Reading the Detectives discussion

Welcome to our September 22 group challenge read of The Studio Crime by Ianthe Jerrold

Ianthe Jerrold was born in 1898, the daughter of the well-known author and journalist Walter Jerrold, and granddaughter of the Victorian playwright Douglas Jerrold. She was the eldest of five sisters.

She published her first book, a work of verse, at the age of fifteen. This was the start of a long and prolific writing career characterized by numerous stylistic shifts. In 1929 she published the first of two classic and influential whodunits. The Studio Crime gained her immediate acceptance into the recently-formed but highly prestigious Detection Club, and was followed a year later by Dead Mans Quarry.

Ianthe Jerrold subsequently moved on from pure whodunits to write novels ranging from romantic fiction to psychological thrillers. She continued writing and publishing her fiction into the 1970s. She died in 1977, twelve years after her husband George Menges. Their Elizabethan farmhouse Cwmmau was left to the National Trust.

"He is dead. It is quite impossible that he should have killed himself. He has been murdered. About half an hour ago. By a long knife passed under the left shoulder-blade into the heart."

On a fog-bound London night, a soirée is taking place in the studio of artist Laurence Newtree. The guests include an eminent psychiatrist, a wealthy philanthropist and an observant young friend of Newtree's, John Christmas. Before the evening is over, Newtree's neighbour is found stabbed to death in what appears to be an impossible crime. But a mysterious man in a fez has been spotted in the fog asking for highly unlikely directions...

The resourceful John Christmas takes on the case, unofficially, leading to an ingenious solution no one could have expected, least of all Inspector Hembrow of Scotland Yard.The Studio Crime is the first of Ianthe Jerrold's classic whodunit novels, originally published in 1929. Its impact led to her membership of the elite Detection Club, and its influence can be felt on later works by John Dickson Carr, Ngaio Marsh and Dorothy L. Sayers among others. Republished in 2015 for the first time in over eighty years.

Please feel free to post spoilers in this thread.

Felt I should explain my stereotypes comment here in the spoilers thread - I just felt the dark stranger in the fez, with a gold tooth and evil squint sounded almost cartoonish! It was 1929, though, so a sensational, melodramatic aspect to the mystery didn’t shock me. I did like Christmas, though, reminded me of an early Wimsey, without the shell shock and emotional baggage (fiancée dumping him when he came home injured). Too much telling, and not showing, in the last few chapters. I guessed “whodunnit” and I was right, for a change!

I thought the same, Susan - it felt like such a tired trope of the 'foreigner' in a fez even if it wasn't such a cliché when the book was published.

I felt this had more potential than was ever realised - Christmas, apart from that absurd name, has the foundation of a great character but turned out a bit bland. Then it all became quite weird with the wife wandering around lost.

Roman Clodia wrote: "I thought the same, Susan - it felt like such a tired trope of the 'foreigner' in a fez even if it wasn't such a cliché when the book was published.

I felt this had more potential than was ever re..."

Yes!

I thought it started well and had a lot of potential, but then it did seem to drag with Christmas (silly name but I suppose might be remembered) dashing around but not telling what he found. As stated the man in the fez was verging on being a cartoon character. We were occasionally led in different directions, but the answer to all, when it finally came was quite a shock, and if it hadn't had come from a confession, I don't think I would have been the wiser.

I found this a pleasant read. I liked Christmas and his cartoonist sidekick but not his woman friend. I hoped she would get attached to the good doctor and eliminated from the next book. Her aunt was the standard amusing widow. And I enjoyed rooting against the bad doctor.

However, I was not in favor of the resolution. I didn't think the victim, the murder, nor their rivalry, was believable, though their sister was. Why would the victim change his name after his effort to establish his credentials? Cutting off your nose to spite your face.

I doubt this is a book I will remember for very long, but I enjoyed it while I read it.

I felt much the same, Sandy. In fact, I had read it previously and remembered nothing. My re-read was enjoyable but I doubt it will linger in my mind too long.

I definitely enjoyed it more first time around - this time it seemed a bit run-of-the-mill to me, partly because I remembered who the villain was, but I think also I've read a lot of better Golden Age books in between the two reads. I found most of the characters a bit uninteresting, apart from Christmas himself and his sidekick.

(I actually knocked my rating down to 3* on the second read, but GA seems to still be showing my first 4* rating.)

It is unlikely to be a book I’ll remember. I thought that ending was very weak. I felt the confession came from not knowing how to end it. I may remember Christmas and the red fez!

I was a bit concerned when I realised I had read it before but couldn't remember it. Still, I didn't dislike it, it was just quite average I thought.

Susan wrote: "I was a bit concerned when I realised I had read it before but couldn't remember it. Still, I didn't dislike it, it was just quite average I thought."

Agreed, quite average- don’t think I’ll remember much of it, either!

I'm afraid I positively disliked it. I found it ponderous, improbable and downright dull. And that business about disguising himself as Lascarides and the fragment of fake gold tooth - plain ludicrous! Oh well. You win some...

My very brief and rather grumpy review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Sid wrote: "I'm afraid I positively disliked it. I found it ponderous, improbable and downright dull. And that business about disguising himself as Lascarides and the fragment of fake gold tooth - plain ludicr..."

Oh, I don’t know, I think you’re pretty accurate about this one…

I agree that it really relied on a lot of the standard tropes, it was a pleasant, but not memorable read.

The disguise and especially the gold tooth fragment did stretch creduility, I agree!

Judy wrote: "The disguise and especially the gold tooth fragment did stretch creduility, I agree!"

Stretch? Mine reached its elastic limit and failed catastrophically quite early on. 😊

I think I’m with Sandy and Carolien on this one - a pleasant read. Agree about the gold tooth and the disguise stretching credulity, but I found it quite funny. I liked Christmas, but his dashing around without revealing anything to Hembrow became annoying after a while.