The Case of the Michaelmas Goose (1938) by Clifford Witting

This is the third Inspector Charlton mystery that Witting published, but it is my 9^th read by him, so I thought I might do a post ranking my reads by him soon. Before I move on to discussing the book under review, I have a confession to make…

I thought this was a Christmas mystery novel!

And for the silliest of reasons as well, pertaining to the title. ‘Michaelmas’ sounded similar to Christmas and the word ‘goose’ also made me think of Christmas dinner. The one thing which made me feel slightly better was that two other people who I mentioned the book title to, also assumed it was a Christmas mystery. Just so we’re all on the same page, Michaelmas is usually on the 29^th September (some areas of the UK have chosen a different day) and is a church feast day. It is meant to signify the end of gathering the harvest and the commencement of autumn.

The Case of the Michaelmas Goose is divided into three sections and is dedicated to Eric Crofts (anyone know who he is?). I love how this reprint includes the original illustrations. I have included a couple in this post.

Synopsis

‘Detective-Sergeant Martin christened him ‘Whiskers’, but nobody could be certain who he really was. That was not the only question that confronted Inspector Charlton of the C.I.D. How, for instance, did young Courtenay Harbord die? And why? Who was Number 106 and in what way did Mr. Ninian McCullough upset the apple-cart? The fourth Duke of Redbourn had built Etchworth Tower on the summit of High Down in 1782 and it was at the foot of it that they found Harbord one autumn morning, false bearded and with a broken neck. It looked, on the face of it, a simple case of suicide, but was it? This story of the Goose, the Killing and the Golden Eggs is not a murder mystery solved by an amateur criminologist from the depths of an armchair, but a page from the casebook of a professional detective, who does not get results by sitting still. A delicately-handled love affair adds piquancy to the complicated, but never tedious, investigation; Sergeant Bert Martin is always there with his pungent Cockney wit; and from the moment when old Tom Lee says, ‘Well I’ll be danged!’ the tale goes steadily forward to its exciting climax.’

Overall Thoughts

During his writing career Witting varied the point at which he would introduce the corpse into the narrative. With Measure for Murder (1941), death strikes at the halfway point, but in The Case of the Michaelmas Goose, the body makes its appearance in the first paragraph.

The first section of the novel functions as a police procedural and begins with Inspector Charlton conducting solo enquiries. Police detectives can sometimes be a little bland or lifeless, but in this story Inspector Charlton very much shows his feelings. For example, it was interesting seeing him lose his composure when interviewing a witness. At one point during this conversation, he exasperatedly says to the witness: you’re as difficult to question as a bishop’s motives. For heaven’s sake cut out the flapdoodle!’ That said he is good at being able to laugh at his foibles and weaker moments. Furthermore, other police colleagues join in the activities after a while, such as Detective Sergeant Martin.

Opening pages of the book, depicting an illustration of Etchworth Tower and the title page which depicts a goose behind a post.

One thing I noticed about this novel in the Inspector Charlton series is that it includes some characters who appeared in earlier books such as a bookshop owner from Murder in Blue and also others from subsequent novels. If you have read some of the later ones, then you might more readily understand Inspector Charlton’s spasmodic outbursts in The Case of the Michaelmas Goose. Though new readers of the series will probably have a shrewd guess as to the cause as well.

Following up routine enquiries is the main focus of the first section of the mystery. These don’t necessarily bring out any startling revelations but perhaps this offers a more realistic portrayal of real-life policing. When reading this I was reminded of the way Freeman Wills Crofts’ Inspector French would conduct an investigation and if you love a good timetable of events then Witting’s book includes a substantial one.

Book One: The Goose

However, the second part of the book changes approach and instead adopts an inverted mystery style. The only other Witting novel I have read which engages with this subgenre is A Bullet for Rhino (1950) and even then, not in such an extensive way. This section goes back in time and sees the events which occurred in the run up to the death Inspector Charlton is investigating.

The final portion of the novel brings us back to the present day, and if you love mysteries which focus on identifying where everyone was and when and who they may or may not have seen, then I think you will get a lot out of this mystery. For me personally, I found this stodgy, and the investigation does get a bit bogged down. Inspired guesswork and a convenient confederate who spills the beans are required to get Inspector Charlton unstuck. Moreover, I was not as engaged in the characters as I have been in other books that Witting has created. Perhaps the focus on timetables detracted from this. Nevertheless, there is a clever twist in this book which I did not see coming and I was genuinely surprised.

Rating: 3.5/5

Source: Review Copy (Galileo Publishing)

P. S. For those who enjoy the fashion details of older crime fiction, I came across this amusing description of a man’s hat, stating that it was a ‘cross between a Swiss mountaineer and a Buff Orpington’. Imagine that!