Sir John Cecil Masterman, OBE (1891-1977) was a versatile gentleman. He was a Modern History don at Christ Church, Oxford during the 1920s, while he also played cricket, tennis, and hockey, participating in international competitions. He is best known for heading up the Twenty Committee (XX, i.e., double cross) within British Intelligence during World War II, the group that focused on turning German spies into double agents. After the war he returned to Oxford, serving as Provost of Worcester College.
He wrote a book about his experience with the Twenty Committee, eventually publishing it in the United States to avoid the Official Secrets Act. He wrote two mysteries, both set at an imaginary Oxford College and both featuring Austrian lawyer Ernest Brendel as the amateur sleuth.
An Oxford Tragedy (Gollancz, 1933) is narrated by Francis Wheatley Winn, Vice-President and Senior Tutor of St. Thomas’s College. On the particular evening in question Winn leaves his rooms earlier than usual on his way to the Senior Common Room, as he intends to chat with the Dean, Maurice Hargreaves, about one of the undergraduates in whom Winn has a personal interest. Thus far in his first two terms young Scarborough had demonstrated a pronounced ability as a troublemaker and little as a scholar. He had joined forces with another student of similar leanings and the two were rapidly exhausting the patience of all who dealt with them. Winn’s pleas for leniency fell on deaf ears, as Hargreaves had learned that the pair had obtained a loaded pistol and were shooting at the cats that lived in and around the Quadrangle. Hargreaves brandished the pistol during the discussion with Winn and left it lying on a table in his office, despite Winn’s recommendation to unload it and put it away.
Not surprisingly, someone took advantage of having a ready weapon to hand a few hours later and shot the most unpopular tutor in the college as he sat waiting for Hargreaves.
Fortunately, Ernest Brendel of Vienna, Austria, was visiting to give a series of lectures to the students reading law. He had a deep interest in criminology and he was persuaded to assist the police in their investigation.
The story extends well beyond the investigation and the process for identifying the killer to examining the impact of the act of murder on the tight-knit academic community. Information is largely filtered through Winn, who often misses the significance of a clue.
This book is considered to be one of the earliest academic mysteries. Gaudy Night by Dorothy L. Sayers and Death on the Cherwell by Mavis Doriel Hay, also set in Oxford, were both published two years later. Readers who enjoy academic mysteries or those set in Oxford will want to look up a copy.