Christopher St John Sprigg (1907- 1937) was an English writer of poetry, plays, short stories, detective novels, and aeronautics textbooks. In his mid-20s he became fascinated by Marxism and his writing from then on reflected this new interest. When the Spanish Civil War broke out, he joined the International Brigade. He was killed in the first day of fighting during the Battle of the Jarama River in February 1937.
Sprigg was amazingly productive in his short life. He wrote adventure stories under the names Arthur Cave and Icarus, he used St. John Lewis for articles about aeronautics, Christopher Caudwell for his Marxist writing and poetry, and Christopher Beaumont for his book reviews. Seven of his crime novels were published under his given name between 1933 and 1937, of which Fatality in Fleet Street (Hutchinson, 1933; Oleander Press, 2013) is the second.
The story opens with the prime minister begging Lord Carpenter, Governing Director of Affiliated Publications, the largest newspaper group in the world, not to publish an incendiary article in the Mercury that will surely force England to declare war on Russia. Carpenter has been determinedly using his publishing empire to manipulate public sentiment against Russia for nearly a year, and this article will culminate his efforts. Carpenter is adamant and orders his staff to prepare a blockbuster edition for release the next day, despite the prospective heavy cost to the nation. During the night someone stabs Carpenter in his office.
Inspector Manciple tries hard to sort out alibis and motives without much cooperation from the staff who are astonishingly obstructive. Carpenter was notoriously abusive in his personal and public lives, and Manciple realized quickly it would be easier to identify those who had no reason to kill Carpenter than otherwise. Charles Venable, the Mercury’s crime reporter and Sprigg’s series character, conducts his own investigation apart from Scotland Yard. He tends to keep his findings to himself, not even letting the reader in on his process, which can be annoying. His attempt to shield his love interest, the paper’s society reporter, complicates matters, especially when Manciple focuses on her.
The setting in a working newspaper is a fine change from the usual tiny village or the ubiquitous country manor house. The solution is similar to the explanation in another more famous Golden Age mystery published about the same time. I have to wonder if both authors were inspired by the same source. Neither are especially credible but it makes a good story.
Sprigg is entertaining to read. He was an equal opportunity satirist, making fun of just about everyone, including a cell of incompetent Marxists as well as the prime minister, which makes this book unexpectedly amusing, despite the underlying seriousness. With hindsight it’s easy to substitute Germany for Russia in the references to national aggression. One analysis I read suggested that Sprigg would not have continued writing detective stories after embracing Marxism, which would definitely have been a loss but his early death means we will never know.