Nicola L.C. Talbot

For those who don’t know, a skytip (or sky tip) is a slag heap formed as a by-product of the Cornish china clay industry. The clay is excavated and the unwanted rubble is dumped. This forms a landscape of white craters and conical mounds, with rail t

For those who don’t know, a skytip (or sky tip) is a slag heap formed as a by-product of the Cornish china clay industry. The clay is excavated and the unwanted rubble is dumped. This forms a landscape of white craters and conical mounds, with rail tracks leading from the bottom of the crater to the top of the mound so that the rubble can be transported by truck and dumped at the top. There’s a winder house between the edge of the crater and the bottom of the mound that contains the apparatus that moves the trucks. This is the setting of Ambler’s Skytip.

Peter Ackland is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and his doctor orders rest and recommends a farm in a peaceful Cornish location amongst the skytips. Things don’t get off to a good start as a confusion about dates results in Peter arriving at the station a day early, so the expected lift to the farm isn’t provided. This is an era where many properties still don’t have phones and the farm is one of them, so he has to set off on foot. Luckily he manages to get a bus as far as a nearby village. The directions he’s given by a local are of the ‘you can’t miss it’ variety, and Ackland ends up knocking on the wrong door. Unusually for such a location, the door is obviously bolted and on a chain, but it’s finally opened by Henry Braddock who appears to be holding a heavy object in his pocket. Ackland is somewhat alarmed but Braddock gives him directions and the acquaintance between them is formed, which Ackland comes to regret.

Ackland is clearly suffering from symptoms of depression: small noises irritate him, he finds himself trying avoid company, and he becomes deeply suspicious, but he dismisses clues that the genre-savvy reader pick up on as just depression-induced paranoia. When Braddock goes missing, Ackland eventually investigates, not because he’s an amateur detective, but because he simply wants peace of mind to help cure his paranoia. Unfortunately for Ackland, it turns out that there are good grounds for suspecting foul play.

The story is set in the early post-WWII period when rationing is still in force and the economy is in a mess. A Member of Parliament is the leader of a political group who are full of promises and try to use the Arthurian legend to promote a feeling of patriotism. The politically-naïve Ackland at first only sees the superficial hopeful side of the group, but he unwittingly gets caught up in political plots and blackmail.