Fog of Doubt - SPOILER Thread (Jan/Feb 2021)

[Susan]

Welcome to our Buddy Read of Fog of Doubt also known as London Particular by Christianna Brand and first published in 1952.

Fog of Doubt is the fifth Inspector Cockrill mystery and also features Inspector Charlesworth, who 'Cocky' first met in the previous mystery, Death of Jezebel. Charlesworth himself has two mysteries in which he takes centre stage and we will read this after the Cockrill mysteries; the first being Death in High Heels, published in 1941.

For those who don't know, a London Particular referred to the heavy fogs which once fell over the city. When a Belgian visitor, Raoul Vernet, is killed during a visit to the house of Matilda Evans, nobody seems too concerned. However, the family - obviously, friends of Inspector Cockrill - are implicated and it is up to him to see which member of the family, or their immediate circle, could have wanted Vernet dead...

Please feel free to post spoilers in this thread.

[Jill]

I liked that instead of the friendship of Cockie and the family was not the reason that Cockie took on this investigation, but that he wanted to compete with Charlesworth.

[Judy]

Yes, I was surprised at Charlesworth turning up again, but enjoyed the rivalry.

I see that one of Brand's first mysteries, Death in High Heels, just featured Charlesworth without Cockrill. I'm not sure which came first out of that one and the first Cockrill book, Heads You Lose, as they were both published in 1941!

[ChrisGA]

I loved the humorous chaos----Matilda getting ready for dinner with Rauel and everything and everyone wanting her attention at once, Granny's antics, and the crazy courtroom scene at end with all the confusion.
I could just see the judge and lawyers just looking at each other as if to ask "what do we do now"? "Like Bedlam already" and "concentrate on keeping lunacies within limits". Fun stuff.

I suspected everyone and therefore no one. I really enjoyed this and am going back to read the Brands I've missed..

It did bother me that Matilda always referred to the baby as "it".

[Judy]

I found Rosie quite an engaging character - the way she makes up different stories about how she got pregnant for each character she tells, designed to elicit their sympathies.

I was shocked when she dies - I hadn't seen that coming. It's a little while since I finished the book and I'm not sure now, do we ever find out whether someone persuaded her to fake all the prescriptions?

[Susan]

Death in High Heels is an interesting book historically, but hasn't aged well. There is a lot of fainting and a homosexual character is not presented kindly. I like the setting though; which is in a dress shop.

I seem to recall that Rosie got a prescription from Tedward and then used Thomas's forged signature to obtain more. That may be wrong, though.

[Judy]

Susan wrote: "I seem to recall that Rosie got a prescription from Tedward and then used Thomas's forged signature to obtain more. That may be wrong, though...."

I believe that is right, Susan, but it is then suggested that she would never have thought of it herself and someone must have helped her. But I don't think we find out if that's true? I suppose probably not.

[Susan]

It's interesting you thought Rosie was engaging. I found her quite unsympathetic; although interesting from the view of potential victim/suspect.

[Colin]

I read this book twice, the last time was maybe 2 years ago. I recall I was impressed the first time but the reread did it no favors.
It's a solid enough book in many ways but it just seems to lead kind of remorselessly up to the reveal of the killer without any twist or startling fact to liven it. Essentially, I found it fell flat in the end.

And Rosie got on my nerves more and more as the story went along. For me, the only sympathetic character was Tedward, which Brand obviously intended so as to make his being revealed as the killer more affecting.

It's not a bad book but it's not great either, and certainly isn't deserving of the reputation it appears to have built up over the years.

[Susan]

I am afraid that Tedward annoyed me. All that desperate longing... Plus the name didn't help - I kept thinking of Winnie the Pooh for some reason :)

[Jill]

Susan wrote: "It's interesting you thought Rosie was engaging. I found her quite unsympathetic; although interesting from the view of potential victim/suspect."

I thought Rosie was pretty inventive, matching a different story to whoever she was telling about what had happened to her while she was away. But good liars are able to do that. I was under the impression she had spent so much time in her room perfecting the signature she was using on the prescriptions she had copied.

I agree with Colin, this was a good read, but not a great one.

[Susan]

She was certainly a little liar, wasn't she? Although she seemed to take in the male members of the circle more than the female ones.

