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Wednesday, August 9, 2023

Psst... Over Here!

Hello, there! Remember me? I think eight month’s hiatus is a little too long to have taken for what I thought was going to be “a little break”. What have I been up to? Oh, this and that…

I came to realize that like many collectors I had gradually turned into a monomaniac of sorts and I didn’t like it. My literary anecdotes were boring people and more importantly I was boring myself. I wanted to avoid vintage detective fiction for a while. It was long time that I returned to reading contemporary fiction of all types, reading non-fiction (!) that led me to seeking out the histories and memoirs that once upon a time I enjoyed even more than mystery novels. As I veered away from detective and crime fiction I rediscovered my passion for supernatural horror from all eras. In the process I learned that there has been a revival of “traditional” supernatural fiction in the past three years similar to the renaissance in detective fiction (both reissues and new writing). Quite an eye-opening surprise and a delightful one for someone like me who has always loved ghost stories, haunted house novels, and metaphoric treatments of the monster hiding under your bed.

And so after eight months I’ve come full circle and I’m ready to share with you some of the unusual and intriguing titles I’ve devoured since December 2022. Like this one…

Flowers for a Dead Witch by Michael Butterworth

Readers of this blog will know that I love a good mystery novel dripping with Gothic elements and accented with witchcraft, hexes, black magic, voodoo, hoodoo or whatever the author is calling it. Butterworth’s third mystery novel is a brilliant example of the first revival of traditional mystery writing that occurred back in the 1970s. In Flowers for a Dead Witch (1971) he gives us what at first seems to be yet another of those Gothic “romances” that filled bookstore shelves and drugstore spinners five decades ago. Polly Lestrange travels from Canada to Suffolk to visit her bedridden ailing great-aunt in a crumbling medieval manor complete with moat surrounding the entrance. She is greeted by Miss Chesham, the great-aunt’s over protective companion who refuses the Polly’s request to visit the old woman. Even the local physician caring for Great Aunt Granchester insists that Polly leave the old woman alone. Well, what Gothic heroine is going to listen to either person? Certainly not this one and Polly determinedly breaks into the old woman’s room one windy and rainy night (of course it rains a lot in this book. It has too!) to discover… Oh, but that would spoil it all. The old woman has a secret of course and it will only be revealed in the final pages.

Before the startling conclusion – which I confess really took me by surprise – our plucky heroine will encounter a ragtag group of rebellious teens, rumors of a witchcraft cult cavorting naked in the moonlight, an ancient cemetery home to a mausoleum containing the corpse of a woman executed for witchcraft 400+ years ago, and literally stumble upon what appears to be the charred remains of that executed witch. But how is that possible? A 400 year old corpse of a woman burned at the stake would be nothing but rotting bones if not a pile of dust in 1971. The body found in the coffin in the mausoleum is freshly dead, and burned beyond recognition. When both the local reverend and his wife go missing whispers of foul play mix with the rumors of witchcraft.

This was the first book I’ve read by Michael Butterworth (1924 – 1986) who prior to turning his hand to bizarre crime and mystery novels was primarily known as a writer of comic books. Oh! A warning: Don’t confuse him with another (still living) writer of the same name who wrote science fiction novels and SF TV show novelizations. I had to notify the Admin of a crime fiction website that he conflated both Butterworths. I advised him to remove all the SF titles from the mystery writer Butterworth’s bibliography. He speedily updated that page on his website.

If Flowers for a Dead Witch is any indication of what Butterworth is capable of then I’m eager to check out as many of his other books that I can find. Most satisfying is that this is a legitimate detective novel with fair play clueing. Assiduous readers may catch onto what I overlooked as I foolishly fell for all of the writer’s rather clever red herrings. Butterworth mixes the formulaic plot of those 70s Gothic romances churned out by writers like Phyllis Whitney, Victoria Holt, and Mary Stewart with genuine mystery novel conventions and thankfully improves on both. Of course with a generous helping of creepy superstition and lurid witchcraft legends the plot is considerably spicier and more intriguing. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and completed it in a speedy two days. There are several copies available for sale out there in the vast shopping mall of the internet. I’m sure it ought to turn up in local libraries both in the US and UK. Check it out!


