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.
------
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.
