Book Review: Crime in Kensington

“It is the ordinary happenings that can have the most sinister causes”

Who here doesn’t love a good murder mystery? Especially one set in the borough where you live. That is what drew me to this little unsuspecting novel that was tucked away in a corner of Daunts Book Shop in Holland Park. It is nothing like a Miss Marple or a Hercule Poirot, where the characters are demure and polite to one another and the murder is evil, sure. But there is a politeness to Agatha Christie that there just isn’t in ‘Crime in Kensington’ by Christopher St. John Sprigg which made it all the more delicious reading.

Now, like all classic crime fiction from the 1930’s there are your classic characters, you have an old Major, and elderly spinster or three, one of whom is a bit too into cats, you have the beautiful young slip of a thing, doe eyed but deeply troubled. Then you have the inspector who is smart but lacking in imagination, an unusual man of strange habits- an Egyptian man and then you have the man of the cloth, who is pious, eccentric and deeply deeply suspicious. Then finally our Sherlock Holmes of the story, the one who sees everything but reveals nothing to the reader except at the last moment. So to get started, what is happening in this damned novel. Well, our hero Charles Venebles has even invited to stay at the Garden Hotel in Kensington by a Lady Viola. There are strange happenings going on this hotel, nothing is quite as it seems. There is a current of electricity that is bubbling through the inhabitants of this hotel. It is tense, anxious and Charles picks up on it from the get go, but he can’t seem to fathom why! The electricity crackles to the surface, however, like a bolt of lightning when the proprietress of the hotel- Mrs Budge - disappears under mysterious circumstances. The nurse and the kindly Miss Sanctuary witness the whole affair, as one minute Mrs Budge is safely in her bed, the next Miss Sanctuary has been violently attacked, the door locked with the nurse screaming bloody murder for someone to help open the door. By the time help has arrived both Mrs Budge and Miss Sanctuary have vanished. Miss Sanctuary is found sometime later, gagged and bound, in a wardrobe. Mrs Budge, however, is nowhere to be seen. Charles writes this astonishing happening for the newspaper he writes for ‘The Mercury’. And soon the front of the Hotel has many curious people outside just itching to get inside and discover what has happened to Mrs Budge.

There are a few things that ought to be dissected first in this deliciously morbid tale. And that is the ridiculousness of the characters involved. Let’s start with the names, now I understand that it is the prerogative of the author to capture our imagination in the most dramatic way possible. But sometimes you just have to step back and go “really?!?!”. I must say that with the names of characters, Christopher St. John Sprigg really does enjoy flaunting the dramatic. Take for example the Rev. Blood or the kindly Miss Sanctuary. ‘Blood’ adds to the rather ghoulish posterior  of the character that is presented to us, one cannot help thinking of Dracula by Bram Stoker. (Not the recent BBC adaptation which started off great and then went weird). The Rev. Blood is a really rather creepy character, even more so when we find out that he has a rather dubious medical background that is instrumental in hiding the body of Mrs Budge. ‘Sanctuary’ has a very calming tone to it. It implies safety, an escape from persecution or danger, in fact (funny I should mention the reverend) religious sites were often seen as sanctuaries, an inner sanctum from the noise and distractions of the world. 

Next I want to talk about the rather morbid circumstances in which Mrs Budge was discovered. I said at the beginning this is no gentle (as gentle as crime can be) Agatha Christie novel. Sure, in her writing a couple of people have their faces bashed in, poisoned, shot etc. but nothing as quite as graphic as the way in which Mrs Budge died. It even surprised me. I’m not proud of that. I really should have seen it coming. In a way it was obvious. See, every good crime novel from the era of the 1930’s and 40’s always involves a seance! And who doest love to dabble in the dark arts, the unknown, the spirit world! The wobbling table eventually spells out the innocuous word of ‘Help’… all the participants of the seance believe that Mrs Budge is calling for the aid with the help of the subconscious. Unfortunately, a few moments later, thanks to a very spooked cat, a severed hand is recovered from a broken vase just as, outside Mrs Budge’s severed head is found in a hat box in the presence of the raucous, curious crowd. Several of whom were violently ill. I don’t blame them. But that’s the thing about wilful murder, its unnatural. Therefore can we really be surprised to find an author who, with natural vigour, milked the brutality of death?

There are many twists and turns in this novel, the murderer isn’t who you think, not until the very end (unless you're a lot smarter than I am) and the one who should be the murderer isn’t. Nothing is as it seems. Secrets are laid bare for all to observe and our hero Charles, knows all and sees all while the rest of us are all in a flap. Not to spoil the surprise, I won’t tell you who did it, but here’s why you should read this book. This book has been out of print for many years and has recently come back to the surface thanks to a new publisher. Because it has been brought back to life, it hasn’t had time to be turned into a radio program or picked up by the BBC or ITV or any such broadcaster and have the plot and all its secrets hung up to dry . It is, quite simply, a hidden little treasure of crime fiction.