Requiem For Robert
A review of Requiem for Robert by Mary Fitt – 221214
Classicist Kathleen Freeman used the nom de plume of Mary Fitt for her novels and Requiem for Robert, originally published in 1942 and reissued by Moonstone Press, certainly is a misfit in the detective/murder mystery genre. There is a death and some detection by a policeman and his friend, an amateur sleuth, but it would be wrong to judge it purely by the standards of the genre. It is more a novel that explores the psychology of an individual and those around him and meditation on the powerful influence that Catholicism can have on a person’s state of mind and behaviour.
As in Death and Mary Dazill, Fitt chooses to tell the tragic story of Robert Reynald through the eyes and memories of others, but whereas Miss Dazill’s story used a single point of reference, the vicar’s wife, here the picture is built up from the testimonies of those who knew him or were associated with him. The role of Superintendent Mallett and his friend, Dr Fitzbrown, Jones seems to have missed the cut, is to poke, prod, and to try and make sense of what they are being told.
The story has an intriguing start. Mallett’s attention is drawn to three sequential obituary notices announcing the death of Robert Reynald, one from his mother, one from his estranged wife, and the third, from his daughter, Geraldine. He and Fitzbrown attend the funeral. The cause of Reynald’s death was suicide while temporarily of unsound mind. Geraldine is certain that her father did not kill himself and presents her suspicions that he was murdered to Mallett. His interest piqued, Mallett sets out to investigate in an unofficial capacity.
Those of us who have read enough crime fiction usually anticipate that what looks like a suicide usually turns out to be murder most foul and, sure enough, there are enough clues to suggest that Reynald’s death had more to it than initially met the local police’s and coroner’s eye. The position of the body slumped over the desk was not a natural pose for someone who had just committed suicide, the gun he supposedly used was not his, there are marks on the carpet suggesting that his body had been moved to its final resting place, and although the door to the study was locked, there was a cubby hole through which someone could enter and leave the room.
Added to that there is a suspicion of madness in the family, Robert’s father having allegedly burnt down the house on the night of his son’s birth. There is also a daughter an illegitimate daughter, born after an affair in wartime France, the suspicion that Robert is having an affair with the mysterious Rosa, and his renewed commitment to the Catholic church, evidenced in his project to build a new chapel. The fragments of the history of Robert and his parents are drip fed throughout the book and ultimately make sense as a backdrop to the tragedy of his final hours.
While there is a mystery to be solved, the book’s major focus is on the terrible dilemma in which Robert finds himself. He is estranged from his wife who is now in a somewhat uneasy relationship with his former tutor and is being pressurised to agree to a divorce, an action which offends his Catholic sensibilities, a feeling reinforced by the reactions and attitudes of his mother and, more significantly, the rather austere, hard-line Catholic priest.
Robert, whose preference is to be considerate to the feelings of others, is torn. There is motive enough for two of the potential suspects to murder him, but equally the impossibility of the situation in which he finds himself may have driven him to commit suicide. I am no expert in Catholic canonical law, but I always thought suicide was at least a damning mortal sin as divorce. As Mallett observes towards the end of the book, all the characters have in their own way killed Robert. It is just that the resolution of his fate seems a little lame, given what we know of his psychological makeup.
It was an interesting book, one that is more a psychological study than an outright thriller, an interesting twist on the usual suicide or murder plot, well written and well worth spending a couple of evenings with.
