Cat’s Paw (1931) by Roger Scarlett

Roger Scarlett was the penname for writing duo, Dorothy Blair and Evelyn Page and it has been nice to return to their work, as it has been four years since I read The Beacon Hill Murders (1930) and The Back Bay Murders (1930). Curtis Evans writes the introduction for the American Mystery Classic reprint, so regular readers of his work will not be surprised to learn it is thoroughly researched. That comes as standard with Curtis.

Classic crime seems to have attracted many writing duos, the most famous pairing arguably being Ellery Queen, who were publishing contemporaneously to the Scarlett mysteries. Roger Scarlett did not achieve the same high profile as Queen, although their mysteries are popular in Japan. Curtis mentions that they were ‘championed by the great crime writers Seishi Yokomizo and Edogawa Rampo.’

Curtis’ introduction also includes snippets from a contemporary interview Wesley Griswold conducted with the pair and I enjoyed learning about the different roles Dorothy and Evelyn took on in the writing process. Evelyn did the initial writing after Dorothy outlined the story, but Dorothy was also in charge of ‘smoothing out snarls in the action, adding drama to the discovery of clues and finesse to the solution of the crime. She often sketche[d] a crude graph which indicate[d] where the peaks of suspense are to be raised.’ In this interview the duo also offered their thoughts on the art of writing mystery fiction, with one opining that:

‘The hardest job in writing a detective story is to protect the murderer from discovery… Of course we employ the normal number of red herrings, but only to test the reader’s mettle. We prepare one character for the dumb reader to fasten his suspicions upon, another to mislead the slightly more intelligent murder mystery fan, and for the really smart reader, with whom we have the most fun, we lay a trail of clues which, if he’s as adroit as he thinks he is, will lead him directly to the criminal.’

I think passages like this are interesting as they reveal what an author’s priorities are when putting a mystery story together.

I also enjoyed finding out how the Scarlett penname was decided upon. It transpires that the pair were looking for a name for their bulldog and thought it would make a better penname instead. The dog in question was later named Podge and they also had two cats called Liberia and Congo and a Newfoundland named Puck.

Synopsis

‘Martin Greenough’s walled-off mansion is the last remaining holdout in the Boston parkland known as the Fenway–and the fact that it eluded condemnation by the city is a testament to the elderly bachelor’s great wealth. Childless and nearing the end of his life, he surrounds himself with only his cat, his servants, and a friend, Mrs. Warden–to say nothing of the circle of extended family members whose lives he both subsidizes and rules from afar, the nieces and nephews who all seem to be more fond of Uncle Mart’s money than they are of his character. On the eve of his birthday, Greenough requests the presence of his heirs at his home, insisting that he has something important to discuss. Before that discussion can take place, though, the man is murdered in his study. In one way or another nearly everyone there would benefit by his death, and none gathered seem terribly upset by it, so finding the culprit is no easy task for Inspector Kane of the Boston PD. But as he untangles the threads and unburies dark family secrets, the discovery of a bizarre clue might hold the key to solving the crime.’

Overall Thoughts

It is always nice to start a mystery with a floor plan, so Scarlett got a big tick there. I was also intrigued by the proposed structure for the novel. Inspector Kane, series sleuth, is not in the case from the start, as he has just come back from a holiday. The opening chapter reveals that his legal friend Underwood is tasked with relating all the details of the case to him and these are divided into two sections. The first charts the events leading up to the murder of Martin, whilst the second section shows the investigative efforts made by Sergeant Moran. This structure puts Kane initially into the role of armchair detective, although in the third and final part of the book he does follow up some clues/leads, before delivering the final solution.  

I liked this idea, although I am not sure it is used as effectively as it could have been. I felt the final section was the weakest in terms of structure and puzzle development. I found Inspector Kane too secretive in this part and consequently some of his elliptic remarks skate over discoveries a little quickly and also give him the appearance making big deductive leaps, (even if that is not quite the case). I wonder if the narrative would have been better if Kane had interjected some of his thoughts on the case before the final section.

The final section maybe also jarred a little for me, as I didn’t think Sergeant Moran’s investigation in the middle section was that bad. He asked the right questions; repetition of previously known information is minimised, and Moran works through the suspects in a manner that avoids ponderous theorising. Yet despite this he suddenly decides he can’t solve the case and that he must wait for Inspector Kane to take over. To me this felt abrupt.

However, this was the only major niggle I had with the story. Roger Scarlett provides the reader with a suitably unpleasant, but also interesting patriarchal figure in Martin. I felt his depiction more clearly showed how his own controlling behaviour contributed to the avaricious nature of his heirs and their sense of entitlement.

The murder does not occur until 124 pages into the story, but I think this was time very well spent, as the writers injected a goodly dose of family drama into the mix, such as when it is realised that one of Martin’s heirs, Blackstone, has brought his fiancée to the gathering and it turns out she is the woman, Martin prevented from marrying another of his heirs. V guvax gur cerfhzrq ybir gevnatyr orgjrra Oynpxfgbar, Fgryyn naq Senapvf jnf qrcyblrq irel jryy nf n fzbxrfperra, nf vg fyvcf va n erq ureevat juvpu pna chg gur ernqre bss ybbxvat va bgure qverpgvbaf. [Sentence is in ROT13 Code due to spoilers. This affects later paragraphs also]

Other things I really enjoyed about the story include the role of the firework display in the case and the way the authors make good use of their subplot subterfuges. Sometimes dead ends to investigations can feel arbitrary, yet I felt Roger Scarlett were adept at fusing these subplot threads into the main puzzle plot and the connections made were interesting.

Returning to the interview the writers did with Griswold, red herrings are mentioned as an important feature of the mystery construction process and I think Roger Scarlett deployed their red herrings in this case well. Some I managed to avoid falling into (fhpu nf gur xyrcgbznavn fpnz Uhgpuvafba gevrf gb chyy), but there are others which I didn’t clock (fhpu nf gur erq ureevat pbapreavat jura gur zheqre gbbx cynpr.) This is the second book in the row where I have had my eye on the right killer, yet not solved all aspects of the solution. I think in this case the reason why I identified them was because va gur nsgrezngu bs Znegva’f zneevntr naabhaprzrag, gur bar crefba jub qbrf abg frrz gb fubj nal ivfvoyr ernpgvba vf Zef Junegba naq V gubhtug gb zlfrys fheryl fur zhfg or gur bar crefba jub jbhyq ernpg gb vg. Lrg fur fubjf ab bhgre fvtaf bs unccvarff ng gur gubhtug bs zneelvat Znegva naq guvf nofrapr tenoorq zl nggragvba. Vf vg whfg zr be vf gur Senapvf/Junegba ragnatyrzrag jryy cercnerq sbe? V jnf abg ragveryl pbaivaprq. V gubhtug Zef Junegba jnf xrcg bss gur cntr gbb zhpu, nabgure erq synt juvpu tenoorq zl nggragvba.

There is a lot to enjoy in this book from the crime setup and the dramatic family eruptions to the puzzling clues and sneaky red herrings. I would definitely say this is my favourite mystery that I have read by Roger Scarlett so far. If you have read others, which would you recommend?

Rating: 4.25/5

Source: Review Copy (American Mystery Classics)

See also: Aidan at Mysteries Ahoy!, Jim at The Invisible Event and Ben at The Green Capsule have also reviewed this title.