Dilwyn Rees is the pseudonym of Glyn Edmund Daniel (1914-1986), who was a Welsh professor of archaeology at Cambridge University. During World War II he ran a section that analyzed aerial photographs. Afterwards he edited and wrote several books in his field as well as appearing on television programs. He was named Television Personality of the Year in 1955. He wrote two mysteries, both with an archaeologist as the amateur detective.
The Cambridge Murders (Victor Gollancz, 1945) is the first appearance of Sir Richard Cherrington, Vice-President of Fisher College, a fictional college at Cambridge. Cherrington tends to function as the college president because the titular president is absent-minded. On the last day of the Lenten Term, the entire university is wrapping up classes and preparing for a break. The students traditionally party harder than usual on that day, and the college staff members are prepared to turn a blind eye to activities not normally sanctioned. However, no one expects to awaken to find that the night porter has been murdered.
The body of the college dean turns up a couple of days later, creating even more confusion within the college and among the police. The dean had enemies aplenty; he argued with his peers and he unfairly dismissed any number of students. It was all too easy to believe someone killed him. On the other hand, the night porter was an inoffensive individual and a motive for his murder was more challenging.
Cherrington confers with the local police throughout their investigation and when it goes nowhere, he assists Scotland Yard while conducting his own queries. Both sets of police carefully consider every character as the possible murderer, even Cherrington himself, creating a lengthy and occasionally tedious read, although I appreciated their thoroughness. I am still in two minds about the ending.
This is an elegant period piece, a bit long but full of college and Cambridge details, and I suspect inside jokes. I wondered how many of the author’s colleagues recognized themselves as the basis for a character. I appreciated the map of the college at the beginning of the book; I love maps! However, I would have appreciated a cast of participants even more, as the numerous players were hard to keep track of. Cherrington references an approaching world war a couple of times, suggesting this book was written in the late 1930s and that a pre-war Cambridge is described, despite the post-war publication date. For fans of the Golden Age and academic mysteries.