming in rural Yorkshire with her husband, the two moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1958. It is there she began writing mysteries, publishing her first book Bloody Instructions in 1962. She died in 1985 at 69 years old. Which means she wrote about two books a year for 23 years. And I had never heard of her!

As I read Curtis Evans’ wonderful introduction to Bloody Instructions, I felt a personal connection to Sara Woods. She was born in the same city as my mother. Although, 26 years earlier. She also emigrated to Canada, as my mother did. And it wasn’t until sitting down to write this review that I realised they emigrated the same year, in 1958. My mother and grandmother could have come over on the same boat, as Sara Woods. My grandmother would have been about the same age as Sara Woods. There is even the possibility that their paths crossed at some point while they were living in Bradford. I wish I could find that out! Regardless, there is something special about reading a book by a woman that comes from the same place and lived there at the same time as the grandmother I never met.

I could sit here and entertain ‘what ifs’ all day, when what I should be doing is telling you what I loved about Bloody Instructions and why I think Sara Woods is doing something special in this first Antony Maitland book.

When Antony Maitland, barrister-at-law, goes to a nearby firm of solicitors, Messrs. Ling, Curtis, Winter and Winter of Bread Court, just a five minute walk from the Inner Temple, to pick up a missing affidavit from a brief, he finds mild-mannered solicitor, James Winter, has been fatally stabbed in the back at his desk in his chambers. Who would want to murder Winter? And who would have the audacity to do it in the middle of a work day when the building is fully staffed?

There are a number of potential suspects, including Antony, but it is Shakespearean stage actor, Joseph Dowling, that the police see as having the most motive and the opportunity. Dowling’s wife was being represented by Winters in her divorce case. Known for being a bit of a loose canon at times, Dowling was not at his best when he was shouting at Winter not two hours before the solicitor was found dead. 

With some coercion from Antony, Sir Nicholas takes the case—this seems to be a theme in the books—and we get to see the two in action through the investigation in preparation for the trial and to the courtroom where Sir Nicholas shines.

Antony Maitland is tall, dark, and was wounded in the Second World War. He still carries injuries to his right arm and shoulder, and it’s clear that the war has left its mark on him mentally as well. 

“I’m sorry,” [Antony] said again.

“You needn't be. You've done your best, after all.”

Antony stiffened. Once before, in a moment of failure, he had been tossed those words for comfort; and then, as now, they had seemed the final insult, the ultimate condemnation. (168)*

He has the tendency to stutter when he is angry, and on occasion we get hints of his traumatic history. Although, having just finished book two I’m not sure if that is entirely from the war or from personal losses earlier in life. Although, I am happy to report that we find out in book three which occasion is being alluded to in the above quotation.

 Jenny, Anthony’s wife, has curly brown hair, is loyal, has a great sense of humour and in my opinion is very patient with both her husband and her husband’s uncle, Sir Nicholas Harding, Queen’s Counsel of the Inner Temple, London. 

The couple live in a mostly self-contained apartment on the top two floors of Sir Nicholas house at Kempenfeldt Square. This was intended to be a temporary set up during the war when the couple first got married, but none of them have felt the need to change it. Sir Nicholas is often upstairs for dinner, when his cook has the night off and has had the audacity to leave him something cold. And Antony often comes in late and seeing his uncle’s study light on, heads in there to find his uncle and his wife by the fire. This brings us to what I think makes this series special, the domestic details. They don’t take away from the plot, rather seeing these three characters together provides insight into their characters. We see Antony’s love and appreciation for his wife in the moments when he is observing her unnoticed. 

He looked at her more searchingly for a moment, trying to see her as a stranger might, her slim figure silhouetted against the red velvet hangings of the box, and her brown curls shining. Her eyes were probably her best feature: grey eyes, with a quality of steadfastness. For the rest... but what a soulless thing was a mere catalogue: she was Jenny, he reflected with a sudden surge of affection, and the most beautiful thing in the world. He smiled to himself, to think how she herself would have greeted such an extravagance. And Jenny looked round with an answering smile, as though she had known his thought, and the moment of detachment was gone. (60)

We see how Jenny acts as a buffer between Antony and Sir Nicholas when the two are rubbing each other the wrong way. And we see Sir Nicholas’s close working relationship with his nephew, as Antony is his uncle’s junior barrister, and how he is grooming his protégé for the law, while at the same time, he trusts Antony’s instincts even as he is giving him a hard time. 

