Reading the Detectives discussion

Welcome to our Feb 25 group read of Unexpected Night by Elizabeth Daly
The first book in the Henry Gamadge Mysteries series was published in 1940.

New York handwriting and rare book expert—and a gentleman sleuth—Henry Gamadge is vacationing in coastal Maine when the police there need his help. It’s a strange case involving a seemingly natural death, a large inheritance, a mysterious nighttime rendezvous, and a troupe of summer stock actors who start dying off. Something is clearly afoot, but nothing quite seems to fit. With an eye for frauds, Gamadge is just what the local detective needs to throw the book at a killer...

Please feel free to post spoilers in this thread.

I think this book has a clever plot and can see why Elizabeth Daly was said to be Agatha Christie's favourite American mystery writer - I certainly didn't see the twist coming! There was also an unusual reason for the face of the corpse being disfigured - I jumped to the wrong conclusion about that.

Yes, a couple of unusual twists. I sympathized with the lawyer who came in at the end, was confused by the explanations, and wanted to know who this Gamadge was and why he was always on the scene.

Agree with both your comments. I enjoyed the twists and turns and certainly didn't see the ending. I hadn't picked up on the fact his face was disfigured. What a greedy bunch of nasties.

This one didn't draw me in to continue with the series, Henry Gamage did not appeal, and as a handwriting expert it was apparent the crime would revolve around handwriting (as probably future novels will). So much emphasis was given to the point Amberly Cowden signed the group in that it was apparent to me that was the "handwriting", and it wouldn't match later, and the twists became "meh" sort of moments. Regardless it is a good read in my favourite sub-genre "the golden age of crime".

MikeR wrote: "This one didn't draw me in to continue with the series, Henry Gamage did not appeal, and as a handwriting expert it was apparent the crime would revolve around handwriting (as probably future novel..."

Great thinking, I must admit I hadn't thought about Henry being a handwriting expert. I also didn't think about the fact that the cousin was an actor - I clearly spent too much time swallowing the red herrings in this novel!

I was also completely fooled by this one-thought Hugh would be the hero and Fred the villain, and didn't suspect the body switch at all. I agree with ChrisGA, a greedy bunch of nasties, particularly as when you look at the trail of the money, it should in fact go to the french family as it was the French husband's money, the Barclays and Crowdens had nothing to do with the original earner.

I agree that while this one was light and fun, I'm not sure I would read further in the series.

I thought the mystery element was set up well and the explanation was inventive and plausible (just about). All the facts in the unravelling of the mystery fitted together, without contradictions or obvious anomalies. So a good puzzle.

There were some aspects of the narrative and presentation which I wasn't too happy with, though. Firstly, I found the story very slow moving in some places: the Pottery Pig episode felt very drawn out, more padding than plot; the whole episode on the golf course was the same, and the repeated recounting and analysis of the incident with the stray golf ball over two chapters became quite irritating.

My biggest beef, though, was with the role played in the plot by Mrs Barclay. I imagine she was intended as a red herring of sorts, but Elizabeth Daly's attempts to present her as both a potential suspect and as an essentially harmless, if woolly-headed old woman who 'wouldn't hurt a soul' (How many times did I read that phrase, or something very similar?) really didn't come off. Several of the characters, Henry Gamadge included, comment on the importance of preventing Mrs Barclay from giving Alma any tonic from her supply. The reason for the caution is that she is known to create her medicinal cocktails with no knowledge of medicines, but there is also a hint that she may be deliberately malicious. Yet in chapter 14, when it finally comes to light that Mrs Barclay persuaded Alma to drink the drugged orange water by telling Alma that Dr Baines had ordered it, Baines 'gave a chuckling laugh'! The word, 'chuckling', conveys an indulgent tone on Baines's part, rather than bitter irony, which would be more believable in this situation.

In chapter 15, several characters - Mr Ormville, Hoskins, Baines, Fred Barclay - seem to regard Mrs Barclay's actions with sympathy because, they say, she wouldn't intentionally hurt Alma, as if that makes everything all right. Mr Ormville says, 'Nobody but a fool could possibly suspect her of anything worse than - ah - a slight carelessness in matters of detail.' Again, Daly's aim is to strike a humorous and indulgent note, witness that 'ah', and the heavy understatement in the final clause. But her 'carelessness' involves adding grains of morphia to her tonic, which could have resulted in Alma's death. The other characters all knew this. Why none of them removed Mrs Barclay's supply of tonic from her and poured it all down the drain, is as big a mystery as the death of Amberley Cowden.

I presume Daly wanted Mrs Barclay to retain the reader's sympathy once it became clear that she was not the murderer, but I feel that this led her into perpetrating the book's worst failing.

Mike wrote: "Why none of them removed Mrs Barclay's supply of tonic from her and poured it all down the drain, is as big a mystery as the death of Amberley Cowden...."

Brilliant comment, Mike. I enjoyed reading your analysis of the treatment of Mrs Barclay and her strange tonics - and I think you make it very clear why her 'carelessness' is much more than that!

Agreed-very good points and the whole tonic thing seemed bizarre-that everyone would just brush off this woman pressing her concoctions on people (or would agree to drink them) seems a stretch.