Michael Butterworth Crime & Detective Novels

The Soundless Scream (1967)
Walk Softly in Fear (1968)
Vanishing Act (1970) (US title: The Uneasy Sun)
Flowers for a Dead Witch (1971)
The Black Look (1972)
Villa on the Shore (1973)
The Man in the Sopwith Camel (1974)
Remains to be Seen (1976)
Festival! (1976)
X Marks the Spot (1978)
The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo (1983)
  -- adapted into a musical: The Lucky Stiff by Ahrens & Flaherty
A Virgin on the Rocks (1985)
The Five Million Dollar Prince (1986)

As by “Sarah Kemp” – all feature Dr. Tina May, a psychiatrist detective
Goodbye Pussy (1978) (US title: Over the Edge)
No Escape (1984)
Lure of Sweet Death (1986)
What Dread Hand (1987)

15 comments:

  1. So wonderful to see you back, John. This book seems like a winner. Waiting for your next post, eagerly.

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    1. I had planned to come back in July. But you know…. Life once again interfered. Anyway, I have lots to share with everyone. Both easy to find books and of course ultra obscure. Thanks for the welcome back!

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  2. Welcome back! Glad you had a refreshing time away reading different things. I have only read the one Butterworth book, The Soundless Scream.

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    1. Is that a good one? The title implies another Gothic influenced story. He did write a slew of Gothic romances under a female pseudonym but I have no interest in tracking down any of those. I didn’t even list those books above. I’m eager to try out his early books hoping they are similar to …Dead Witch. I have one more Butterworth review coming and that book is a total 180 degree turnaround from this one. It’s a screwball farce in the manner of Craig Rice or Nancy Spain.

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  3. John, it is so good to see a post from you again. I enjoyed this review and will see if I can find a book by this author. Meanwhile, I am eager to see more reviews of books that you have been reading.

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    1. Thanks, Tracy! It's good to be back. This is a good time for me to write again. Hopefully the reviews this year will be more fun like the one above.

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  4. Solving the Mystery of MurderAugust 11, 2023 at 2:47 PM

    Thanks for sharing this review, Norris! I always love your work. This book sounds great, but sadly I'm a little shy $30 to get a copy at the moment... I should be able to get it within a few months though, on your recommendation, so I look forward to trying out this new modern master(?) of the fairly clued mystery! I'm really enjoy Douglas Clark, and I'm probably the third most insistent prophet of Ormerod in our little circle of the internet behind TomCat and... well, yourself! These post-Golden Age proponents of the puzzle plot have left me just pleased as punch, so again, thanks for pointing me in the direction of a new author to sample!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by! I did not know about your blog. Will have to investigate your reviews. Ah yes! Roger Omerod -- very clever, sadly under appreciated writer. Quite a little cult forming around him, eh? I read a few of his books while I was away on my "hiatus". I have some notes ...I think... on An Alibi Too Soon, one of the Richard Patton books. Will have to dig around in my boxes and find tahat book and the. notes and write that one up.

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  5. Great to have you back, John -- looking forward to you tantalising us with even more books I'll never be able to track down :)

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    1. Thanks, JJ. This week I have three that were recently reprinted! I’m trying not to be too heavy on the ultra obscure this year. But.. of course the first few I wrote about this month are hard to find, ridiculously expensive or both. Ah well…

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  6. John - I am pleased to see you blogging again. Your blog is one my favorites through which I have discovered many rare titles (e.g., Zoe Johnson, Michael Crombie, Reginald Davis, etc.). Like you I love GAD fiction with a supernatural / gothic element to it. I have added this Michael Butterworth title to my 'want' list. Thank you.

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    1. Glad to be back, Scott! I read a slew of modern supernatural mysteries and horror novels while I was away. A few of those reviews are coming too!

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  7. Glad to see you back, I do enjoy your reviews. I'll try and find a Butterworth, he looks like a writer I would enjoy. And you can add me to the band of Roger Omerod fans, I've only read his Patton books but enjoyed them. Of interest I read the 1st Dr. Siri novel, by Colin Cotterill, The Coroner's Lunch, set in Laos 1976, written with humour and knowledge, the characters are the main thing here, there is a touch of the supernatural (which I enjoyed) and several crimes, I enjoyed it. Wayne.

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    1. I ripped through most of the Dr. Siri books in a couple of months. I haven’t read all of them yet. He has another series with a Thai woman as the detective. Read only one of those. Of the Dr.Siri books I’ve enjoyed most these two: Thirty-threeTeeth and Curse of the Pogo Stick. I love the fact that he has communication with the dead, and there are ghosts and Asian superstition incorporated into all of those books.

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  8. I've just picked up a copy Thirty-three Teeth, looks like I'm in for a treat. I agree they are fun and fast reads, cheers. Wayne.

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