JASON HALF : writer
  • Home
  • Full-length Plays
    • The Community Play
    • Kate and Comet
    • Sundial
    • Tulip Brothers
  • Short Plays
    • Among the Oats
    • Holly and Mr. Ivy
    • Locked Room Misery
  • Screenplays
    • The Ballad of Faith Divine
    • My Advice
    • Finders
  • Fiction
  • Blog

Book Review: DEATH IN CAPTIVITY (1952) by Michael Gilbert

3/12/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Michael Gilbert is in that group of celebrated classic crime authors whose names I have known for decades, but of whose books I have inexplicably not read more than one or two. (R. Austin Freeman, Michael Innes, Ellery Queen, and Margaret Millar also belong to that unjustly neglected group.) So when Reading the Detectives over at Goodreads chose as one of its March reads Death in Captivity, Gilbert's 1952 novel of murder occurring within a prisoner-of-war camp, I was grateful for the opportunity to be (re)introduced to the author and his straightforward style of storytelling.

Northern Italy, 1943: a camp holding Allied officers runs on routine, while in other parts of the world the war rages on. A mix of British, Scottish, and American military men cook, fraternize, play rugby, and even rehearse for a tongue-in-cheek production of The Barretts of Wimpole Street. Although the armed sentries and the Carabinieri largely leave their prisoners alone, the men also recognize that Fascist campo leader Captain Benucci could be a dangerous and deadly adversary if provoked. So it falls to Colonel Baird, acting in concert with the other imprisoned commanders and some hand-picked officers, to make sure that their plans for an escape tunnel beneath the large iron stove of Hut C are carried out quickly, quietly, and undetected.

But the project encounters one very messy obstacle: the body of Cyriakos Coutoulos, an unpopular soldier and suspected informant, is discovered at the tunnel's end, buried in sand from a structure collapse. Reluctant to bring the escape tunnel to their Italian captors' attention – but knowing that Coutoulos must be found soon and in similar circumstances to avoid complications – the dead man is secretly transferred to another hut where a second tunnel had been started and aborted. When Captain Benucci focuses his suspicions on Captain Roger Byfold as the killer, it falls to Henry "Cuckoo" Goyles to assume the role of amateur detective under very nontraditional circumstances.

Picture
Part locked-room mystery, part wartime escape drama, Death in Captivity is a thoroughly enjoyable tale, nicely plotted and smartly paced. In his informative introduction to the British Library Crime Classics edition, author Martin Edwards reminds us that Michael Gilbert was himself a prisoner of war, and that the author dedicates this book to two fellow escapees with whom he traversed the Italian countryside towards the front line.

There are a number of surprises to be found in the story, not least of which is the unusual and unique setting for this murder mystery.


A captured officer camp surely holds amenities and carries a sense of laissez-faire not afforded to troop prisoners; it took me a few chapters to acclimate to the relative independence and limited supervision of our group of heroes. But that liberty is needed narratively for the men to execute long-term escape plans, and such afforded respect is in keeping with the uncertainty of the situation. The fortunes of war may change, and those in power will need to plead mercy before their one-time captives. It is also likely true-to-life, as the author had first-hand experience of the Italian camp at Fontanellato. 

My sole criticism is that the cast of characters has a largely physical and ideological sameness. Some officers are older, some younger, and nationalities and ranks differ, but they are cut from the same sober-minded, stiff-upper-lip cloth, and none really stand out as individual personalities. Still, the situation alone encourages more than enough sympathy for the prisoners' plight, and we find ourselves rooting for the mild but mindful Goyles to arrive at light at the end of the tunnel, both literally and figuratively, by finding freedom and solving the mystery. The officers may be allowed certain amenities, but their efforts to escape and survive are clearly a matter of life and death. 

Also published as The Danger Within, it looks like I come late to the review party! You can find astute critiques of Death in Captivity from TomCat at Beneath the Stains of Time, Tracy at Bitter Tea and Mystery, Sergio at Tipping My Fedora, Kate at crossexaminingcrime, and The Puzzle Doctor at In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    BLOG

    Lots of book reviews and discussion of classic and contemporary mystery fiction. I welcome comments and continuing conversation.

    Subscribe below to receive updates!

    Subscribe

    Categories

    All
    19th Century Novels
    Andrew Garve
    Anne Morice
    Anthologies
    Anthony Boucher
    Appalachian Authors
    Bill James
    Book Review
    Catherine Dilts
    C. Daly King
    Craig Rice
    David Goodis
    E.C.R. Lorac / Carol Carnac
    Erle Stanley Gardner
    E.R. Punshon
    Freeman Wills Crofts
    French Authors
    George Bellairs
    George Milner
    Gladys Mitchell
    Golden Age Mystery
    Gregory McDonald
    Hardboiled Detectives
    Helen McCloy
    Helen Simpson
    Henry Wade
    Herbert Adams
    Hugh Austin
    James Corbett
    J. Jefferson Farjeon
    John Bude
    John Rhode/Miles Burton
    Leo Bruce
    Maj Sjowall / Per Wahloo
    Margery Allingham
    Martin Edwards
    Michael Gilbert
    Michael Innes
    Mignon G. Eberhart
    Milward Kennedy
    Mitchell Mystery Reading Group
    New Fiction
    New Mystery
    Nicholas Blake
    Nicolas Freeling
    Noir
    Philip MacDonald
    Play Review
    Q. Patrick / Patrick Quentin
    Rex Stout
    Richard Hull
    Ross MacDonald
    Russian Authors
    Science Fiction
    Vernon Loder
    Vladimir Nabokov
    William L. DeAndrea
    Winifred Blazey
    Writing

    Mystery Fiction Sites
    -- all recommended ! --
    Ahsweetmysteryblog
    The Art of Words
    Beneath the Stains of Time
    Bitter Tea and Mystery
    Catherine Dilts - author
    Countdown John's Christie Journal
    Classic Mysteries
    Clothes in Books
    ​A Crime is Afoot
    Crossexaminingcrime
    Gladys Mitchell Tribute
    Grandest Game in the World
    Happiness Is a Book
    In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
    The Invisible Event
    Martin Edwards' Crime Writing Blog
    Murder at the Manse
    Mysteries Ahoy!
    Noirish
    The Passing Tramp
    Past Offences
    Pretty Sinister Books
    Tipping My Fedora
    To the Manor Born
    Witness to the Crime
    

    Archives

    December 2024
    November 2024
    September 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    January 2024
    August 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015

    RSS Feed

Unless otherwise stated, all text content on this site is
​copyright Jason Half, 2024.