I love mysteries set in theaters, so opened What Dread Hand? by Elizabeth Gill (Cassell & Co., 1932; reprinted by Dean Street Press, 2017) with great anticipation. Julia Dallas is the main character, a young woman newly engaged to Lord Charles Kulligrew, a talented graduate of Oxford, wounded in the war and famous for his expedition to South America. They are attending the opening night of a play by Martin Pitt, a young playwright Charles knew at Oxford. The producer Terence Rourke has created quite a stir about this new drama so everyone who is anyone is present. Included in Julia’s group are her guardian Professor Edward Milk and his sister Miss Agatha Milk, along with painter and amateur sleuth Benvenuto Brown.
True to convention and my expectation, murder is committed before the night is out, and Brown is enlisted to find the culprit. He and Julia follow a lead to Provence, where the populace is being terrorized by a robber called the Tiger who stops vehicles on lonely roads and relieves their occupants of their money and jewelry, adding another layer of complexity to an already strong plot. Julia and Brown decide to capture the Tiger and put an end to his marauding ways, not forgetting the original reason for their visit to France.
This is the second of three mysteries by Gill, born Elizabeth Joyce Copping, whose promising career as an author was cut short by an unfortunately early death. Curtis Evans wrote an informative biographical and bibliographical note to introduce the book.
I noticed right away that Gill was fascinated by color. Her descriptions nearly always include the hue of whatever it is, silvery roads, green grass, auburn hair, etc. etc. Her writing verged on the lyrical in many places: “a thousand lights like a jewelled mantle flung over the countryside” for instance, and “great houses with their round pointed towers, and their roofs, shiny and patterned like linoleum”. Her style is sometimes more picturesque than informative, as I was well into the chapter after the victim was discovered before I understood who it was that had been murdered.
Benvenuto Brown is not the usual Golden Age detective. He doesn’t pretend to know everything and he doesn’t appear to be related to someone in Scotland Yard. He is not the focus of the story or the star of every scene. An intriguing creation, I am sorry his career ended so soon.
I was completely taken aback by the culprit, once identified, which to me is the hallmark of a good mystery. In retrospect there were hints here and there but I missed them in Gill’s skillful misdirection. I had hoped for more involvement in and around the theatre but still a pleasant read with a twisty plot and unusual characters.