The Progress Of A Crime
A review of The Progress of a Crime by Julian Symons – 241114
Originally published in 1960 and reissued as part of the British Library Crime Classics series, The Progress of a Crime was well received in its time, winning Symons the Edgar award for best novel in 1961. It is not a story that the armchair detective can get their teeth stuck into trying to unmask the identity of a murderer before the sleuth. Instead, as its title suggests, it follows the route of a crime from its origins and commission through to the process of investigation and gathering evidence to the dispensing of justice.
However, it is saved from being purely a police procedural novel by Symons choosing to see the case not only through the eyes of the police but also those of a couple of journalist, a local journalist, Hugh Bennett, eager to cut his teeth and escape from the drudgery of reporting minor civic events, and Frank Fairfield, a bibulous Fleet Street hack, who takes Bennett under his wing as the pair, dissatisfied with the official version of events, carry out their own investigations.
As the excellent introduction outlines, the story is based on a real case, the 1953 murder of John Beckley who, along with a friend, was dragged off a bus and murdered by a group of Teddy Boys, the case resting on the veracity and reliability of eye witnesses. The origin of the crime in Symons’ story is a fund-raising dance for the Far Wether Cricket Club which is disrupted by a group of youths on motor bikes, who are summarily thrown out by a local worthy, James Corby. On the village’s Bonfire Night celebrations, the gang return, throw fireworks at Corby and then in the ensuing altercation, Corby is fatally knifed.
Bennett is at the scene of the crime, sent to report on the fireworks celebration, had grappled with one of the assailants, whom he thinks he can recognize again. A gang led by Garney, known to his associates as King, is quickly identified as the culprits and Garney and his deputy, Leslie Gardner, are charged with the murder. Although certain at the time that he could identify Gardner as the man he grappled with, later reflection leads Bennett to question the reliability of his recollections and leads him to wonder whether it was a case of auto-suggestion, influenced by his developing relationship with Gardner’s sister, Jill.
Gardner’s culpability in the case hangs on a pair of trousers with the second half of the book alternating between the court case and the behind the scenes investigations of the police and the journalists. Symons spent time observing the workings of a newspaper office and one of the highlights of the book is the authenticity, albeit stylized, of the attitudes of newspapers to a big story which they exploit for their commercial advantage whilst seeming to be altruistic. It also shows the breakdown of relationships between generations and the emergence of what might be termed as youth culture.
The resolution of the case also has profound implications for not only the Gardner family but also Bennett who has a career choice to make and the lead police investigators, Twicker and Norman, neither of whom cover themselves in glory. As in Gil North’s Sergeant Cluff Stands Firm, the police are not the urbane, gentlemanly sleuths who populate Golden Age detective fiction but characters who are not averse to using a bit of physical persuasion and underhand tactics to get results.
It was an enjoyable read, thought-provoking in parts and certainly some way removed from the normal crime fiction fare.