[Judy]

Colin wrote: "It's a solid enough book in many ways but it just seems to lead kind of remorselessly up to the reveal of the killer without any twist or startling fact to liven it. Essentially, I found it fell flat in the end...."

I think the fact that he left Rosie in the car and did the murder while pretending to be lost at the start is supposed to be a twist, but must agree it falls a bit flat as we already know Tedward is the killer by the time that's revealed and it's not all that exciting as a twist anyway!

I was also a bit disappointed that Tedward turned out to be mad - I do prefer endings where there is a more interesting motive. I really enjoyed the writing and the characters more than the plot.

[ChrisGA]

Judy wrote: "Susan wrote: "I seem to recall that Rosie got a prescription from Tedward and then used Thomas's forged signature to obtain more. That may be wrong, though...."

I believe that is right, Susan, but..."

When Tedward was raving and in his delusions, he said he gently led her upstairs ( after it came out how his sweet, innocent Rosie led a wildly promiscuous life). He said he whispered to her how to get more of the drug. My impression was that he really wanted her to die because he had killed someone for her.

Rosie left me cold. Her actions and lies affected everyone while she assumed she would continue skate through life, doing what she wanted without remorse or consideration of consequences. ( I am reading Ruth Ware's The Lying Game at the moment and saw Rosie fitting right in with those girls.)

My favorite character was Granny.

[Susan]

Yes, she was great on the page, but not sure how easy it would be to cope with her antics in real life...

[Judy]

ChrisGA wrote: "When Tedward was raving and in his delusions, he said he gently led her upstairs ( after it came out how his sweet, innocent Rosie led a wildly promiscuous life). He said he whispered to her how to get more of the drug. My impression was that he really wanted her to die because he had killed someone for her...."

Thank you, Chris, I'd somehow missed that. I've just looked back at the end and seen that line. So Tedward did in effect kill Rosie too.

[ChrisGA]

Susan wrote: "Yes, she was great on the page, but not sure how easy it would be to cope with her antics in real life..."

She reminded me of my late mother-in-law who had dementia. She lived with us until she needed full-time nursing. Anyone who has been a caregiver knows sometimes you just have to laugh or the strain will break you. Just when we were most exhausted, she would do something so outrageous we could only chuckle to each other. I imagine Matilda reacting in a similar manner.

[ChrisGA]

Judy wrote: "ChrisGA wrote: "When Tedward was raving and in his delusions, he said he gently led her upstairs ( after it came out how his sweet, innocent Rosie led a wildly promiscuous life). He said he whisper..."

It is great to be able to discuss what we read. We all have different reactions and pick up different things. I'm hooked😊

[Jennifer]

I really loved this one! My husband and I listened to the audio together and found it very engaging. I think all of these people would probably be really annoying in real life but depicted in a book they were delightful!

[Susan]

Good point, Jennifer. You can shut the pages on a book ;)

[Nick]

By the end, with Tedward’s madness over the “innocent” Rosie, I couldn’t help but think of Citizen Charles Foster Kane’s “Rosebud” - his lost innocent childhood “love”.

[Judy]

ChrisGA wrote: "It is great to be able to discuss what we read. We all have different reactions and pick up different things. I'm hooked😊..."

Yes, great to be able to discuss, I agree - you certainly helped me by spotting what I'd missed.

I think I found Tedward's ravings a bit hard to take in because some of them are so distasteful, describing Rosie as a slut, etc.

We never really find out all that much about the other victim, Raoul Vernet, do we?

[Susan]

Raoul Vernet didn't get a lot of sympathy at all, did he? Even the police seemed to agree that his getting bumped off just caused a nice family a lot of problems that could have been avoided!

[Sandy]

I really enjoyed the humor in this book: Cockie interviewing Granny as she rode the sofa across the desert is a prime example. I also think that Tedward's breakdown and the big twist were let downs. However up until that point it was one of my favorites. While I would not enjoy this family in real life, they were great company in a book.

It was sad that no one really cared that Vernet was dead. Was it ever established that Melissa, the maid, actually knew him when she was abroad? Was that what he was going to discuss with Tilda? I may have to reread the ending!

[Judy]

Quite surprising in retrospect that we don't have friends and relations of Vernet turning up, although this didn't strike me when I was reading the book!