I decided I had neglected my studies of Bobby Owen far too long, so recently I read one of the earlier books in the series by Ernest Robertson Punshon (1872-1956), an industrious Golden Age author of crime fiction, short stories, and literary criticism. Writing as E. R. Punshon, he released 35 books between 1933 and 1956 featuring Owen, an Oxford-educated policeman with titled connections who had to take a job during the Depression. He worked his way up through the police ranks to achieve the rank of commander. In addition to being fine mysteries, the books illustrate in passing the changes in English society over a 20-year span that included a worldwide economic depression and a world war.
Punshon’s work was popular during his life and he has many fans among 21st century readers. A few years ago Dean Street Press resurrected the out-of-print books in digital and paperback forms, making them more accessible to a new generation. The Dean Street Press version has a helpful introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.
The Bath Mysteries (Gollancz, 1936) is the seventh in the series. It is a gruesome piece of reading that involves a series of murders masquerading as accidents. One of Bobby’s cousins is a victim, which is the reason he’s initially brought in. Ronnie Oliver was originally believed to have died in an accident involving boiling hot water and a bathtub. Bobby’s uncle Lord Hirlpool pulled some strings to have Bobby assigned to determine what actually happened.
Bobby’s investigation turned up similar accidents, the victims of which were all insured for the identical sum of £20,000, the equivalent of about £1,459,000 or $2,018,395 in 2021 buying value. The woman who claims to be the wife of the various victims to collect on their insurance policies has a distinctive fur coat, a point of interest in the review on the Clothes in Books blog, http://clothesinbooks.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-bath-mysteries-by-er-punshon.html. I was interested in the reference to Marina green, which apparently is a color made popular by Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent. Bobby encounters a peculiar stock broker and his equally strange secretary, both of whom are implicated in the murders but Bobby can’t see how. They each have a fascinating backstory.
It is always entertaining to me to read what the reviewers of the time have to say about books published so long ago. Here is the review by Mrs. Elizabeth L. Sturch, written for the Times Literary Supplement and published on 18 July 1936:
It becomes quite clear early in this tale, when Sergeant Bobby Owen is called in to investigate the mysterious death of a cousin of his, that an unusually far-seeing villain has hit on an ingenious and fairly simple version of the murder-for-insurance-money. He has carried out this scheme on such a large scale that one wonders why the police’s suspicions were not sooner aroused; but it is perhaps true that insurance companies will put up with a good deal before causing a scandal which may scare off their clients. At any rate Bobby Owen, a most satisfactory hero, unearths several mysterious deaths almost at once, and before very long neither he nor the reader is left in much doubt of the identity of the murderer. To prove it is, however, a more difficult matter, and the author tackles it in a melodramatic way which provides plenty of thrills.
Though the plot itself is rather unusually wild and improbable, Mr. Punshon has produced a book which is a pleasure to read because of the decision and wit with which it is written; one feels that he knows how to handle the English language and enjoys doing so. The story also contains many amusing satirical touches, and some glimpses of a touching love story. After so much praise it will not, we hope, be thought unduly critical to remark that, when an important part of the plot hinges on the philosopher Leibnitz, his name should be correctly spelt.