A review of The Dr Britling Stories – Volume 1 – by James Ronald – 240316
Moonstone Press have recently reissued the first volume of a collection of short stories and a novel-cum novella from the crime writer, James Ronald, with the promise of more to come. Curiously, despite the title, the final story in volume one does not involve his police surgeon cum amateur detective, Dr Daniel Britling. Instead the hero in Blind Man’s Buff, the first story that Ronald had published, in 1929, is Martin Longworth, a blind man who uses his heightened sensory powers to identify and ensnare a murderer who has eluded the police for eight years. It is a very effective and powerful story.
Ronald was a prolific writer and had a reputation as a writer of pulp fiction, many of his works finding their way into the many pulp fiction magazines that were around at the time. Do not let that put you off as he is a better writer than that. He writes with pace and urgency and while he has a tendency to veer towards the melodramatic and sensational and the plotting is rather obvious, his stories are compelling with more than a nod to Conan Doyle and R Austin Freeman. The genre of pulp fiction, with copy written to tight deadlines, means that what is lost in polish is more than made up for in action.
The opening story, Green Ghost Murder, published in April 1931, sees Britling recuperating from a bout of pneumonia but the lure of a local mystery, the re-emergence of the Green Ghost of Heaton, proves to be too much for his detective instincts to resist. Of course, there is a more corporeal answer to the mayhem being caused on the streets and Britling unmasks the culprit. For the reader there is little mystery as to whodunit and for those looking for more meaning in a slight story that probably would not bear it, it is a commentary on the desperate employment conditions of the time and what people would do to maintain their job and enhance their prospects.
Too Many Motives from April 1930 is slightly more compelling, with a financier, Mark Savile, with a reputation for being a ruthless operator, inviting four associates whom he hates to dinner. During the meal he takes delight in insulting his guests. Later, he is found dead, although his guests had all left the building while he was alive. Did one or more return to do him in or was there another explanation? Of course, to his police colleagues’ dismay, Britling can see the wood for the trees.
Whereas Too Many Motives borrows wholesale from a Sherlock Holmes story, Find The Lady, published in May 1931, just takes the general concept from one of Conan Doyle’s cases. It also involves a character, Lord Clavering, who was caught up in Mark Savile’s deadly stratagems. Again, what really happened is fairly easy to spot but the disappearance of Lady Frances Dorian and her maid from a hotel in Brighton has more in the way of a real detective story with clues garnered from a number of on the spot interrogations of key witnesses.
The novel, Six Were To Die, is great fun with six financiers, who had left a colleague to carry the can for their defalcations, are threatened with death. During the course of the story, and despite Dr Britling’s best efforts, five are to die and the methods employed to bring about their deaths show an ingenuity that has to be marvelled at. If I was to be harsh, my disappointment with the story is that Britling’s focus seems to be more on how the murders were committed than the conclusions that could be drawn from the to prevent a recurrence. It takes an intervention from his twin sister, Eunice, who is not above a bit of insider trading herself, and her observations on the methods of a housekeeper to put Britling on the right track.
The denouement, melodramatic for sure, is at least exciting and while the murderer’s identity is known from the start, the big reveal is how he was able to penetrate into the house to carry out his clever murders.
Ronald’s fascination with the sordid world of high finance is an interesting reflection on a country plunged into a depression and struggling to deal with the aftermath of the great stock market crashes. They are stories of their time and while they may not have worn too well with age, they are entertaining enough to occupy an evening or so. I am looking forward to the second volume.
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