The Book of the Lion (1948) by Elizabeth Daly

 (5/10 stars, average)

“Just do me one favor…Don’t get interested in my affairs. Three people dead in two days, two suicides and one probable murder. Keep away from me, will you? You’re poison.”

Normally, literary detective Henry Gamadge wouldn’t take on this kind of job, a simple appraisal of correspondence. He’s willing to make an exception when the letters belonged to Paul Bradlock. An iconic author of the Lost Generation, Bradlock outlived his time and died in obscurity at a young age. In fact, Gamadge seems to recall that he died of violence. But there was too much going on in the world in 1945 for anyone to pay attention to a has-been like Bradlock.

Maybe they should have, as his papers may hold the clue to a lost Chaucer manuscript. Gamadge finds himself juggling Bradlock’s murder, a suicide that might not be, and the search for a potentially priceless document. What began as a routine job has turned deadly.

Gamadge is hired by Paul’s brother Avery, a respectable stockbroker who’s always been embarrassed by his alcoholic brother. His haste to have the letters appraised makes a lot more sense when Gamadge learns that Paul and his wife Vera had been living free of charge in a studio annex attached to Avery’s house—for fifteen years. The destitute Vera has stayed on alone, supported by Avery. With the postwar housing shortage in New York, the studio could be rented out at a huge profit. If Vera can make a little money from the sale of the letters, Avery will no longer be responsible for her.

Of course, this arrangement could lead to resentment on the other side as well. Gamadge can’t help reflecting on the contrast between the sordid and impoverished lives of Paul and Vera and the privileged existence of Avery and his wife Nannie, separated only by a single wall. “They passed a handsome car stopping at the Bradlocks’; within it Gamadge caught a glimpse of Avery Bradlock in a white tie, and Mrs. Avery Bradlock, beautiful and pale beside him. Another life, another world.”

All right, so where’s the mystery here? Good question. While the specter of Paul Bradlock’s untimely end hovers over the early part of the story, there’s no real investigation until nearly halfway through the book. Gamadge is drawn into the strange relationships between the Bradlocks and the oddness surrounding the sale of the letters, but always at arm’s length. Interesting characters swirl in and out, though the ones most relevant to the mystery are, frustratingly, the ones we see the least of. Once the murders begin, people start dropping dead right and left (perhaps making up for lost time) until Gamadge solves the crimes through osmosis.

The Book of the Lion has a warm appeal due to its bookish milieu and gently screwball atmosphere. Far from being cloistered academics, Gamadge and his wife Clara like people and are quite understanding of their foibles. He’s gathered a wide, eccentric array of acquaintances who can be called upon for assistance, whether it’s authenticating a manuscript, tailing a murder suspect, or finding a new home for a war veteran and his girlfriend:

By half past four Gamadge had several addresses. Clara’s aunt Vauregard had supplied that of a former housekeeper in Queens, who wanted a respectable young man for her spare bedroom who would be quiet at night…Somebody else knew of some young people in Jackson Heights who had clubbed together to buy a house, and hadn’t filled the top story yet. Elena Malcolm came through with a lively suggestion from a Brooklyn matron whose son was willing to enter into a kind of Box and Cox arrangement with Welsh—Welsh to occupy the young man’s bedroom from morn till eve, while the son was working like everybody else at normal hours. There was a couple in the Bronx with two rooms and a bath just vacated by a couple who had moved up in the income brackets and down in the residential areas; they wanted another couple but frankly preferred them married.

This housing problem is taken every bit as seriously as the murder mystery, and reflects the lively and expansive world Gamadge lives in. It’s a nice place to spend time.

If it only had a plot. Nothing happens for great long stretches, and I’m still not sure how Gamadge solved the crime. The Book of the Lion is a late entry in the Henry Gamadge series. Readers already familiar with these characters will probably enjoy it more, but the excellent characters and setting cannot overcome a barely-there mystery.

Second Opinion

MysteryFile

Gamadge is the epitome of the genteel, bookish detective, the pure amateur, and he is very clever in the way he figures things out and puts the pieces of the puzzle together, and I still haven’t figured out how he knew what and when nor how […] Even if the plot is flimsy and gossamer thin, Daly’s characters are perfectly described, even those the most minor, and she has a sense of humor that can often catch you unaware.

Availability

The Book of the Lion is available in paperback and ebook from Felony and Mayhem in the US.