I am squeezing in one more holiday read before we store the decorations for another year. J. Jefferson Farjeon (1883-1955) was an English author and playwright. He was part of a literary family, the son of journalist, playwright, and novelist Benjamin Leopold Farjeon (1838-1903). His sister Eleanor wrote children’s books and his brother Herbert was a playwright and theatre critic. Farjeon has an extensive bibliography of more than 80 books to his credit as well as plays and film scripts. Dorothy L. Sayers was said to consider Farjeon one of her favorite writers.
Among the first books to be released in the British Library Crime Classics series was Farjeon’s Mystery in White: A Christmas Crime Story, originally published in 1937 and reprinted about 50 times. One of his less known books is also set at a holiday. Farjeon looked at New Year’s Eve as a likely setting for a crime novel a few years before his Christmas book. Fancy Dress Ball was published by Collins in 1934 and in the U.S. by Bobbs-Merrill in 1939 under the title Death in Fancy Dress. Collins published an Anthony Gilbert novel called Death in Fancy Dress in 1933 so Farjeon could not use the title just a year later.
The background for the story is the lavish Chelsea Arts Ball at the Royal Albert Hall. The ball was open to the public and required elaborate costumes, encouraging participants from all social circles, the more avant garde the better. The large extravagant party was held annually from 1908 through 1958 until the boisterous and scandalous behavior of the crowd became too much to be tolerated. Since then the Chelsea Arts Club has held balls on its own premises.
The main characters are described early: four different groups preparing to attend the ball for very different reasons. Naïve Henry Brown has saved up his money for one grand night out at the Chelsea Arts Ball. He’s rented a costume, he’s bought a ticket, and he is afraid and hopeful at the same time that he might meet a girl there. The Shannon family, parents James and Mary with their children Dorothy and Conrad, are fussing about the details of their intricate outfits. Then there’s Sally, dressing as Nell Gwynn, preparing mentally for a job she was hired to perform at the ball while she fends off the advances of Sam, an old friend who she hired to help her at a crucial point in the night’s task. The last character is Warwick Hilling, a venerable actor who has been hired by an unknown to wear a specific costume to the ball. He doesn’t know why or who, only that the 25 pounds paid in advance arrived at a most opportune time.
At the appointed time, a chauffeur calls for Hilling and escorts him to the car where someone dressed just like him is sitting. They drive to the Ball, where Hilling’s double leaves the car and merges with the gathering. Hilling and the chauffeur drive away.
Brown, the Shannons, Sally and Sam, and Hilling’s doppelganger mingle with the huge throngs, admire the decorations, dance, sup, drink, and people watch all night long. During the night, Sally accomplishes her job successfully but with growing reservations, Brown meets a very nice girl and gets pulled into a drunken scuffle, Dorothy Shannon’s close friend proposes marriage, staid middle-aged James Shannon flirts with an unfamiliar lady, and someone tries to kill Hilling’s stunt double.
While London celebrates the end of one year and the beginning of another, the first hints of European war begin to see daylight and those in the know feint desperately behind the scenes to keep it at bay. Where better to spar than at a grand gathering of hundreds of disguised people who don’t know each other? These maneuvers cannot always be hidden from the general populace, unfortunately. When morning comes, three people are dead.
An absorbing thriller and a surprisingly easy read. Available on Faded Page. I will be looking for more of Farjeon’s work.