Is Skin Deep, Is Fatal

by H.R.F. Keating

In the rough, tough world where predatory young beauty queens compete fiercely for money, a murder is committed. Police Constable Peter Lassington is soon enmeshed in a complicated mystery - a mystery made more than usually exotic by the acreage of young feminine flesh that is continuously on show at the Star Bowl ballroom, rehearsing for the contest at which the St. Valentine prizes will be awarded. Lassington's superior, the officer in charge of the case, is Superintendent Ironside. Ironside - polite, sophisticated, devious - is somewhat sceptical about the charms of the young his thoughts roam forward to his imminent retirement.This detective novel is carefully plotted and firmly set in a world of bizarre values - values that do not appeal to Ironside, the most striking police detective to appear in fiction for some time. The naked competition of the adolescent beauty queens provides the background to a strange and exciting murder novel, with a surprise ending.

Genres: Mystery

175 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Henry Reymond Fitzwalter Keating was an English writer of crime fiction most notable for his series of novels featuring Inspector Ghote of the Bombay CID.

H. R. F. KEATING was well versed in the worlds of crime, fiction and nonfiction. He was the crime books reviewer for The Times for fifteen years, as well as serving as the chairman of the Crime Writers Association and the Society of Authors. He won the CWA Gold Dagger Award twice, and in 1996 was awarded the CWA Cartier Diamond Dagger for outstanding service to crime fiction.

Series:
. Inspector Ghote
. Harriet Martens

Series contributed to:
. Malice Domestic
. Perfectly Criminal

Reviews

[Bev · Rating 2 out of 5]

Is Skin Deep, Is Fatal (1965) by H. R. F. Keating takes place in the world of beauty pageants. On the eve of the Miss Valentine Pageant awarded from the Star Bowl Ballroom, two deaths take place. First, Fay Curtis, mother of one of the contestants, is found dead--apparently a suicide. But before she died she sent a message to the beauty pageant's organizer Teddy Pariss. Pariss is then stabbed to death with a golden paper knife whose handle is shaped in the form of a naked woman. It's up to the British police to discover whether the beauty pageant is at the root of the deaths and what the connection, if any, between Curtis and Pariss was.

Police Constable Peter Lassington has been hoping to break into the ranks of the CID, so when he gets word of Fay's death from her maid he heads over to see if he can get in on the action. CID Detective Constable Jack Spratt is already on the case and he and Lassington go way back. Back far enough that Spratt knows Lassington is looking to muscle in for some credit. The reader soon knows that Spratt is right as Lassington hangs around after Spratt leaves and discovers that while Fay didn't leave a suicide not, she did send that last minute message. So off he goes to the Star Bowl Ballroom to see if he can get hold of the note. But he's too late...it's already been delivered to Teddy and Teddy's not sharing. Lassinton leaves disgruntled. Later that evening, he gets a phone call telling him someone's trying to break into the safe at the Star Bowl. He hotfoots it over there to find no one has called him and no one is breaking into a safe, but Teddy Pariss is very dead from knife to the back.

Enter Scotland Yard's Superintendent Ironside...a man who is looking forward to retirement and who hopes his final murder case will be an easy one. His usual assistant is out of commission, so he claims Lassington and Spratt as assistants for the investigation. Keating begins the book as if Lassington is going to be our hero, but it soon becomes apparent that Ironside is the man to watch. He spots clues that neither of our constables even notice and has a running commentary on how they ought to handle an investigation (supposing they are ever trusted to be in charge of one).


Spoilery bits ahead!


I've heard a lot of good things about Keating. So far, my experience of his fiction has been limited to a few short stories (in various collections) and this standalone police procedural. I have to say I have yet to be overly impressed. The short stories were okay--but, as evidence of how great they were (or weren't) I can't tell you anything about any of them. As far as this novel goes...well, for starters, the murderer's method of attempting to cover his/her tracks is straight-up lifted from a rather famous Agatha Christie plot. Seriously. Second, the characters. Cardboard cutouts of particularly unlikable sorts. We don't mind that the slimy Teddy Pariss has met his maker. We're disgusted with both police constables. We don't particularly mind that we've just met Superintendent Ironside and he's going to retire and we'll never see him again. We don't care who wins the Miss Valentine contest and aren't at all surprised that some cheating went on to try and gain the title (stuffed brassieres, any one?).

I have Keating's The Perfect Murder sitting on my TBR pile--which, by the way was, according to the blurb on the back of this book, "proclaimed Best Crime Novel of 1964." I certainly hope it's more entertaining than this rather dreary tale of beauty pageant skulduggery. ★ and a half (rounded to two here). And that may be a bit generous.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two ambitious young constables are first on the scene when the body of Teddy Parries is found. Teddy was a successful promoter of beauty contests and both constables have an eye for a beautiful woman. But the person in charge of the investigation is the enigmatic Superintendent Ironside, who knew Teddy years ago, and who talks mostly of his coming retirement. The murderer doesn't know what Ironside will do to all his--or her--dark plans.