By Jim Eldridge www.jimeldridge.com
Published by Allison & Busby www.allisonandbusby.com
319 pages ISBN 9780749027063
Publication date 21 October 2021
This is the second novel in the World War II Hotel Mysteries series.
I was allowed access to a pdf review copy on Net Galley. Thanks to the author and publisher for organising this.
From the blurb
As the bombs fall, where can you shelter from a murderer?
Synopsis
It’s the height of the Blitz and bombs are falling all over London. The Savoy hotel is confident that its underground air raid shelter with dormitory facilities will appeal to its well-heeled guests so much that it is advertised in the newspapers. This encourages of Eastenders from Stepney to congregate one night, and they are eventually admitted preventing the trouble from escalating. During the night the Earl of Lancaster is murdered, stabbed in the back as he sleeps.
Detective Chief Inspector Coburg is called in by the owners but when he arrives he finds the local police have been called and Inspector Lomax is in charge and believes he has solved the case already, he says that the Earl’s son is the murderer.
Lady Lancaster believes her son is innocent and asks Coburg to intervene. He says it’s not is case and so is powerless. After establishment pressure the Commissioner steps in and hands the case to Coburg, much to Lomax’s chagrin. Lomax thinks Coburg has worked behind his back, using his class and status to get the case, and seeks evidence of wrongdoing to bring him down.
During questioning Lady Winship takes a shine to DCI Coburg and when she discovers he has recently married Rosa a famous jazz singer, she pressures the Savoy to give Rosa a showcase spot and then invites her to one of her soirees. Is this merely an innocent invitation to a talented singer or is there an ulterior motive behind it?
The investigation takes DCI Coburg and DS Lampson from the luxury of the Savoy to the bombed-out streets of London’s East End and gentile Ascot in search of the truth. In doing so they encounter the rich, famous, and powerful and the doughty poor, members of the establishment, communists, fascist appeasers, and foreign detainees.
My thoughts
The Savoy is an excellent setting for a murder mystery. It and the adjoining theatre was memorably used in Christopher Fowler’s Seventy-Seven Clocks Bryant and May novel. In this he includes detailed descriptions and the connections with the D’Oyly Carte family. In this novel Jim Eldridge counterpoints the opulence of the suites and public rooms with those behind scenes populated by the maids and waitresses as well as introducing us to the air raid shelter which is key to the story.
Placing the novel in 1940 is perfect for what essentially is a period piece of writing. This is a murder mystery very much in the style of the ‘Golden Age’ of crime substituting the hotel for the country house or manor so favoured by contemporary writers then. The structure and descriptions are in keeping with the time and whilst I noted a couple of modernisms these are easily overlooked and will be unnoticed by many. It manages to capture the gentile feel of the 1930s for those who were comfortably off but with war just starting to be felt after the period known as the phoney war. The devastation of the Blitz is covered and is central to the plot without taking over.
Overall, the feel was that of good television writing, entertaining and inoffensive without being over demanding. The murders were not dark or overly gruesome, the poor are downtrodden but there are no descriptions of grinding poverty, and the inclusion of the internment camp was a novel addition, but the treatment of the internees were not covered in detail. This is very much a work of entertainment and doesn’t set itself out to reflect the social realities of the time or comment of futility or waste of war.
It is very much a novel of class and manners; Coburg is upper class but trying to make his way through the ranks of the police force whereas his brother Magnus very much enjoys the trappings of privilege, but both are treated with equal sympathy. The working class are portrayed as stoically battling on through their privations and the hotel workers are diligent and mindful of their position. Coburg is ‘bombed out’ of his flat and so can, like the Queen after Buckingham Palace was bombed, feel empathy with average Eastender and ‘look them in the eye.’ The reader also gets a good feeling for the protocols operating within a mid-twentieth century grand hotel where guests expect the best and everything must be done just so.
There is mention of real-life people from the period including significant war time figures as well as people from popular entertainment. There is a minor cameo role for Agatha Christie, which is a nod towards the heritage of the work, but the author has resisted incorporating the real-life figures within the action, something which seems to be increasing in popularity with writers. This allows for the plot to remain straightforward and to flow without unnecessary distractions. There is plenty of intrigue to keep the reader guessing and the action is in keeping with the style of the work.
This is an excellent recreation of a period novel which I found entertaining, and I am sure that lovers of those works and indeed people who enjoy programmes like ‘Foyle’s War’ are going to love it.
Peter turns the page 