“I shouldn’t have lost my temper,” [Antony] said, at last. “That just made matters worse.”

Sir Nicholas pushed back his plate, took a sip of claret, and held up his glass as though to observe the colour of the wine.

“I don't agree with you there,” he said. “The mistake you made was in behaving like a schoolboy when first Sykes talked to you!” 

Antony was drawing patterns on the tablecloth with his fork. He was beginning to see now, with distressing clarity, the implications of what had passed at Scotland Yard. It was obvious, too, that his uncle was perfectly alive to the situation; hence—in part—his anger. (74)

We can easily imagine how empty Sir Nicholas’s private life would be if he didn’t have Antony and Jenny living with him. This evening I finished the second book in this series and immediately started the third. I love these characters and I already know that I am going to be mourning their loss when I finish the last book Dean Street Press Ltd. has republished. I am very much hoping that these ones get the readership they deserve and the publisher is able to continue republishing Sara Woods’ books.

While this book falls under the category of traditional detective fiction, it is so much more than that. If a good whodunit was all Bloody Instructions had to offer, it would be a good enough book, but the thing that elevates this book to one I see myself returning to again are the interesting and compelling character dynamics. In my opinion, Sara Woods is a master of mystery and character. I applaud Dean Street Press Ltd. for exercising their good taste by bring this lost author’s incredible books back into print.

While this book starts in June and runs through to the third week of July, I could not help but dress up this beautiful red cover for Christmas. By accident or by design, the first two books in this series have red and green covers and I felt it would have been remiss of me to pass up such an opportunity.

Thank you to Dean Street Press Ltd. for kindly sending me a copy of Bloody Instructions for review. As always, all opinions on the book are my own.

My review of book two, Malice Domestic, will go up tomorrow. Hope to see you then!

*All page numbers are from the ebook and are not likely to correspond to the paperback edition.

56 Weeks with Nancy Drew - The Clue in the Diary

Week 7, Book 7

Welcome to the 56 Weeks with Nancy Drew series! If you are new here, welcome. You can find my introductory post to this series here. Please note I will be including plot spoilers in this review series. I explain my reasoning at the start of this post.

Edition pictured: Revised text (20 chapters, 174 pages)

Cover illustrated by: Bill Gillies

Revised text publication date: 1962

Original text publication date: 1932

My edition printed: approx. 1977

Ghostwriter: Mildred A. Wirt Benson

Editors: Edna Stratemeyer Squier & Harriet Stratemeyer Adams

Revised by: Harriet Stratemeyer Adams

Setting: River Heights, Sandy Creek, Mapleton, Stanford

Originally published in 1932 and written by Mildred Wirt, I will be reviewing the revised text edition of The Clue in the Diary, published in 1962 and pictured above. 

Nancy Drew and her friends enjoy a picnic by the roadside on their way home from a carnival in Sandy Creek (Diary 1-2). They spend the time reminiscing about their day until the light fades. On the way home, the girls drive through an affluent area. While admiring some of the homes, there is an explosion and they see a house burst into flames. Worried people may be inside, they rush to the scene (4). Nancy sees a man running away from the house and shortly after she stumbles across a diary that has been dropped on the ground (6-9). Could it be a clue to the mysterious explosion?  

Before they leave town, Nancy’s car is rear-ended, she meets the ever helpful Ned Nickerson, and she finds out that the man whose house was destroyed is unanimously disliked. How’s that for a day at the fair?

In this one, Nancy finds a missing person, uncovers a money order theft operation inside the post office, stops an unscrupulous business man, saves an innocent man from a life behind bars, and reunites a family. Along the way, she runs into the side of a doghouse, nearly knocking herself out, gets rear ended, slapped in the face, and shaken by the shoulders. 

And she still has enough time to have a picnic, invite herself and her friends over to someone’s house for dinner (it’s fine, she’s buying), prove she knows the Swedish language when she sees it, help out with the chores, go grocery shopping,  show she is just as susceptible to road rage as the rest of us, go to a frat party (better you than me, Nancy), see a historical mystery film, get questioned by the police, share an afternoon cuppa with Hannah, eat 13 meals, one ice cream soda, and flirt like mad with Ned Nickerson, who appears on the scene to offer his services so many times that any woman in her right mind would assume she had a stalker.

