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The Criminal Comedy of the Contented Couple
Two Englishmen have met suspicious ends in Veniceone by gunshot, the other by drowning. That much is certain but nothing else is. Murder? Suicide? Accident? Another mystery is the anonymous notes sent to residents of a quiet English village, spreading the scandalous though false word of an affair between Derek Crowley and Gerda Porson. She is the wife of Crowley's business partner, the unspeakable Charles Porson, a tireless macho who adores handguns and the spanking-and-bondage ritual meted out by his bored, disgusted wife, who is in love only with his money. Was the drug-laced Bloody Mary intended for Porson? How to explain Derek's wife's penchant for masculine clothing? Who loaded the supposedly blank pistol in an amateur theatrical production? Long afterward, Jason Durling's brilliant deductive sleuthing will resolve the murders left unsolved by trhe Italian police and ignored by Scotland Yard; but he will come to great grief in his turn. Again Symons meets his own high this tale is quickwitted, civilized, highly intelligent, sharply observed, complicated without being cluttered, and always in the firm control of a dextrous and accomplished storyteller.
- GenresMystery
213 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1985
About the author
Julian Symons
259 books68 followersJulian Gustave Symons is primarily remembered as a master of the art of crime writing. However, in his eighty-two years he produced an enormously varied body of work. Social and military history, biography and criticism were all subjects he touched upon with remarkable success, and he held a distinguished reputation in each field.
His novels were consistently highly individual and expertly crafted, raising him above other crime writers of his day. It is for this that he was awarded various prizes, and, in 1982, named as Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America - an honour accorded to only three other English writers before him: Graham Greene, Eric Ambler and Daphne Du Maurier. He succeeded Agatha Christie as the president of Britain's Detection Club, a position he held from 1976 to 1985, and in 1990 he was awarded the Cartier Diamond Dagger from the British Crime Writer.
Symons held a number of positions prior to becoming a full-time writer including secretary to an engineering company and advertising copywriter and executive. It was after the end of World War II that he became a free-lance writer and book reviewer and from 1946 to 1956 he wrote a weekly column entitled "Life, People - and Books" for the Manchester Evening News. During the 1950s he was also a regular contributor to Tribune, a left-wing weekly, serving as its literary editor.
He founded and edited 'Twentieth Century Verse', an important little magazine that flourished from 1937 to 1939 and he introduced many young English poets to the public. He has also published two volumes of his own poetry entitled 'Confusions about X', 1939, and 'The Second Man', 1944.
He wrote hie first detective novel, 'The Immaterial Murder Case', long before it was first published in 1945 and this was followed in 1947 by a rare volume entitled 'A Man Called Jones' that features for the first time Inspector Bland, who also appeared in Bland Beginning.
These novles were followed by a whole host of detective novels and he has also written many short stories that were regularly published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. In additin there are two British paperback collections of his short stories, Murder! Murder! and Francis Quarles Investigates, which were published in 1961 and 1965 resepctively.
His novels were consistently highly individual and expertly crafted, raising him above other crime writers of his day. It is for this that he was awarded various prizes, and, in 1982, named as Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America - an honour accorded to only three other English writers before him: Graham Greene, Eric Ambler and Daphne Du Maurier. He succeeded Agatha Christie as the president of Britain's Detection Club, a position he held from 1976 to 1985, and in 1990 he was awarded the Cartier Diamond Dagger from the British Crime Writer.
Symons held a number of positions prior to becoming a full-time writer including secretary to an engineering company and advertising copywriter and executive. It was after the end of World War II that he became a free-lance writer and book reviewer and from 1946 to 1956 he wrote a weekly column entitled "Life, People - and Books" for the Manchester Evening News. During the 1950s he was also a regular contributor to Tribune, a left-wing weekly, serving as its literary editor.
He founded and edited 'Twentieth Century Verse', an important little magazine that flourished from 1937 to 1939 and he introduced many young English poets to the public. He has also published two volumes of his own poetry entitled 'Confusions about X', 1939, and 'The Second Man', 1944.
He wrote hie first detective novel, 'The Immaterial Murder Case', long before it was first published in 1945 and this was followed in 1947 by a rare volume entitled 'A Man Called Jones' that features for the first time Inspector Bland, who also appeared in Bland Beginning.
These novles were followed by a whole host of detective novels and he has also written many short stories that were regularly published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. In additin there are two British paperback collections of his short stories, Murder! Murder! and Francis Quarles Investigates, which were published in 1961 and 1965 resepctively.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 22, 2023
I don't know; too dated? too slow? too English? I couldn't stick with it.
May 29, 2015
Not much can be said about Julian Symons' "A Criminal Comedy", a rather run-of-the-mill British whodunit, far inferior in quality to the same author's "The Progress of a Crime" (which I review here ). Yet one needs books like that in order to appreciate finer works in the mystery genre.
The story begins with a quote from a local British paper: "... two British citizens died in Venice. One was shot through the heart, the other drowned in an offshoot of the Grand Canal, into which he either fell or was pushed." The build-up to the Venice events takes place in "the very English town of Headfield", with most of the novel's characters belonging to the upper crust of the Headfield society. Anonymous letters play an important role in the plot, whose eventual resolution occurs three years later - the denouement is rather interesting and even though I hate plot twists, the final twist is somewhat satisfying.
A very fast, uncomplicated, and pleasant read, but one to be quickly forgotten. Lovers of classic British mysteries (the book is from 1985 but Mr. Symons' work is deeply rooted in the 1950s and 1960s) will rate this novel higher, mainly for its plot. Alas, nothing much there for me other than fine writing.
Two stars.
The story begins with a quote from a local British paper: "... two British citizens died in Venice. One was shot through the heart, the other drowned in an offshoot of the Grand Canal, into which he either fell or was pushed." The build-up to the Venice events takes place in "the very English town of Headfield", with most of the novel's characters belonging to the upper crust of the Headfield society. Anonymous letters play an important role in the plot, whose eventual resolution occurs three years later - the denouement is rather interesting and even though I hate plot twists, the final twist is somewhat satisfying.
A very fast, uncomplicated, and pleasant read, but one to be quickly forgotten. Lovers of classic British mysteries (the book is from 1985 but Mr. Symons' work is deeply rooted in the 1950s and 1960s) will rate this novel higher, mainly for its plot. Alas, nothing much there for me other than fine writing.
Two stars.
July 6, 2012
Headfield is such a nice place to live. Who would expect a plague of anonymous letters accusing popular travel agent Derek of having an affair with his partner's wife? Both Derek, his wife Sandy, and the woman in question, Gerda, deny the claims, but when Gerda's husband dies on a trip to Venice, Derek is the main suspect. Derek's school friend Jason, who knows Derek only too well, knows he's up to something, and nobody liked the dead man...but when the Italian police find another body, all his ideas are up-ended.
May 21, 2015
Typical Symons murder mystery involving travel agents, smugglers, Venice . . . what more do you need? One of his later books.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews