In The Night: A Detective Novel

by Ronald Gorell Barnes

“Lord Gorell has a nice ear for dialogue, and a light and pleasant touch with description.”
– Dorothy L. Sayers

In The Night is a classic detective novel, filled with intrigue, suspense, and a plot that will keep you guessing until the very end.

Sir Roger Penterton, owner of Salting Towers, and a man with few friends and many enemies, is found dead with a head wound, lying at the base of a staircase, just moments after a meeting with his secretary. Inspector Emmanuel Humblethorne of Scotland Yard happens to be in the neighbourhood on holiday and takes charge.

Who murdered the wealthy businessman? Was it the secretary? The prodigal son? Maybe the butler? Inspector Humblethorne is confounded, but soon assisted in his investigation by a young woman with ‘transparent vivacity and charm’.

In The Night is a landmark murder mystery – a very early example of the whodunit set in a Manor House which would became highly popular during the Golden Age, complete with a floor plan of the house.

Morrigan Crime Classics edition include an Introduction by Alex Selwyn-Holmes and a biographical note on the author.


About the Author
RONALD GORELL BARNES became 3rd Baron Gorell when his elder brother was killed in the First World War and later served as co-President of the Detection Club with Agatha Christie from 1956 to 1963. Gorell was the model for Lord Peter Wimsey in the books by Dorothy L. Sayers, who referred to him as 'Lord Sheep'.

Genres: Mystery, Research, Mystery Thriller, Classics

ebook

First published January 1, 1917

About the author

Ronald Gorell Barnes, 3rd Baron Gorell, CBE, MC (16 April 1884 – 2 May 1963) was a British peer, Liberal politician, poet, author and newspaper editor.

During World War One, Captain Barnes served in the Rifle Brigade & received the Military Cross. Barnes succeeded as third Baron Gorell on 16 January 1917 after his unmarried elder brother was killed in battle.

After the war, Lord Gorell spent two years working at the War Office as Deputy Director of Staff Duties (Education), & then served a year as Under-Secretary of State for Air from 1921 to 1922.

Reviews

[Jay Maxfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

First published by Longmans in 1917. Martin Edwards uses this novel in The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books (2017) to show the development of crime fiction 1901-1950. The story is a very early example of the whodunit set in a Manor House that was made famous a few years later by Agatha Christie. Being an early example of any specific kind of writing means that the author doesn't have the advantage of hindsight and will make some errors that later writers can avoid. So this crime novel is easy to solve and is very much of the crime fiction class - where the least likely person is the villain. We have in this story Evelyn Temple who instead of being the plunky young woman who helps the investigation is in fact intuitively drawn to the solving of the crime by her own intelligence and observation skills. However she is a reluctant amateur sleuth as she is quick to grasp that her findings may help the inspector bring criminal proceedings against her own close friends. The Inspector - Emmanuel Humblethorne of Scotland Yard although experienced in criminal investigation is of course no match for the eagle eyed Evelyn - however both of them get mislead and realise that some clues can be interpreted in many ways - which is the greatest asset that a crime fiction author can have up his/her sleeve.
What is enjoyable to see is a plan of the house as this is probably one of the earliest examples of this common practice during the golden age of crime. Also in the foreword given by the author he makes the following remarks (see below) - which were to become the much desired rules of The Detection Club of the 1930s of playing fair to the reader - which unfortunately, many of the club members couldn't live up to as this makes writing crime fiction more difficult and doesn't allow the author to just pluck evidence out of a magical hat! (which many lazy authors did). I would give the book 7 out of 10 as it interested me more on the level of my interest in the development of crime fiction than as a novel in it's own right.
Foreword taken from the first edition.
This tale of mystery must be regarded as a diversion from war, a word which does not occur in its pages. It was planned in a base-hospital in France, and written during recovery at home; if it serves to interest for an hour or two those similarly place and those still in the trenches, its existence is amply justified.
It tries, at any rate, to deal fairly with its readers, who are not called upon to admire cleverness of deduction they are prevented from performing for themselves. Nothing is more irritating, and more common, in tales of the investigation of crime, than to find such sentences as "the great detective rose from his knees and put away his magnifying-glass with a self-satisfied air," and not be told what he saw to make him self-satisfied. In the following pages, therefore, every essential fact is related as it is discovered and readers are, as far as possible, given the eyes of the investigators and equal opportunities with them of arriving at the truth.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dorothy L. Sayers apparently said, quite accurately, “Lord Gorell has a nice ear for dialogue, and a light and pleasant touch with description.” Considering he was a poet, his prose is solid, workmanlike and never attempts to be lyrical or fanciful, though personally I would relocate a few of his commas. I wonder if Sayers drew inspiration from the general tone of this book for her Lord Peter Wimsey books? They do have some resemblances, not least that the amateur detective learns that "to investigate was interesting, to discover horrible," which is a neat summing up of how Wimsey feels about the consequences of his detecting hobby for the criminals he detects.

