Crime-Book Society paperback edition - 1936?
It's less than a month since I read my last Andrew Soutar novel (see my Blog 16th January), which I found unusual but nevertheless quite enjoyed. The Devil's Triangle is again written from a slightly different angle and the strong narrative drive kept me reading so that I finished it in one day (unlike the last book). Sir Maxwell Deane, K.C., M.P., - aged forty, was handsome, alert, gifted with eloquence, shrewdness, and tremendous ambition - is sent out to Moscow to confer with representatives of the Soviet on matters affecting trade and certain concessions. As he leaves the train, a young lady breaks away from a group of delegates and rushes towards him. With eyes that penetrated and, in penetrating, inspired!... the woman throws her arms around his neck and kisses him, first on the cheek and then the lips. She whispers quickly in his ear: "For God's sake, say I'm your wife!" Being alert, he goes along with it. It helps that he knows her slightly - she is Anita Lavering, in her early twenties, and the daughter of Sir Douglas Lavering of Dunmore Square, an acquaintance of Maxwell's. They had briefly met once at a party at the Laverings.
The Soviets, seemingly satisfied, deposit the 'husband and wife' at an unpretentious hotel, prior to the conference Maxwell is to attend. Anita explains that she has been in Russia for six months and has been helping certain people get out of the country. She is in danger, hence her subterfuge. The ruse succeeds, as the two are able to get back, via Riga, Archangel and Murmansk, to London. However, the Soviets are so delighted with the story Anita spins them of a secret marriage in Paris, that they publish it in their newspapers. Inevitably, it is picked up by the London Press - to the great surprise of Anita's parents and everyone else. Back in London, Maxwell, who by now has fallen for Anita, suggests they actually get married to support the sham. She turns him down. Why? "I am already married." Moreover, she and her real husband parted less than ten minutes after they left a Paris registry office. She has not seen him since.
Anita desperately argues there must be some means of escape from the awful predicament in which we find ourselves. Alas, fate was not disposed to allow of any such escape. In fact, worse is to come. Maxwell's butler announces there is a very cultured gentleman to see him. A perfect stranger is ushered in - he was tall, alert, perfectly groomed - and introduces himself: Charles Pringle. My address until quite recently was Broadmoor Asylum. And he says his wife is...Anita Lavering! The reader is only on page 29, but they are now in for a further exciting 233 pages. Pringle explains that he left Anita in Paris as he had to travel to South Africa and then South America, where he had big business interests. Moreover, after returning to England, he had been prosecuted by none other than Maxwell for murder. Maxwell had argued for the death penalty, but Pringle had been sent to Broadmoor as insane. Now he had escaped and where better to hide, whilst settling his financial affairs and escaping to South America. than at the home of the counsel who had prosecuted him! Anita has to be told: "My God!" said Maxwell, "If you're not insane, you're the most callous devil that ever lived."
The blow had come for Anita and Maxwell. Either, to Society, they were living in sin or she was a bigamist. As the pages are turned, the reader experiences the couple's desperate attempts to escape from this predicament. Kill Pringle? He says he has left a letter to be produced if he dies, stating his (legal) marriage in Paris. The author is good at gradually unravelling the psychology of Pringle. Behind the smooth exterior is a troubled mind, calculating but insecure. He can tease Anita, browbeat Maxwell, fool the older Laverings, but quiver when a warder from Broadmoor half-recognises him. To outsiders he calls himself Capristi - including Detective Slante of the Yard, who is searching for the escaped Pringle. He meets Pringle/Capristi at Maxwell's - does he recognise him? We shall find out towards the end of the tale.
To give any more details away would be a major 'spoiler alert'. Good does win out in the end, but not before another woman (Mariette Dubique) whom Pringle met in Paris is killed by him in her flat. I found that unnecessary for the plot, but I suppose it meant Pringle had to sever this mortal coil too. Soutar kept the narrative flowing, engaged the reader successfully with the main characters, who were all believable, and produced a compelling tale. As the Daily Sketch two-word quotation pithily says on the front cover: "Fine Thriller."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I read, a couple of days ago, an article by Clarissa Heard, entitled The Problem with 'diversifying' English literature. I quote -
Lit in Colour, a campaign launched by Penguin and the Runnymede Trust to diversify English literature, has recently released its five-year progress report. 'Diversity' for this campaign doesn't mean diversity of thought, style, genre, poetic form or historical period, however. It refers to promoting writers on the basis of their BAME (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic) credentials while insisting that English Literature - cumulatively one of the most staggering achievements in Western civilisation - is too white for the modern classroom.
Simply, Bah! Thank goodness, one still can choose what one reads. For me (as shown by my Blogs) it means mainly pre-1960s novels (there are a few exceptions - Scott Mariani, Nicola Upson, C.J. Sansom) and certainly not BAME material. The rest of Clarissa Heard's article is too depressing to copy out. What is positive about the 21st century - apart from our grandchildren?
No comments:
Post a Comment