Time of year

I only noticed one clue as to the time of year in this book, and even then it doesn’t give much away. It is a comment made by an elderly man among the locals who have flocked to watch the fire.

    “ 'Pears mighty strange to me that a fire would start when the place ain’t been occupied all summer” (17-18)

From this we could assume it is still summer or the man is referring to the summer that has just past. I’m inclined to believe this one is set during the summer because Ned Nickerson is around home too often for someone who is supposed to be away at college. Ned does take Nancy to a dinner dance being held at the home of one of his fraternity brothers (91). But I think the fact that the party is being held at someone’s home and not the fraternity house, also suggests it could be summertime.

Timeline

This book is set over seven consecutive days, which is fairly standard for the books in this series. It could be set from Monday to Sunday, but the only indicator we have of this is what Bess says on day six.

    “I was to go out with Jeff Allan tonight, but I’ll put it off again.” (148)

Planned dates usually happen on Saturday nights in these books. However, if day six is a Saturday night then that means Nancy and Ned went to the dinner dance on a Thursday, which seems off. But I do think that that must be the case. If for no other reason than that no mention is made of Nancy going to church in this book and when she is at home she always makes time for church. The only activity that is mentioned on the last day in this book is a victory celebration at the Drew home. Unless she had been up very late the night before and Hannah thought she should sleep in, I’m sure Nancy would have gone to church. However, it may have been awkward to mention it with the way the scenes piece together. Nancy broaches the idea of having a victory dinner to Mr. Swenson and the plan is discussed, then it cuts to that dinner the next day. 

If Nancy and Ned did go out on a Thursday night, that would lend further credence to it being summertime. It does not seem likely that a conscientious person like Ned would go out on a school night. 

The Mystery of the Two Neds

There is a particular kind of joy that comes with reading a book series in order. In this case, it’s very particular! I’ll explain by showing you a bit of dialogue that made me cackle.

    “I’m Ned Nickerson,” he declared with a warm smile. “Anything I can do?” (16)

That sounds a lot like an introduction, doesn’t it? That’s because it is one. Which is odd because Nancy was supposed to have been dating someone named Ned two books ago, in The Secret of Shadow Ranch.

    “As for you, Nancy he’s really flipped!”

    “And what’ll poor Ned do?” George teased.

    Nancy grinned. “We’ll be home but the time he gets back from Europe.” (Ranch 111)

At first I thought this was a mistake. We have already established that in these books time is fluid. Way too many books are set in and around the summer for the timeline to work. From The Bungalow Mystery to The Mystery at Lilac Inn time is completely disregarded. At the end of The Bungalow Mystery we are told when the next book is set. 

    In less than a week, Nancy was facing up to the challenge of The Mystery at Lilac Inn. (Bungalow 179; emphasis added)

I believe The Bungalow Mystery is set during the last week of July. (You can find my reasoning with proof from the text here.) But instead of starting in August, The Lilac Mystery is set in May.

    The next second something rammed the canoe violently. The impact capsized the craft, hurling Nancy and Helen into the chilly May water. (Lilac 2; emphasis added)

Until now, we have never met a character for the first time that had been mentioned in a previous book. As far as I’m concerned, it’s absolute madness. That can mean only one thing. There must be two Neds!

I know, I know. These are books that have one person writing the outlines, another person writing the text, another editing, and still more people revising that text 30 years later. These books are for children, and perhaps they were not intended for close reading. It is also very possible that the publisher did not take as much interest in timelines as I do! But I think children are just as likely to pick up on details as adults are. Perhaps, more so when you consider that a lot of children reread books over and over again, and rereading seems to be a habit that is less prevalent with adult readers. Although, I do know many adults who revisit the same books again and again, and I count myself lucky to be among the number of people who know the joy that comes from rereading beloved books.

I would love to check the original text to see if Ned gets a mention in that version of The Secret of Shadow Ranch. Without the ability to do that, at this point, I would say that the Ned referred to there is an entirely different Ned. Nancy certainly treats him much more casually than she treats Ned Nickerson in The Clue in the Diary. In this book we are made to believe that this Ned is special. 

