‘Deadly Earnest’ by Joan Cockin

Published by Galileo Publishers,
8 August 2024.
ISBN: 978-1-915530-34-9 (PB)
Originally Published 1952

This novel is set almost entirely at Humpstead Manor (aka ‘the Hump’), an establishment run by Personnel Selection, Incorporated (PSI), an organisation which sifts potential employees for specific companies via a series of tests. The eight candidates involved in the story are jostling for posts with African Enterprise Incorporated. They are all high-fliers and fully aware of the competitive nature of this selection. This shows itself in the nervous tensions which develop between the candidates in the intimidating atmosphere of the Hump.

The novel begins in a similarly unsettling vein when the only other person in Inspector Cam’s train carriage, a young woman, suddenly says ‘I wish I were dead’. When Cam presses her on the matter, she claims she said it only to make herself feel better. That is the start of a lengthy debate between the two. The woman reveals that she is going to the Hump. Cam does not let on at this point that it is also his destination, although not in his official position but as an observer.

As everyone gathers at the Hump, both staff and examinees, relationships past and present begin to unfold. The staff includes Dr Tombley (the head of PSI) and his rather odd wife, assisted by Mr Murdoch and Miss Grey. The candidates are assigned numbers. This adds to the rather strained atmosphere, even though we know who everyone is. Much of the attention is centred on Paul Bolton and his rather fussy friend and would-be protector David. Bolton, brilliant but flawed, has apparently been the victim of a potentially fatal accident at a London station, and his misfortunes continue at the Hump. He falls down the stairs when stair-carpet rods become unsecured- was it an attempt on his life? Later Bolton spits out his coffee and claims it was poisoned. Is there a murderer in the house? Are Bolton’s fears real or imaginary, or is he concocting them himself? The faithful David develops ‘an acute vicarious persecution complex’.

When two murders are actually committed almost simultaneously well into the story there is, of course, a limited range of perpetrators in this closed community. Although Cam is present, he is out of his jurisdiction, but the affable local police look to him for any help he can give. The final test for the candidates, a study of an African village, bears an uncanny resemblance to the Hump murders and leads rapidly to the denouement.

This novel, a slow burner, is an interesting study of group dynamics. The scene-setting could seem a little ponderous were it not for Cockin’s wry style which is such a feature of the novel (one character is described as having ‘the air of a dog which is not, after all, going to be taken for a walk’, for instance). The highly-strung and unappealing dramatis personae (apart from Cam, of course) combine to create the tense atmosphere which is central to the book, and which leads to a very satisfying solution to the killings.
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Reviewer: David Whittle

Joan Cockin is a pseudonym used by Edith Joan Burbridge, who was born in Gloucester in 1919. She was an author and diplomat. In World War II she did propaganda work in Washington for the British government. She is the creator of 'Inspector Cam'. She wrote three books. Curiosity Killed the Cat, Villainy at Vespers and Deadly Ernest.

David Whittle is firstly a musician (he is an organist and was Director of Music at Leicester Grammar School for over 30 years) but has always enjoyed crime fiction. This led him to write a biography of the composer Bruce Montgomery who is better known to lovers of crime fiction as Edmund Crispin, about whom he gives talks now and then. He is currently convenor of the East Midlands Chapter of the Crime Writers’ Association.