The Case of the Undiscovered Corpse, by Charlie Cochrane

[Ulysses]

The Case of the Undiscovered Corpse
By Charlie Cochrane
Published by Williams & Whiting, 2022
Four stars

This is the third of the Toby and Alasdair mysteries – and Charlie Cochrane decided that she should have her movie star sleuths meet the legendary Jonty and Orlando – the Cambridge Fellows. The year is 1952, and thus the Cambridge duo are “merely” in their 70s, still working and still sleuthing. It’s a wonderful conceit and it works well – largely because Toby and Alasdair quickly realize that Jonty and Orlando are birds of the same feather.

The mystery itself is a sort of sardonic nod to the Holmes and Watson mysteries for which the actors are famed in their films. Sardonic, because Orlando despises Conan Doyle and the facile genius of the troubled Sherlock Holmes. As the title suggests, the mystery goes the old “closed room” murder puzzle one better – a sealed box in a locked room! The Cambridge duo and the movie stars collaborate to solve the mystery of a century-old death, while beginning a relationship that (I hope certainly) will become a fast friendship.

I confess, the mystery is the most complicated I’ve ever encountered in Cochrane’s books, and I got a bit lost by the end. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because it underscored that the mystery itself, while satisfying to unravel, wasn’t the real point of the story.

The central premise is not, in fact, the mystery; but the idea of the movie actors playing Jonty and Orlando in a period piece set at the outbreak of what they all still refer to as the Great War. So, this is a movie-making story, which gets caught up in a real-life unsolved murder.

It was a delight to see these two couples tentatively engage with each other, and to begin to see how the elder might become a sort of role model for the younger. Oddly enough, while it’s clear that Jonty and Orlando immediately take a liking to Toby and Alasdair, it is not clear what they all think in terms of the future of their new-found acquaintance.

The poignant core of this narrative is Toby and Alasdair’s envy at the comfortable life that Jonty and Alasdair have built together. The older couple lives in their idyllic cottage while avoiding public scrutiny due to their chosen careers as bachelor academics. The actors haven’t got that option, given their high public profile and their need to use their beautiful co-star as camouflage. The aggressive nature of the British press is already in play in 1952, and Toby and Alasdair haven’t got the flexibility to simply settle down and do what the Cambridge pair have done.

Once again, as with the first Toby and Alasdair book, I did not really get a sense of who these two really are – even as I smiled at the familiar foibles and fondness of the elder duo. Something about the movie stars continues to elude me. I’m going to read “The Case of the Gray Assassin,” which I somehow missed, to see if I can get to know the actors better. I certainly hope to see them in collaboration with the Cambridge Fellows again.