A Case for Solomon (1943) by Bruce Graeme

‘“Facts or no facts, Sergeant, I am willing to make a very small bet with you that the man who murdered Smallwood had only just borrowed the copy of Rosamund, and was not returning it.”’

Why?

‘“Because the majority of people never dream of returning borrowed books,’ Terhune replied drily.”’

This is the third book in the Theodore Terhune bookseller series, a series I was excited to be getting back to, having started the series earlier this year.

Synopsis

‘“Frank Hugh Smallwood was first murdered on the 15th of April, 1927.” Bookseller Theodore Terhune investigates an old homicide case after he stumbles on the freshly murdered corpse of seaman Frank Smallwood, a man thought to have been killed nearly twenty years previously during a houseboat party on the Thames. Smallwood’s alleged killer, Charles Cockburn, was convicted and served a lengthy prison sentence before being killed in the war. So who wants Smallwood dead now? And what actually happened between Smallwood and Cockburn all those years ago? A book of poetry found lying near the body puts Terhune on the trail of an unlikely murderer, in this entertaining blend of detective story and courtroom drama.’

Overall Thoughts

The blurb for this story promises a great deal, offering the reader an intriguing plot premise. I had high hopes for this novel, and I am happy to say that these hopes were surpassed! One of the key reasons for this is that Graeme’s fusion of crime fiction subgenres is shown at its best in this story, and it is shows that done well, subgenre blending can deliver a great read.

John Norris who writes the introductions to the Moonstone Press reprints of the Terhune series, notes that: ‘once again the novel defies categorisation and is an amalgam of several subgenres.’ These include the bibliomystery, the traditional detective novel, the courtroom drama and also arguably the cold case mystery. Having now read the book I can safely say that Graeme combines these styles superbly, resulting in a satisfying mystery to follow.

The narrative does not attempt to be all of these styles at once, but instead one will gain prominence for time, before receding into the background for another to take its place. When the investigation into the murder begins, I would say the bibliomystery is in the foreground. John propounds that: ‘Graeme continually found inventive ways to incorporate books and manuscripts into the plots of the Theodore Terhune mystery series, never once repeating himself.’ This is a statement I strongly agree with and the way the book element is deployed in today’s read was particularly enjoyable for me. Tracking down the owner of the dropped book provides useful narrative propulsion when the police investigation starts out but is then not overused later in the plot. I liked how the flyleaf initials, cross referenced with those who might use the footpath, is used to try, and narrow down who the killer could be before the corpse has been identified. John continues that Graeme’s:

‘contemporaries may have detectives who read voraciously and often quoted “great works” (Gervase Fen, Lord Peter Wimsey, Sir John Appleby, among many others), or were involved in the book trade themselves (Elizabeth Daly’s Henry Gamage, Joel and Garda Glass in Fast Company by Marco Page), but Graeme’s bookseller detective displayed his knowledge of books in a fashion that is intrinsic to solving the mystery […] What makes the Terhune books stand out as some of the most innovative bibliomysteries of the Golden Age is that the stories could not exist without the presence of unusual books or manuscripts. Not only are they essential clues, but these books become additional characters that dominate the action, never far from discussion, never ignored by Terhune.’

In addition, I particularly enjoyed the way the transcript of the first trial for Smallwood’s presumed death in 1927 is utilised. It is effectively used to provide essential backstory information in an engaging way, but it also allows the reader to be a biblio-detective like Terhune, analysing and inferring character from what the witnesses and defendant say. We are allowed to read Terhune’s thoughts as he reads through the transcript and we can see how they evolve at times. One instance of this is with the fiancée of Patricia Webb. Her answers at the trial, when written down, contain no tone so can be read in more than one way and the narrative picks up on that: ‘For some reason Patricia Webb, from the first, had been, for Terhune, a less ‘visionable’ person than the other witnesses who had preceded her.’ At this stage Terhune perceives her more negatively, as the story posits the idea of her being morally questionable/responsible for what happened by hesitating over which man in her life to choose. There is the suggestion that if she had acted more honourably, and then didn’t hedge her bets, then nothing would have occurred. However, this perception shifts as the trial transcript ends with Terhune concluding that:

‘Now that he had had the opportunity of reading the rest of Patricia Webb’s evidence, Terhune considered that she was more real to him than she had been at first […] For the rest, Terhune believed her to be no more and no less than a rather nice, suburban girl who, not from any vicious motive, had behaved foolishly.’

