A review by robinwalter
Crossword Mystery by E. R. Punshon

challenging mysterious relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.75

In his introduction to this third book in the Bobby Owen series Curtis Evans cites several reviews of the book from its initial publishing that lauded it to the skies for the intricacies of its mystery and the skill of the author. He personally applauds it for its highlighting of what the Nazi regime was doing in Germany in the late 1930s. By the time I finished, I concurred with both reasons for praise, with the political awareness perhaps just getting the edge. 

The book is called "Crossword Mystery" and a crossword is literally central to the mystery. The Dean Street Press edition comes complete with the blank crossword and the filled in grid that the book includes, and pretty much as I expected, I was only able to get a couple of the clues filled in I still have no idea how "Ada" equals "a town in Europe", for example. 

I did not feel too bad about that failure, because the one thing that I got right pretty much right from the start was the identity of the mastermind. It was actually pretty obvious. So this one wasn't so much a "whodunnit" more of a "how was it done?", and the answer was ingenious. Evans did say it was a fair play mystery, I'm not entirely sure that was 100% correct because a key element in the execution (ha!) of the first murder was never revealed until the big reveal. But even if it wasn't strictly rigidly Fair Play, it was a really interesting journey to find out how the person I knew did it, did it. 

Along the way, Punshon sprinkled more of his trademark dry humour, as in these examples: 


A small tea garden, a lonely, forlorn-looking little place, though bravely announcing itself as Ye Olde Sunke Tudor Tea Garden, presumably in a fine frenzy of rivalry with Ye Olde Englyshe Petrol Pumpe Station on the main road. the toast was a mistake, toast in “ye olde Tudor” days having evidently been chiefly used for roof repairs.


A year or two ago, you would have gone there first and asked permission after.”
 “Oh, no, sir,” Bobby protested, quite hurt. “I always asked permission, unless there wasn’t time, or I thought I mightn’t get it.” 


Of more appeal to me than the mildly amusing lines quoted above and others like them, was the way Punshon showed Owen growing as a detective, actually outlining the process by which he was developing and honing his skills, and the important role that his mentor Superintendent Mitchell played. These excerpts from what is almost a full page exposition of Mitchell's approach to training Owen illustrate that: 


what he always wished for more than anything was the impact of a fresh mind upon facts considered entirely independently . . .  Mitchell held, if two people, working separately and independently on the same set of facts, saw them pointing in the same direction, it was very likely indeed that that direction was the right one. 


The very first Bobby Owen mystery makes a lot of references to Hamlet. This one makes almost as many to Macbeth, and what might be called the key similarity between the plot of this story and that of the Scottish play is in fact  the main reason why I upgraded my score from 4.5 to 4.75. 

When the mastermind is unmasked, their motivation is presented in a way that evokes an understanding bordering on  sympathy,  and includes recognition of their genuinely superior intellect. All of which was not the norm for villains like this one in books of the period. 

The very end of the story, caught me completely by surprise, but after I had recovered from the rather graphic image conjured up, it occurred to me that there was actually a certain aptness about the climax. In a book that publicises Nazi evil, the very end is somewhat reminiscent of the very end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.