Bodies from the Library 5
Selected Lost Stories of Mystery and Suspense by Masters of the Golden Age
ed. Tony Medawar (Collins Crime Club, 2019); audiobook read by Philip Bretherton (HarperCollins, 2022)
The written equivalent of a b-sides collection. Anthony Boucher and Julian Symons are worth reading, but mostly the author biographies prove more diverting than the stories. John Bude’s (only ever) novella ‘Murder in Montparnasse’ is a laborious slog through the patently obvious.
The Sussex Downs Murder
by John Bude (Skeffington & Sons, 1936)
audiobook read by Gordon Griffin (Soundings, 2015)
Middling at best. While the murder turns out to be cleverly conceived (as Bude has his characters point out, no doubt feeling very pleased with himself), its unravelling is as cack-handed as the prose is uninspired. Superintendent Meredith is rather like dishwater.
The Cornish Coast Murder
by John Bude (Skeffington & Son, 1935)
audiobook read by Ben Allen (Soundings, 2016)
A simply told, engaging mystery featuring an amateur detective (a vicar) and a police inspector working in loose collaboration. While Bude rather gropes towards an understanding of the genre, his protagonists do likewise with the crime. The audiobook reading is decidedly Cornish.