Furthermore, the transcript seemingly builds up the picture, through circumstantial evidence in the main, that Charlie Cockburn must have killed Frank in 1927. Yet as we are reading it we know that cannot be true, so we are left intrigued and puzzled as to what really happened that fateful night.

In keeping with the other books in the series that I have read, Graeme opens his mystery well, deploying social comedy expertly, with a customer talking Terhune’s ear off inside his shop. The depiction of the minor characters is a consistent strength of the series. Some of these characters have made more than one appearance in the books and it is this sense of series, in the village scenes, which puts me in mind of the BBC Father Brown TV programmes. I also found it amusing when Terhune informs DS Murphy about the body:

‘You are not really trying to tell me you have really hit upon another murder? […] It isn’t possible! There is a law of average – to say nothing of coincidence. Three murders in less than that number of years in a little market town like Bray –’

Perhaps the market town of Bray is the literary processor of Midsomer Murders! The discovery of Frank’s body is equally well done, and the finding of the book provides Terhune with an enjoyable Sherlock Holmes moment when he gets to explain why he thinks the fallen book was left at a certain time.

One extra mystery that I have had on my mind when reading the Terhune series is the question of when the books are actually set. The series began to be published during WW2, yet the texts did not include any references to a war going on, so I wondered if they had been set pre-WW2. However, I finally found a more definitive answer in today’s read. A Case for Solomon, the third book in the series, was published in 1943 and the supposed first killing of Smallwood is said to take place 19 years previously to the current day of the book. The date for this is set in 1927. Consequently, this means that the book must be set in 1946 and there are also references in the text to what the original witnesses/suspects got up to during WW2. This means that in the context of the story WW2 has ended prior to 1946. For example, at one it is written that: ‘the more popular among the morning newspapers made the most of it, as well they might, for the unexpected denouement was the most sensational happening since the end of the Second World War.’ Whilst the conclusion of the war meets this timeframe, it intrigued me that Graeme envisages this as early as 1943. Was the ending of the war that certain at that point? It is also interesting to see how Graeme depicts post-WW2 life, as it seems to be more like pre-WW2 life and furthermore, this depiction is started from the very first book which was published in 1941.

One thing I noticed in this story was that the two possible love interests for Terhune, Julie and Helena, are much less present in this book. Helena is there when the body is found, and Julie makes a couple of appearances here and there, but the investigation itself is centred on Terhune and DS Murphy, who work together. There is a hilarious moment when Terhune gets caught up in a scuffle around a post box and it is these small scenes, which make me think this set of mysteries could make a very pleasing TV series or two (and they could probably recycle the costumes from Father Brown too!)

Whilst there is a little bit of a deux ex machina element to the tracking down of the owner the book, I felt this was not frustrating or annoying, as the trail has to go much further before the case is solved. Moreover, what really makes this such a brilliant read is the final 70 pages of the book. They are full of intrigue, tension and surprises and this reader, at any rate, came away feeling very satisfying with the denouement. It had the zip of a twisty courtroom mystery and hues of pathos, which belie the human drama that has taken place. There is a definite hint of Berkeley about this book – but in a good way! I don’t think it is a solution I have encountered before. Furthermore, this novel impressed me because it showed that the central amateur sleuth did not need to be on every page and be involved in every aspect of the story to have full impact. Terhune was used in an effective manner, appearing when his presence was crucial, but then taking a back seat when his enforced inclusion would have ruined the perfect pitch the story was operating at without him.

So all in all this is definitely a book I can strongly recommend, which means that my rankings, to date, for this series are as follows:

1. A Case for Solomon (1943)
2. Seven Clues in Search of a Crime (1941)
3. House with Crooked Walls (1942)

Rating: 5/5