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: EXCELLENT INTENTIONS (1938) by Richard Hull

10/28/2017

3 Comments

 
Picture
In several of his inventive stories, Richard Hull experimented with some form of structural variation that offered a new approach to the conventionally plotted murder mystery. His first novel, The Murder of My Aunt (1934), told a darkly comic story of a narrator intent on killing his aging but wily relative; in The Murderers of Monty, it is homicide by committee; in Last First, Hull provides a climactic final chapter at the start and then uses the book to usher the reader to that point.

With 1938's highly enjoyable Excellent Intentions – published in the U.S. as Beyond Reasonable Doubt; the original title is more apt, if initially less criminous – the author presents a murder trial viewed from the perspective of multiple revolving participants, including defense counsel, prosecuting counsel, jury foreman, and judge. He also manages to keep the identity of the accused a secret for most of the book, which gives astute readers the chance to play detective.


The petty and unlikable Launcelot Henry Cargate (Hull's books are populated with petty and unlikable characters, often for the amusement of the reader) chooses to travel from his Essex estate into town by train when his automobile doesn't start. Entering the train car, he inhales a customary pinch of snuff and promptly dies. With a prisoner in the dock and the trial already underway at the start of the book, we soon revisit the days before the suspicious death, and then the subsequent investigation by Inspector Fenby, before catching up with – and hearing the verdict rendered through – the court.

Along the way, we are introduced to the suspects, including Macpherson, a rare stamp seller who was accused by Cargate of dishonesty; Raikes, Scotney End Hall's proper but harried personal butler; Miss Knox Forster, the dead man's personal assistant; and even Reverend Yockleton, who was not above the range of Cargate's animosity. Hardy, the caretaker, had been issued poison to eliminate a wasps' nest on the grounds, and it was this substance that had been ground and mixed with the contents of Cargate's snuff box.

While this story's shifting points of view could have created narrative problems, including a lack of cohesion and confusion over protagonists, the approach is actually quite successful. The longest chapter of the book focuses on Fenby's investigation and interviews of members of the household, and it is notably apparent that Hull is delivering the tone and plotting of classic Golden Age detective fiction while simultaneously satirizing the genre.

For one thing, the household is so wary of its misanthropic employer's penchant for accusing anyone of petty theft (while knowing the claim is a manufactured lie) that the servants have taken steps to elaborately alibi one another at all times. This practice works out handily when the prosecution wants to know who was in the dining room at what time, for instance. Study doors were also conveniently locked and witnessed to avoid the master of the house accusing the housemaids of mischief. Such timetable accuracy feels rather fanciful, but it is also the author's gently winking commentary on the artificiality of mystery stories. If a character is expected to die from taking poisonous snuff in a train carriage, then why not add the equally colorful conceit that the suspects have their comings and goings timed to the minute?

PictureCover for Beyond Reasonable Doubt, the U.S. title.
Excellent Intentions (and its structure) also benefits from a very enjoyable final twist from an unexpected source. To say more would be unfair, but I will add that Hull enjoys exploring the intriguing philosophical notion of a justified killing, not out of revenge or retribution but as a way to rid the world of a universal irritant, as one would eradicate a wasp and its naturally malignant personality. Richard Hull's dry yet playful sense of humor runs throughout the book – in the form of the fussy prosecuting counsel, in the family of village tradesmen that all share the same name and are identified through their vocation: Hardy the Baker, Hardy the Gardener, et cetera – and he has delivered an engaging story that uses the elements of Golden Age mystery fiction while also quietly deconstructing them. Recommended.

UPDATE: JJ at The Invisible Event has informed me that The British Library plans to reprint Excellent Intentions and The Murder of My Aunt in 2018, so watch for those releases, as both are very entertaining comic mysteries. The British Library's Crime Classics series, curated by Martin Edwards, continues to provide readers with opportunities to explore dozens of lesser-known and unjustly neglected authors, and nearly always the journey is worth taking.


3 Comments
JJ @ The Invisible Event link
10/29/2017 05:37:28 am

Jason, your readers may be interested to know that this title and The Murder of My Aunt are due to be republished by the British Library in 2018. You're responsible here for making me especially eager to read this, so thanks for highlighting a book I'd not heard of before.

Reply
Jason Half link
10/29/2017 02:49:14 pm

Hello JJ! Thanks very much for letting me know about the upcoming reprints from the British Library. Is there a site page that lists their futrue plans beyond the bl.uk Crime Classics section? Or maybe you heard it through the grapevine or from Martin Edwards himself.

I will provide an update paragraph telling readers to watch for the 2018 reprint. I'm very grateful for the print and eBook renaissance occurring for GAD titles. There are certainly more now available at an inexpensive price than I have the time to read, alas... All best wishes --- Jason

Reply
JJ @ The Invisible Event link
10/30/2017 02:22:10 am

No such insider access, I'm afraid -- both titles simply popped up on my Amazon homepage in the last couple of days...unexciting, but aren't most things?


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
    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
    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
    In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel
    The Invisible Event
    Martin Edwards' Crime Writing Blog
    Mysteries Ahoy!
    Noirish
    The Passing Tramp
    Past Offences
    Pretty Sinister Books
    Tipping My Fedora
    

    Archives

    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, 2023.