This is a textbook example of an early-20th-century mystery novel: country house, unpopular rich man dead in the night, everyone a suspect, apparent locked-room (or rather locked-house) aspect, inspector who has tenacity but lacks brilliance, amateur detective who is better at detecting than the professional. Interestingly, the amateur detective here is a young woman, the close friend of the daughter of the victim, and she shows considerable intelligence and ability while not being some kind of prodigy. She also has a more developed personality - as do all the characters - than I'm used to encountering in these early-20th-century mysteries. They're not just archetype plus plot role, but have believable motivations and emotions and, in general, an interior life. A lot of early detective novels, particularly those by men, had lifeless characters who were only ever seen from the outside, and went through a kind of puppet-play acting out the author's plot. This is not one of those.

The professional detective just happens to be nearby when the murder is committed, in one of those coincidences so beloved of the genre. He is on holiday, and is just about to be bored by the small village where nothing ever happens when something - the murder - does happen, and gives him the opportunity to be happily busy about something he's good at.

I said above that everyone is a suspect. That's not completely true, but almost. The amateur detective herself is never a suspect, for the reader because we're in her head and know she wasn't involved in the crime, and for the policeman because... contrary to his declared practice, he just doesn't think she's the type and rules her out immediately, thus avoiding some complications that would otherwise have ensued. This is pretty much the only forced part of the plot, though.

The other way in which it's not true to say that everyone is a suspect is that neither detective - amateur or professional - ever suspects the actual killer, which is largely why I suspected that person intensely. Their exclusion from the list of suspects was itself suspicious, though fully understandable in the context of the story.

There's a one-sided attraction, rather than a romance - the dead man's secretary for the young woman who functions as amateur detective - but it's briefly covered near the beginning and never develops into anything; the secretary himself hardly appears after it's clear he's not the murderer.

Overall, it's a good piece of work, better than a lot of superficially similar books from the time, and I'll be looking out for other books by the same author in the hope that they are just as good. Unfortunately, this is the only one so far on Project Gutenberg,

[angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

Lord Gorell wrote this book in 1917 as he was recovering from being wounded during World War I. He wrote it hoping it would provide some brief distraction for the young men still fighting in the trenches. This is a lovely depiction of life as it was lived at that time, except for the murder, of course. And interestingly, the person who solves this murder is a very intelligent, competent, capable, young woman. She finds clues about what really happened, by accident at first, and then decides to continue on to find the truth. It evolves in layers and kept me guessing and very interested! This book is not heavily written and boring like some from that period and I enjoyed it very much.

[Jlnpeacock Peacock · Rating 4 out of 5]

The inept detective is an amusing character and the mystery is rather charming. It was an entertaining read.

[Anna Katharine · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the Night is a very early example of Golden Age mysteries, perhaps too early to even count as part of the Golden Age. Written in 1917, it retains some of the melodrama and moral tone of earlier literature, but presents a very tidy, well-plotted mystery. Gorell plays fair with readers, providing all necessary clues to spot the murderer, and metes out information while eliminating possible suspects. I found the characters to be particularly well-rounded for the time, and appreciated the female amateur sleuth who plays a major part in the solution. Light, short, and pretty fun.

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

The rave reviews are a little puzzling to me; this felt a little shopworn. Its age might be a factor here; the bones of the story felt buried in prose harking back to the melodrama of an earlier period. I never quite believed in the characters or the situation. It was okay but not particularly memorable.

[Sharon L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic country house murder

It is always a pleasure to go back in time to a classic country house murder. This one will keep you guessing . It even kept Sir Conan Doyle guessing till the end. A pleasure to read.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: Sir Roger's body is found at the bottom of the staircase in his country home. Scotland Yard is called but Miss Temple finds the answers.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unraveled at Last!

Enjoyable mystery of misdirection - repeatedly - a vintage golden era British country house plot with a dastardly murder victim.

[Andréa · Rating 2 out of 5]

ehhh....

[Ron Kastner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well perhaps not great but good fun. I suspect though that police procedures have changed over the years.