Part of the allure of the mystery genre is the game played between author and reader. One person tries to present a compelling and perplexing chain of events in a fair and surprising way, while the other actively tries to separate false clues from genuine ones and arrive at the solution before the fictional detective does. There is a lot of charm to this literary pas de deux, and it can be even more appealing when the writer takes up the challenge with a mischievous twinkle and chooses to consistently draw attention to the game being played. With The Case of the Seven of Calvary, Anthony Boucher presents a high-spirited story that manages to provide both a gentle parody of the genre and a satisfying fair-play puzzle.
Due to the amused self-awareness of Martin Lamb, the story’s Watson and the person with whom the reader is most aligned, Boucher’s winking tone could have overcorrected and turned the puzzle into a trifle or an insignificance, but he manages to avoid this problem. Frequent references are made to the traditional structure of mystery literature – and how the current plotline adheres to or veers from the familiar beats of detection – as well as the luminaries (authors and creations) of the time: Arthur Conan Doyle, Ellery Queen, and John Dickson Carr are mentioned, as well as Dr. Thorndyke, Roger Sheringham, Reggie Fortune and Philo Vance. For most mystery fans, the allusions will be more welcome than intrusive.
Boucher was a linguist and, later, a celebrated critic of crime fiction, and he manages to balance the academic setting of UC-Berkeley and a pontificating professor as detective (and expert in Sanskrit!) with an accessible murder mystery that, once the red herrings have been swept away, is not cluttered with clues involving specialized knowledge. I am not a fan of the mystery sub-genre where esoteric facts provide the critical link: “In classical Greek, the word for ‘radish’ is the same as your surname, ‘Rodotheos’, and by clutching the relish tray the victim was naming his murderer!” Boucher does not attempt such a stunt here, thankfully.
The Seven of Calvary moves swiftly and presents its clues and plot twists in scrupulously fair-play style. The visiting Swiss scholar Dr. Schaedel is fatally attacked immediately after asking one of the college students, the attractive Cynthia Wood, for directions at her off-campus apartment. The killer stabs the luckless man in the back with an ice pick, and a piece of paper is discovered near the body; on it is drawn a number 7 atop a series of steps, which could also be interpreted as a cross on the hill of Calvary.
The murder is baffling, both because of the clue and due to the fact that the victim had no enemies or controversies to his name. But could the symbol on the paper be a sign of international intrigue? History professor Paul Lennox recounts the strange history of the Vignards, a shadowy (and largely undocumented) syndicate with roots in Switzerland whose calling card is the Seven of Calvary. Martin Lamb discusses this development with his Holmes, the sedentary but intellectually nimble Professor Ashwin, and soon the symbol makes another appearance. This time it is Paul Lennox who, in the title role of Martin’s translation of Don Juan Returns, downs a strychnine-laced glass of stage wine and promptly dies; another paper is found near the props table. As Professor Ashwin sees the light, one more shadowy murder attempt takes place, this time with a gun and an intended target.
This was my first book by this author – I have since discovered mixed reviews of his Fergus O’Breen stories and later works – and this one is a success on nearly every level. (There remain several troubling misogynist details in Calvary, difficult to dismiss even as a product of its time. Every woman character seems to have pert, noteworthy breasts and a siren-like influence on the male faculty and students. The decision to comment on feminine curves may have been a marketing choice for Boucher, an American author who was competing with the burgeoning femmes fatales of the pulps. Still, the attitude adds an uneasy element, at its worst when our Watson lightly suggests that rape would make a good detail for a detective story.)
But the strengths far outweigh the tonal missteps. Boucher provides a great Queen-like Challenge to the Reader, and guides them prior to the conclusion with a list of eight points (The Point of the Father’s Religion; The Point of the Superfluous Alibi; etc.) that, properly decoded, can untangle the chain of events and define motives and methods. Above all, it’s a puzzle that has been devised especially with mystery fans in mind, and in that respect Boucher arranges his enigmatic pieces of paper very cleverly.
John at Pretty Sinister Books also provided a positive review when he traversed Calvary five years ago; follow the link above to view it. This is the first review I’m submitting to Past Offences for the year 1937, which is in the Crimes of the Century spotlight for the month of March.
Boucher was a linguist and, later, a celebrated critic of crime fiction, and he manages to balance the academic setting of UC-Berkeley and a pontificating professor as detective (and expert in Sanskrit!) with an accessible murder mystery that, once the red herrings have been swept away, is not cluttered with clues involving specialized knowledge. I am not a fan of the mystery sub-genre where esoteric facts provide the critical link: “In classical Greek, the word for ‘radish’ is the same as your surname, ‘Rodotheos’, and by clutching the relish tray the victim was naming his murderer!” Boucher does not attempt such a stunt here, thankfully.
The Seven of Calvary moves swiftly and presents its clues and plot twists in scrupulously fair-play style. The visiting Swiss scholar Dr. Schaedel is fatally attacked immediately after asking one of the college students, the attractive Cynthia Wood, for directions at her off-campus apartment. The killer stabs the luckless man in the back with an ice pick, and a piece of paper is discovered near the body; on it is drawn a number 7 atop a series of steps, which could also be interpreted as a cross on the hill of Calvary.
The murder is baffling, both because of the clue and due to the fact that the victim had no enemies or controversies to his name. But could the symbol on the paper be a sign of international intrigue? History professor Paul Lennox recounts the strange history of the Vignards, a shadowy (and largely undocumented) syndicate with roots in Switzerland whose calling card is the Seven of Calvary. Martin Lamb discusses this development with his Holmes, the sedentary but intellectually nimble Professor Ashwin, and soon the symbol makes another appearance. This time it is Paul Lennox who, in the title role of Martin’s translation of Don Juan Returns, downs a strychnine-laced glass of stage wine and promptly dies; another paper is found near the props table. As Professor Ashwin sees the light, one more shadowy murder attempt takes place, this time with a gun and an intended target.
This was my first book by this author – I have since discovered mixed reviews of his Fergus O’Breen stories and later works – and this one is a success on nearly every level. (There remain several troubling misogynist details in Calvary, difficult to dismiss even as a product of its time. Every woman character seems to have pert, noteworthy breasts and a siren-like influence on the male faculty and students. The decision to comment on feminine curves may have been a marketing choice for Boucher, an American author who was competing with the burgeoning femmes fatales of the pulps. Still, the attitude adds an uneasy element, at its worst when our Watson lightly suggests that rape would make a good detail for a detective story.)
But the strengths far outweigh the tonal missteps. Boucher provides a great Queen-like Challenge to the Reader, and guides them prior to the conclusion with a list of eight points (The Point of the Father’s Religion; The Point of the Superfluous Alibi; etc.) that, properly decoded, can untangle the chain of events and define motives and methods. Above all, it’s a puzzle that has been devised especially with mystery fans in mind, and in that respect Boucher arranges his enigmatic pieces of paper very cleverly.
John at Pretty Sinister Books also provided a positive review when he traversed Calvary five years ago; follow the link above to view it. This is the first review I’m submitting to Past Offences for the year 1937, which is in the Crimes of the Century spotlight for the month of March.
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