Garstons (1930)
In America as The Garston Murder Case.
My review:
Although this is Bailey's first full-length detective story, it is evident that he was in control of the genre from the beginning, as this parody of the Gothic novel, a complicated tale of haunted house, crooked business deals, a jewel robbery at an overly respectable hotel, industrial secrets, a missing man with his son bent on revenge, blackmail, secret passages, and an agreeable romance demonstrates. The solution to the novel is a good surprise, and well clued. The fact that the murderer appeared offstage might be complained about, but all the clues are there for the observant, and the character has always been one of the main characters. Detection is good in-depth stuff, and it is a pleasure to say that Supt. Bell manages to function competently without being smiled upon by Fortune. In addition to the ingenious plot, the book introduces Bailey's second-string detective, Joshua Clunk, both a criminal lawyer and a lawyer criminal, who "knew more of what was going on underground than any man in London and not uncommonly believed that he was up to the neck in most of it," and who is, of course, mistrusted by the police. Characterisation shines: Bailey's trademark gift of establishing character by dialogue (without falling into the Ivy Compton-Burnett trap) is evident here; every character has a distinct voice, and both wit and tragedy shine through. From the slang of the secretary to the S.S.E. of the nurse, from the spiteful spits of the maid to the mealy-mouthed sermons of Mr. Clunk, every character is ad distinct entity. And they are all very unpleasant. With two exceptions: the hero, and the heroine. Like most heroines of the Gothic novel, May Dean, nurse to the ghastly Mrs. Garston, is an intelligent and forthright girl; annoyingly, however, she becomes a suspect of the police. Unlike most writers of the Gothic novel, however, Bailey avoids intolerable nerves, even when the girl falls into a secret passage near the end, which forms only a subtly handled increase in tension, not screaming heebie-jeebies.