Death Makes A Prophet
A review of Death Makes a Prophet by John Bude – 250712
The eleventh in John Bude’s William Meredith series, originally published in 1947 and reissued as part of the British Library Crime Classics series, Death Makes a Prophet is very much a book of two halves. It should appeal to those of us who like their murder laced with humour and an intriguing puzzle that resolves itself neatly at the end, even if there is a little legerdemain to make it all work.
Eustace Mildmann is the High Prophet of the Church of the Children of Osiris, known as Cooism, based in the Garden City of Welworth, a town with a growing reputation for eccentricity. Any hopes that he entertained that his church would bring him spiritual peace are sadly frustrated as it becomes the centre of a power struggle between the orthodox, Mildmann, and the more progressives, whose cause is enthusiastically pursued by the moneybags behind the cult, Mrs Hagge-Smith, and the eccentrically dressed, ambitious and somewhat unlikeable Peta Penpeti. Penpeti manoeuvres himself to be appointed Prophet-in-Waiting, a position which commands a stipend of £500 per annum, but clearly has his eyes on the major prize, appointment as High Priest with its £5,000 a year salary.
Penpeti seems to be tailed by and fearful of someone who goes by the name of Yacob and another shady character, Miss Minnybell, has him in her sights. On discovering Hansford Boot’s dark secret – he is one of the six of Cooism’s Inmost Priests – and to ease his difficulties with Yacob Penpeti resorts to blackmail, subverting one of Mildmann’s most fervent supporters. Penpeti’s path to the top is made even easier when he discovers some letters that Mildmann had sent to Penelope Parker. Add to all of this the fact that Mildmann’s son, Terence, is increasingly resentful of the tight rein that his father keeps him on. There are ingredients enough for murder most foul.
Bude, though, is in no rush to bring the affairs of Cooism to a crescendo, rather enjoying himself in satirizing British cults, developing the characters of his protagonists and examining the rivers of ambition and jealousy that course through their veins. It is only at around the halfway point when the action has moved away from Welworth to Old Cowdene, the estate of Mrs Hagge-Smith and the venue of the Cooist summer camp, that there is death, but not just one. The bodies of Penelope Parker and Eustace Mildmann are found, the latter disguised as Penpeti, both having ingested poison that was found in Parker’s room. The curious thing, though, is that Mildmann died sometime after Parker, although the poison should have killed them both at the same time, suggesting that he poisoned her and then committed suicide.
There is clearly something very dangerous about going around dressed as Penpeti as Mildmann’s chauffeur, Sidney Arkwright, had been shot at and wounded earlier while donning a Penpeti-like costume for a fancy dress ball and now Mildmann has died. It is a tricky case for Inspector Meredith of the Yard to investigate. He recognizes that Mildmann did not commit suicide but the obvious culprit, Penpeti, has a cast-iron alibi.
I could not help feeling that Meredith was a bit slow on unravelling the implications of the crime, failing to spot until later the significance of the attack on Arkwright and that the position of High Prophet commanded a significant salary. He is helped enormously when someone comes out of left field and provides some very useful information and when Boot, immediately before turning the gun on himself, kills someone he believes to be Penpeti. The manner by which the alibi is established seems to work, although it will offend the detective fiction purists, and I enjoyed the manner in which Mildmann was forced to ingest the poison. The glaring loose end was the role of Miss Minnybell.
Meredith might not have been on top form but this was a very enjoyable book, funny and the interest never waned, even if the culprit was obvious, because of the challenges that the sleuth had in bringing all the pieces together to make a convincing case.
