The Bus Ran Late - G. M . Wilson

Several years ago I wrote a piece on the use of supernatural in the early detective novels of G. M. Wilson. I've continued to read her books as I own all but two titles, but have been disappointed with almost all of them written after the publication of Nightmare Cottage (1963).  Not only has the supernatural element disappeared, Inspector John Crawford (the policeman willing to entertain the possibility of occult intervention) has vanished, and Miss Purdy takes over as the pseudo-detective along with Inspector Lovick.  They make for an affable if sometimes contentious detective duo, but are not as endearing as, say, the comic squabbling of Hildegarde Withers and policeman Oscar Piper in the mystery novels of Stuart Palmer. Miss Purdy still retains some ephemeral psychic power -- she has spells where she "feels" events from the past -- and that power, such as it is, makes an appearance in later books (so far it crops up exactly once in Murder on Monday, The Devil's Skull and the book being reviewed here). Any plot that may hinge on supernatural events or other-worldy influences, however, is basically absent, and the stories are less off-beat, grounded in domestic strife and societal woes. I keep hoping for something weird but all I've got so far was a hint of witchcraft and hexing in A Deal of Death Caps (1970). Then I read The Bus Ran Late. Surprise! While it may not have anything supernatural it was complexly plotted, engrossing and highlighted with some clever double twists.

The Bus Ran Late (1971) is a story of a blackmailer and some deep dark secrets in the past rearing their ugly head again.  The plot is unexpectedly complicated and seems to be a real throwback to the kind of exciting  stories I enjoy so much from the Golden Age. As I read I began taking copious notes to keep up with all Wilson's machinations and wrote at one point "The plot thickens...HEAVILY! And it's only p. 56!" Needless to say this was quite an improvement over the four books I've read in her mid-career and one well worth keeping on any devotee's Wish List.

Miss Purdy has moved out of her old home and is renting the ground floor in a three story home owned by a mystery writer named Ralph Gillespie.  The other occupant living up on the renovated second floor is Julian Baxter, a painter.  Ralph has introduced Julian to young Jenny Ross, also an artist, who hopes to get hired by Julian as a design associate in his bustling commercial art business. This household will soon become embroiled in a mess of blackmail that is strangely associated with one of Gillespie's popular mystery novels called Death of a Blackmailer.

Inspector Lovick appears in the story when a woman's body is found in the river. A blackmail note is found among her possessions but none of her effects help identify her. Miss Purdy informs Lovick that Jenny has been concerned about a maid that fled her father's house and took with her an incriminating letter that will reveal a terrible secret about Jenny’s dead mother. The maid, Hilda, has not contacted Jenny as expected and she and Julian have been visiting several people connected to Jenny's mother's past life in the hopes of discovering where Hilda went. They hope to retrieve the letter before it falls into the hands of Jenny’s ailing father. It's fairly clear before any of the primary characters officially identify the corpse that the woman in the river is Hilda.  But what happened to the letter she stole? And why was she being blackmailed by the person who calls himself X just like the blackmailer in Gillespie's novel? In fact, the blackmail letter found at the drowning site is copied verbatim (with minor changes in place names) from the blackmail note in the novel.

The story also relates a past crime at the local antique store once owned by Matt Downall and now run by Martin Frobisher who Lovick suspects of being Downall's son with a new name. Downall was a blackmailer himself but crossed the line when he tried to extrort money out of Julian Baxter who instead of paying up beat Downall with an inch of his life.  The antique store owner was hospitalized, recovered, then was murdered -- again by being beaten. [With a poker!  I thought this was going to tie in with her first mystery novel Bury that Poker and the haunted weapon would turn up in Frobisher's antique store. But no!  What a lost opportunity.] The blackmail of the past will eventually link up with the blackmail in the present, but not before a couple of unexpected murders occur.

Wilson's plotting skill is on full display here and she does a good job of making it seem like the blackmailer and murderer is trying to frame Ralph Gillespie. Then two new characters are introduced that further complicate the story and that frame-up possibility is turned on its head.  I was certain of the finale, but missed one crucial but rather obvious detail. So points to Wilson for skillfully misdirecting my attention and fooling me. Overall, this is a well done tale that succeeds mostly because of the alternating plotlines with Purdy/Lovick and Jenny/Julian that eventually converge in the violent final chapters. The detective work done by Jenny and Julian was much more interesting that what Lovick does. Miss Purdy offers up only two bits of inductive reasoning and ultimately explains the title of the novel, an incident that involves Jenny and the blackmailer, in the final two pages.

