James Stagg - Crime of Violence - Sexton Blake Library Series 4/403 Apr 1958

 

James Stagg - Crime of Violence - Sexton Blake Library - Series 4, Number 403 Apr 1958   

Published by the Amalgamated Press

Cover art by Carcupino (Fernando Carcupino ?)

Internal sketches by Margaret Higgins

Overall, a pretty good late `50s SBL, but not one of the best.

The story takes Blake to the Cotswolds, to the fictional village of Courton by the Water, which is pretty clearly a thinly disguised Boughton on the Water.

After an absurdly mannered description of Boughton/Courton and it`s model (i.e. miniature) village ("Even the model church clock keeps the time, and the  recorded chimes of the village church itself peal out in a sweet, diminutive cantata"), our man comes back to earth and begins to tell the story.

The story is not a bad one by any means, and is only marred by a few odd details. 

The first is the bizarre account of how the body of a little old lady is found hidden in a miniature Manor House in the model village. If I had a body to conceal, however small it might be, a model village would not be the first place I`d think of. I`ve checked, and the one at Boughton is 1/9 scale, but I would think it would still be a bit tricky. However, I`m prepared to take a relaxed view of this.

Throughout the story, Blake is portrayed as forming impressions of people based on the slightest encounters. 

In the case of one character, Marina Court, he starts off forming an aversion towards her for very little reason ("for himself, he rather disliked the girl on sight") and his attitude towards her does seem a little off-centre in places. A good example is his bizarre observation that after meeting her once for a few minutes at most, he has diagnosed her as suffering from a thyroid problem, and has gained various insights, which make no sense at all, as a result. Best to leave these things to a doctor, I would think. 

Having said that, the story is a solid and intriguing one which holds the attention. We get the return of Inspector Coutts from some of the earlier Blakes and a tale that brings together murder, mystery and much else. 

As is often the case with SBLS, it`s a good story, but with very little effort it could have been much better.