The Perfect Murder Case

The Perfect Murder Case – Christopher Bush

Published in 1929 when Bush was still writing in his spare time while earning his living as a school teacher and new reissued for a modern readership by Dean Street Press, this is his second book and the second to feature, tangentially, his amateur sleuth, Ludovic Travers. I am reading them in chronological order and only have another sixty-one to go.

It is the ambition of many a murder, all perhaps, is to commit the perfect the murder, one so meticulous and precise in its planning and execution that the murderer will escape all attempts to bring them to justice and force them to dance the hemp jig, as execution by hanging was still the judicial penalty if convicted. Scotland Yard receive a brief note from someone signing themselves as Marius warning the authorities that he is going to commit a murder. More follow giving details of where and when the murder will be committed and despite police precautions Thomas T Richleigh, a disagreeable but rich man, is found dead with a knife protruding from his chest. Marius has struck, but who is the culprit?

The set up for the murder is a classic locked room mystery with doors and windows locked from the inside. Durangos Limited, for whom Travers works and which has a private investigation unit headed by an ex-Scotland Yarder, John Franklin, see the PR value of cracking this seemingly insoluble mystery. They aid, abet and sometimes frustrate the police investigation, led by Superintendent Wharton. As investigations proceed, the suspects are whittled down to Richleigh’s nephews, who will inherit the victim’s estate, but all four seem to have cast-iron alibis.

Structurally, the book has an interesting opening which forms a prologue and plays out three very disparate scenes which, Bush assures us, will enable the attentive reader to piece together the clues which will lead to unmasking the culprit. A nickname and auditions for the part to play a contemporary comedian are crucial to resolving the case. The other interesting structural point is that the identity of the murder is fairly obvious midway through the story and is revealed as such by Bush but the ingenuity of the plotting is revealing how it was committed and obtaining sufficient proof to secure a conviction.

Needless to say, Wharton and Travers achieve this with aplomb, although Travers plays second fiddle in the investigation, content to remain in the background, operating as a sounding board and providing hints as to what avenues to pursue. The establishment of Travers as a criminal-busting super sleuth is clearly a slow-burn of a project. No wonder Bush needed sixty-three books to complete the series.

I found the book an entertaining read and, true to his word, Bush did play fair with the reader in his plotting and in the clues he sprinkled through the narrative and it was possible to work out how it was done. Bush’s style is undemanding, always a difficult trick to pull off, and his characters well-drawn. This was such an engrossing read that I galloped to the end.

Murder is not as easy as it seems. I am looking forward to encountering Travers in his next adventure.

The Plumley Inheritance

The Plumley Inheritance – Christopher Bush

Charlie Christmas “Christopher” Bush is a new writer to me, although as a prolific author of murder mystery stories, he published 63 all featuring Ludovic Travers, his amateur sleuth, and Inspector Wharton, there is more than enough to keep me going for quite a while. Bush did not stop there, penning several mysteries under the noms de plume of Michael Home and Noel Barclay. A schoolteacher by profession, after distinguished service in the First World War rising to the rank of Major, his early novels were written in his spare time before his success convinced him to write full-time. He is another of those writers whose popularity has waned but, thanks to Dean Street Press, his books are being reissued to be discovered by a modern audience.

There is always a difficult choice when picking up a new writer, whether to start with those works that have received particular critical acclaim or to plough through the books in chronological order. I have chosen the latter option and The Plumley Inheritance is his first, published in 1926. Travers is not an ordinary amateur sleuth, preferring to rely upon the sharpness of his brain, honed up into a formidable weapon by completing the crosswords in the Times and Telegraph. In this book, Travers does not even take centre stage, leaving his pal Geoffrey Wrentham to do much of the leg work.

In many ways the plot is straightforward. Henry Plumley is a financier who is facing financial ruin. While making a political speech in a public meeting he commits suicide, choosing to direct some obscure remarks towards his son just before the bitter end. It leads to the theory that Plumley has salted much of his personal fortune away to keep it out of the hands of his creditors, but where is it? And what has a list of eccentric items he had asked Wrentham to assemble some months earlier have to do with it all. Of course, they hold the key to the mystery.

There are different groups plotting to reveal the secret of Plumley’s lolly, leading to the murder of one of Plumely’s secretaries, thwarted plans and aspirations and much nocturnal rummaging in flower beds at Plumley’s country home. Set shortly after the end of the First World War, telephones are in short supply and bicycles are the preferred means of transport. It is a world away from the tech-reliant modern thrillers.

Wrentham is the all-action hero and seems to have stepped out of the pages of a PG Wodehouse novel, his language peppered with the sort of upper-class slang you would expect to hear from Bertie Wooster. While Wrentham leads the charge, Travers lurks in the background but it is clear that he has the brains to match his colleague’s brawn. I assume that as the series progresses, Travers will come into the fore and Wrentham will make a graceful exit stage left.

I enjoyed Bush’s style which keeps the story moving and it has enough excitement and danger to keep the reader on their toes and entertained. Although fairly clued and the number of possible suspects limited, the denouement comes as a bit of a surprise, a letter revealing all. I had not worked it all out by the time the truth was revealed, which added to my enjoyment of the book.

I will look forward to reading the next Travers mystery.