There is hope for Wilson, I'm glad to see, in her later books.  I guess skipping ahead and reading out of chronology has serendipitously allowed me a peak at what she may be capable of in her last four books. I hope that those books from the 1970s live up to the fascinating complexity that she concocted in The Bus Ran Late.

FFB: Nightmare Cottage - G. M. Wilson

UK 1st edition (Robert Hale, 1963)

"The chilling story of a house that harbored a grisly secret..." is the catch phrase used to market the only paperback edition (see scan below) of Nightmare Cottage (1963). Makes it sound like one of those woman in her nightie Gothic suspense novels. It's not. It's one of G. M. Wilson's many detective novels blending psychic and supernatural events in the context of a murder mystery.

Wilson's series character Miss Purdy (so far I haven't been able to discover her first name) is a mystery writer herself and has a habit of encountering bizarre and inexplicable events that usually end up with someone being murdered. This time she meets an eccentric old woman named Miss Bessiter while both are traveling on a bus tour making stops at the churches and old buildings in Norfolk. Miss Bessiter drops into a faint after looking out the bus window and seeing a house that she has been dreaming of repeatedly.

In her dreams Miss Bessiter enters the house and has made so many frequent tours that she has memorized the placement of each piece of furniture and knicknack on the fireplace mantel. She can describe the patterns in the carpets and wallpaper and  even remarks on the feel of the polished bannisters. She rhapsodizes about the house to Miss Purdy and confesses a desire to go back and visit it to see if it is the same house in her dreams. Miss Bessiter is sure the house holds the key to her cloudy past. Soon we learn she is an orphan and for all her life she has been trying to learn the identity of her real parents and any living relatives.

Pulls Ferry, Norwich
Probably the most famous tourist site in Norfolk

But the next day Miss Bessiter is found dead in her hotel room. The doctor rules it a natural death brought on by the shock of the previous day. Suspecting all is not right Miss Purdy begins asking questions. She starts with a visit to the troublesome cottage of Miss Bessiter's dreams. When she steps inside she finds it matches word for word the detailed descriptions Miss Bessiter gave her of the dream house interior. Can it be a coincidence? She further learns Miss Bessiter managed to visit the cottage as she had planned. But the current occupants are unwilling to discuss that visit. In her exploration of the house Miss Purdy discovers a cursed room, one that the current owners avoid for it was the scene of an accidental death by gas poisoning and it seems anyone who enters the room begins to suffer strange visions and is overcome with fear, not to mention a powerful nausea.

UK 1st paperback (Digit Books, 1964)

When it is determined that Miss Bessiter's death was due to an overdose of digitalis the police are brought in. Miss Purdy joins forces with her usual policeman cohort Inspector Lovick and together they uncover a trunkful of family secrets, learn the real identity of Miss Bessiter and her connection to Nightmare Cottage. They also uncover a devilish scheme to preserve a family's reputation and their fortune that leads one person to commit murder more than once.

The story unfolds with skillful potting, a good dose of fair play clueing and a handful of nifty tricks and twists. Wilson's love of the Norfolk countryside (her home for many years) plays out in colorful descriptions of the land and architecture as well as a few historical tidbits. Her talent for creating interesting often eccentric characters is put to good display in this strong entry in an often uneven series of detective novels featuring Purdy and Lovick. If you like a mix of the spooky and the gritty and don't mind a bit of ambiguity in the explanations of the uncanny events revealed at the story's end G.M. Wilson's mysteries are a smart alternative to the paranormal nonsense littered with vampires, werewolves and zombies found in contemporary supernatural mysteries.

Wilson's books are unfortunately rather hard to find in the US. Only three titles were published over here with the bulk of her books published only in her native England by Robert Hale Ltd. Added to the difficulty in finding used copies is the fact her books were rarely reprinted in paperback editions. Of those in paperback (all from Digit Books, an imprint of Brown & Watson) the three titles I've read are all worthy of your attention. She's one of the better mystery writers who blends supernatural and detection and makes it all work rather well. Her plotting can sometimes attain the exquisite simplicity coupled with baffling incidents found in the work of Christie or Brand or McCloy. More about Miss Purdy and Inspector Lovick coming soon when I discuss other books in the series.

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I'm picking off a handful of squares on my Silver Age Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge Bingo card this month. This book fulfills space L1, the "Spooky title" book.