    He had been rather curious concerning Nancy’s new acquaintance. Mr. Drew sensed that his daughter was more interested in him than in other young men whom she dated. (Diary 33)

And besides Carson Drew’s interpretation of the situation, and the number of times George and Bess tease Nancy about Ned, Nancy is shown to be more excited about Ned than she has been about any other man in this series thus far.

    After Ned had hung up, Nancy fairly danced back into the bedroom. She sent one slipper flying toward the bed, and the other into the far corner of the room. The young sleuth attempted to convince herself that her jubilant spirits were the result of Ned’s discovery. The ring might be a clue to the identity of the person who had set the Raybolt house on fire. Bess and George, she knew, would have interpreted her reaction very differently! (27-28)

Nancy is attempting to convince herself that she is excited about Ned’s discover. It doesn’t say anything about her being successful in her attempt.

    “Ned Nickerson has phoned you five times, Nancy,” Hannah said with a smile. “It seems that he wants to invite you to a dinner dance. One of his fraternity brothers is giving it—on the spur of the moment—tonight. Ned would like you to call. I have the number.”

    Nancy’s heart was already pounding with excitement as she dialed. Of course she would accept! (91)

Nancy, full of excitement for something other than a mystery? It can’t be!

“Singing a gay tune” as she showers and changes, she is “[s]till humming gaily” when she heads downstairs three-quarters of an hour later (91, 92).

Now, this isn’t to say that Nancy is about to throw up all of this mystery malarkey for a young man. She is just as passionate about solving this mystery as she always is when she comes across a problem that needs solving. She even does a little sleuthing at the party, by questioning a young man whose father is the Stanford postmaster about missing letters.

    Just then a record of dance music began to play and Ned claimed Nancy. For the remainder of the evening there was no chance to resume the conversation about stolen letters. But throughout the evening, the matter was constantly on her mind. By the time the party was over and she had said good night to Ned, the young sleuth had a theory about the thefts. (95)

Despite her attraction to Ned, Nancy is just as focused on crime solving as she has ever been. From the passage above, there is every indication that Nancy can successfully balance crime solving and a relationship. Although, I’m not sure how much Ned would appreciate it if he knew his date’s mind wasn’t entirely focused on him!

There is only one other indication that Nancy might not be as serious about the relationship as Ned is, and it comes at the very end of the book.

    “Say,” said Ned, “I have a notion to start a diary of my own!”

    “Why don’t you?” Nancy asked lightly.

    She became conscious that Ned’s eyes were looking straight at her. “I will if I can fill most of the pages with entries of dates with you.”

    Nancy evaded the question. “I enjoyed your help in solving the Swenson mystery. Maybe we’ll soon find another one we can work on together.” (174)

This sounds like a brush off to me. Nancy might as well have said, ‘can we just be friends?’ or, ‘let’s keep this relationship professional’. The other side of this is that Nancy may not have felt it prudent to respond with too much excitement to Ned’s suggestion. Did nice girls in 1962 avoid appearing overly eager? Maybe. 

But if that’s the case, then why change now? She couldn’t have been more obvious in her feelings up until this point in the story. Is it that without the excitement of a mystery to solve, Ned has lost some of his allure? For Ned’s sake, I hope this isn’t the case. I hope there are two Neds, that Ned Nickerson and the Ned mentioned so offhandedly in The Secret of Shadow Ranch are two characters that happen to share the same first name. Otherwise, Nancy’s feelings for Ned really do go downhill. And he will always be at risk of being ousted for the next handsome man with a mystery for Nancy to solve.

Favourite quotation

Now, for my favourite quotation, which is completely unrelated to what we’ve been discussing.

I don’t know which came first. My love of Nancy Drew or my obsession with car chases, but I do know that scenes like the following fed my imagination when I was a child.

    Nancy stole a glance out of the rear window. Her spirits sank. The State Police car was gaining on them, but did not look as though it was going to pass the convertible.

    An uneasy thought crossed Nancy’s mind. “If those troopers are after Joe Swenson, then George, Bess, and I might be arrested for aiding a suspected criminal to escape!” (117)

The idea of being in a car and looking behind you to see that someone was “gaining” on you gave me such a thrill when I was little. The word still gives me a little thrill!

If you read this book, tell me which scene was your favourite. And I would love to hear any and all thoughts you have on my theory of the two Neds!