Customer Reviews

The Saltmarsh Murders

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The book that hooked Nicholas Blake (pseudonym of C. Day-Lewis) onto the Great Gladys, as Philip Larkin described her, the book combines pure farce, two murders, and a large amount of satire on Agatha Christie's "Murder at the Vicarage", with several of the characters (the vicar, curate, etc.,'s importance to the tale, and their reversal by Mitchell), and the sheer amount of secrets and shameful past every character is concealing. The detection is done in a workman-like fashion by the greatest female detective of all time, Mrs Beatrice Adela Lestrange Bradley, later being made a Dame, and the ending is ingenious. All in all, one of the true classics of the genre (though her previous novels, "Speedy Death", and "The Longer Bodies", come close).

When Beatrice Adela Lestrange Bradley accepted an invitation to visit the quiet village of Saltmarsh neither she, nor her hosts expected that her short visit would be so long or so eventful. The village fair was supposed to be the high point of the visit, but when the murder of an unwed mother, and the disappearance of the baby took place things began to get lively in the usually quiet little town. The persistent Mrs Bradley enlists the assistance of the local curate (who narrates the tale) to ferret out the answers to this and other matters, including a second missing young woman, a smuggling ring, a case of incest and illicit romances. In her own unique manner Mrs Bradley manages to solve these and other intriguing mysteries before bringing the culprit to justice.

This is the third in the Mrs Bradley series of mysteries featuring the outspoken, eccentric Beatrice Adela Bradley, a twice married trained psychologist sleuth - a particularly unusual background in the late 1920's when these stories began. When these novels were first published they were as popular as the other series from the 'Golden Age of Mysteries' that are perhaps better known today, Agatha Christie's 'Hercule Poirot' and Dorothy Sayers' 'Lord Peter Wimsey'. Mitchell's works had been largely forgotten until a series of Mrs Bradley mysteries starring Diana Rigg appeared on PBS. The tv series took liberties with Mrs Bradley's depiction, making her younger, taller and more personable. The original stories though are excellent. The tone of the stories are a cross between Agatha Christie and P G Wodehouse, the mysteries are puzzling enough to keep the readers guessing while the situations and witty dialog while keep them laughing.

Fans of Christie, Sayers or others from the 'Golden Age of Mysteries' (the 20's and 30's) will want to read whatever of this series they can locate whether they have seen Diana Rigg's portrayal of the character or not.

I love the classic detectives of the Golden Age of British cozies: Miss Jane Marple, Miss Maud Silver, and Lord Roderick Alleyn. But I have a new favorite: Mrs. Beatrice Bradley. She's considerably less likable than any of the aforementioned, what with her yellowed, shriveled looks, her cackling laugh, her domineering personality, and her malicious wit. Yet, she's so sly, and the satire of early 20th century refined society is so delicious, that I think she may well dethrone Miss Marple in my heart. (Forgive me, Dame Agatha!)

In this novel, Mrs. Bradley sleuths out the murderer of a "ruined" housemaid who had been keeping the father of her illegitimate baby a secret. Needless to say, police officials leap at the obvious, only to be shown up by "the Bradley," as curate Noel Wells calls her. The curate narrates the tale, and his timidity and conformity to the conventional thinking of his day only add to the fun. So does his lack of self-awareness, which lead Reverend Wells to make some unintentionally funny remarks.

Of course, I love the television version of Mrs. Bradley [The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries - Series 1 (Speedy Death / The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries) begins the television series]; however, that production, featuring a more chic and less quirky Mrs. Bradley, is quite, quite different from the books. You can view the television programs without ruining in the least the enjoyment of the novels.