Bentley |
This “last case” (though it is the first book written featuring Philip Trent) concerns the death of a prominent American financier Sigsbee Manderson. His body has been found near his home shot through the eye and missing its false teeth.
Trent and Scotland Yard Inspector Murth proceed to investigate and compare their ideas of the crime. This is also different from Sherlock Holmes for whom the Scotland Yard types are rather dull and incompetent. Trent regards his encounters with Murth as “sporting” contests to see who can come up with the solution first.
Using the “modern” technique of examining fingerprints, Trent constructs an elaborate scenario that fits the circumstances of the case. Along the way he manages to fall in love with the victim’s wife, who is also a suspect in the murder. For reasons that involve her reputation, Trent decides to suppress his theory of the crime. He finds out years later that he had failed to get the story right despite all his careful thought and scientific methods.
Bentley’s book is dedicated to G.K. Chesterton, author of the famous Father Brown detective series. Chesterton and Bentley were lifelong friends and the novel was the result of a challenge issued to him by Chesterton. Bentley decided that writing mystery fiction was a “more formidable undertaking” than he had supposed.
The only two other books in the Philip Trent series were written much later, “Trent’s Own Case” in 1936 and a collection of stories that appeared under the title “Trent Intervenes” in 1938.
Agatha Christie, the subject of the Monday Book Club’s March discussion, is also considered one of the writers of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, though she has outlasted and outsold all the others. In fact, she is one of the best-selling writers of all time, surpassed only by the Bible and Shakespeare. Certainly most readers know her detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple very well.
“Black Coffee,” a play adapted into a novel by Charles Osborne, features Poirot in a classic closed-room mystery. All the suspects are there; all the clues are there; Poirot only has to use “the little grey cells” to ferret out the truth.
Discussion participants felt that not enough cogent clues were given for them to think along with Poirot. A lot of people read mysteries to follow along with the solution of the puzzle, and our readers weren’t able to do that in this case.
Many Book Club readers thought that Christie always gets high marks for character creation even in this once-removed form. However, they confessed to different reactions to Poirot. Some participants said they find him amusing; some are irritated by his arrogant superiority; some would rather Christie had stuck with Miss Marple.
It was also interesting to the participants to think how this story was staged, and whether it was less complicated than some of Christie’s better works because it was originally written as a play. One person said the club should have chosen “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd,” the novel she considers Christie’s best.
The group was unanimous in believing it was a good experience to have read this book. One person, who is not normally a mystery reader, has enjoyed the first three selections so much that she thinks she will seek out more mysteries to read. Needless to say, she received title suggestions from the other participants.
Carol Campbell leads book discussions for the Sunday Gazette-Mail’s Monday Book Club and for the Kanawha County Library.
