Death at the Door - Anthony Gilbert

THE STORY: Mary Ann Manners receives a surprise visit from her no good nephew Tom Griggs. He threatens her with exposure of a secret if she does not give him shelter. He has some involvement with a death in Swansea. He never admits to killing anyone but Mary is sure Tom is guilty. She agrees to hide him but no in her house as she is expecting her grandson ted to visit very soon.  She finds Tom a remote church in a nearby village. The church is barely used and she hides Tom in an alcove. The next night Arthur Crook passes by on a bicycle, he has an accident and decides to enter the church. In exploring the place he inadvertently finds the alcove. Tom is dead inside -- suffocated on smoke and carbon monoxide from an extinguished charcoal heater he was using.

THE CHARACTERS:  The first half of the novel is concerned with the inquest on Tom Griggs' death. Due to circumstances surrounding where the body was discovered and that the entrance to the alcove was blocked from the outside by a heavy table it is certain the inquest will end in a verdict of murder.  Mary Ann Manners is arrested as she was the only person who knew Tom was in the church. The verdict is specifically names Mary Ann Manners and she is taken away to jail.  Arthur, convinced the woman is innocent, manages to get himself hired as her defense attorney. 

Hovering over this gruesome and cruel death of Tom Griggs is the real reason he came to town and the implications of his blackmail and threats. The investigation will show that Tom wanted to visit the present Earl of Cleveland but never got his chance.  Crook discovers that Tom had information about the inherited title.  We learn of a legend in which the eldest son of every Cleveland is doomed to die a violent death and never receive the title of Earl. The next in line for the title is Simon Oliver who met with Griggs just prior to his death. Simon gives all sorts of opinions mixed in with his eyewitness testimony at the inquest. The coroner loses patience with him and practically dismisses everything he says related to the meeting.  Crook knows better. Tom's murder is certainly tied to this strange legnde and to the Cleveland family who have many secrets they want kept hidden.

A subplot involving Stella, Simon Oliver's fiancée, takes the story in an entirely different direction when her life is endangered in a strange, nearly fatal trap. Disguises, anonymous messages, and a deceitful ploy that lures Stella to an empty house belonging to the Clevelands thinking Simon will meet her there nearly ends in death. Crook realizes that Tom's murderer thinks that Stella has some sort of information, possibly that she saw something she shouldn't have, that makes her a danger to the killer.  He has police keep an eye on her in the hospital while he sets his own trap for the killer.

Among the more interesting characters in this large cast are:

Lady Cleveland often referred to as The Dowager) , another one of Gilbert's favorite types: the imperious matriarch. She has some devastatingly insulting lines in some of the best family scenes. At one point she conspires with one her relatives to make sure Stella does not marry Simon, her son. I was certain the Dowager had something to do with Stella's near death-trap. She comes across not only as imperious but a bit wicked and sinister.

Rhoda Oliver - Simon's aunt and overly protective of the family. Perhaps a bit too devoted to her nephew. Lady Cleveland dismisses nearly everything Rhoda says. Rhoda reveals to Crook that the Dowager was once the governess in the Cleveland household and she married the master (more Jane Eyre motifs, so popular with crime writers) in an ambitious move to become the lady of the house. Rhoda calls her "an implacable enemy of anyone who threatens Cleveland."

Stella Reed - she comes to Crook and asks for his help in exposing the Cleveland family and helping her secure her marriage to Simon. She asserts she loves Simon for himself and that his money and title mean nothing to her. She ends her meeting with Arthur Crook vowing she will have Simon and "will stop at nothing to get him."

Simon Oliver - immensely likeable but naive and obstinate. Try as he might to get Mary Ann Manners freed during the inquest his highly opinionated way of speaking works against him. Though he is certain Mary could not have been near Tom because of his ten minute encounter with the murder victim outside of the Cleveland estate she is still found responsible for the murder.

INNOVATIONS: Crook gives several lectures on the trial by jury system and how he is unconcerned with who the guilty party is.  He reminds Simon, Stella, and anyone else who will listen that he only needs to prove Mary Ann innocent.  He talks about how he can sway the jury to believe any truth he can concoct based on the evidence and turn all suspicion away from Mary. The idea of actual truth vs. invented turth comes up several times over the course of the story making this WW2 era murder mystery all the more resonant in our 21st age of similar debates over actual truth as it applies to justice.

I also liked the multiple viewpoints employed. Often we get the thoughts of the characters in asides within long stretches of dialogue. Also I was unprepared for the unusual switch to Stella as the protagonist at around the midpoint of the book. Rather than a straightforward detective novel Death at the Door (1945) takes on aspects of a suspense thriller when th eaction pivots to Stella and the various attmepts made on her life.

Gilbert has subtle satiric touches throughout the novel as evidenced in the use of what at first seems like silly melodramatic trap later proven to be the work of a murderer inspired by a diet of lurid movies. The dialogue is often interspersed with trenchant and witty remarks from Crook, the tart-tongued Dowager and waspish Rhoda.

QUOTES:  ...though time wears out many things secrets are like first editions -- they're often more valuable when they're thirty years old.

Crook:  "Who the hell cares what I think? It's what the jury thinks, and the jury'll think what they're damn well told to think."

"Truth, in case you haven't recognized the fact, is what you can persuade the other chap to believe. And a snake charmer with a pipe and a python hasn't got anything on Arthur Crook, take my word." 

Rhoda arguing that Simon will be the next suspected murderer if Mary is proven innocent: "Law doesn't rest on inalienable proof, it rests on probabilities, and if [Crook], who looked as dishonest a creature as ever I set eyes on, can make people believe she didn't do it, he won't care who hangs."

You couldn't argue with a man like [Crook], Cleveland thought irritably. It was like wrestling with an eel.

THINGS I LEARNED:  Crook makes a passing reference to Beth-Gelert and the wolf which went over my head and of course sent me off on a mad Google search. It's Welsh folklore. Or history. Or utterly made up by an innkeeper who knew of the legend and adapted it for his hotel in the town of Beddgelert in Wales. But whichever you believe and wherever you choose to find this supposed legend here's the basic story. Prince Llywelyn had a faithful dog named Gelert who was entrusted to watch over a baby. I'll just cut and paste the rest from a page on Historic UK website:

When Llywelyn returned from the hunt, he was greeted by Gelert who came bounding towards him …his jaws dripping with blood.

The Prince was appalled, and a horrible thought came into his mind …was the blood on the dog’s muzzle that of his one-year old son. His worst fears were realised when he saw in the child’s nursery, an upturned cradle, and walls spattered with blood! He searched for the child but there was no sign of him. Llywelyn was convinced that his favourite hound had killed his son.

Mad with grief he took his sword and plunged it into Gelert’s heart.

But the hasty-thinking Llewelyn had jumped to conclusions before fully investigating the room. There was a dead wolf near the crib and the dog had torn the wolf's throat open.  He was in fact guarding the baby who was safe and unharmed beneath the overturned crib.

Gelert by Charles Burton Barber (1884)

 The story is alluded to point out how fear often supersedes reason. Crook emphasizes that he will not listen to prejudice based on fear or hate.

EASY TO FIND?  Anthony Gilbert mystery novels while unfortunately not reprinted in any contemporary editions (other than as digital books) since the 1950s are very common in the used market place. In the UK the book was published as He Came By Night and both the US edition and UK editions were reprinted in paperback. Both hardcover and paperback copies are out there for sale, many of them extremely affordable.  I'm offering a 1st US edition with the uncommon DJ at an reasonable price. You can find it here.