The Mysterious Mr Badman
A review of The Mysterious Mr Badman by W F Harvey
A subgenre of the world of crime fiction is the bibliomystery, a rather loose category which involves a book or a collection of books, libraries, bookshops and the like as the central fulcrum of the action. This rare piece of crime fiction from the pen of William Fryer Harvey, a writer who has fallen into obscurity but is best known for his short stories in the macabre and horror genre, which was originally published in 1934, and has recently been resuscitated as part of the British Library Crime Classics series, falls into that category.
The action opens when Athelstan Digby, on holiday, looks after a bookshop for an afternoon and is surprised when three odd individuals, a vicar, a foxy looking man, and a whistling chauffeur come in separately and enquire after a copy of The Life and Death of Mr Badman by John Bunyan, published initially in 1680. There is not a copy in the shop, but one soon appears, in a pile of books given by Diana Conyers to a young boy to dispose of. Digby buys the book and when looking through it discovers a letter. The shop is broken into, the book and letter are stolen, and the foxy man, who turns out to be the vicar’s servant, is found dead, seemingly having committed suicide.
What was the significance of the book and the letter? Who were the three individuals enquiring after the book? Was the death really suicide? Digby sets out to uncover the truth, aided and abetted by his nephew, Jim Pickering, and in part by Diana Conyers with whom Pickering falls in love. The tale shows its age as incriminating evidence showing that a senior politician had allowed personal considerations to cloud their judgment was grounds for resignation and could bring the government down. Who could imagine it?! A change in government and policy direction could be lucrative for certain shadowy investors. Now, that is more realistic!
There is a darker, national threat hidden in the letter. Having alerted the Home Secretary, Sir Richard Mott, who is Diana’s stepfather, that he is incriminated in the letter, Digby, whose occupation as a blanket manufacturer comes in handy, manages to piece the mystery together courtesy of the hairs of a mountain goat, some wood shavings, and a sleeping bag. Of course, he manages to thwart the plot, albeit not without running some personal danger along the way. There are the usual thrills and spills, including a kidnap plot that has Pickering, a practising doctor, convinced that he has been seriously injured.
It is a marvellous romp of a book, entertainment for entertainment’s sake, with a plot that takes itself not too seriously, but clever enough to satisfy the reader’s demand for a mildly perplexing mystery which at the same time puts a smile on their face. The opening sentence puts the reader on notice that Harvey will inject as much whimsical humour as he can, and he clearly has fun with the names of some of his characters that include Olaf Wake, Euphemia Upstart, and Kitchener Lilywhite. And, of course the Badman in the title refers not only to Bunyan’s book but the rogue who is masterminding the plot.
Sadly, Harvey died three years after this book was published, but I am keen to explore some of his other works, particularly The Misadventures of Athelstan Digby which was published in 1920. The search is on.
In the meantime, this encounter with Mr Digby is one I shall remember for some time.
