Vintage Books' Clara mentioned the writer Gladys Mitchell on Twitter this morning, and the name rang a faint bell so I looked her up. She was certainly prolific - look at the list of her books here - and variable (see this 'best to worst' catalogue headed by When Last I Died), while this article brands her "a mad combination" of Dorothy L. Sayers and Agatha Christie, and goes on:
'The Spectator described her as a "tiresome old trout" whose mannerisms were the most trying in detective fiction, but many adored her work. Her murder cases have ambiguous solutions, and an air of the supernatural is never entirely banished from them. Her plots are on the farthest side of credulity, but to worry about realism is to miss the fun of her storytelling. In Merlin's Furlong, a necromantic don runs a coven of witches. In The Mystery of a Butcher's Shop
, the victim is minced into sausages and hung from hooks.'
It concludes, 'a flawed gem can still sparkle'.
Vintage are currently running a competition to win a selection of cosy crime classics with some of Gladys Mitchell's books included, so you may like to throw your name in the hat for that, but meanwhile, have you read her, and if so, what would you recommend?
I first read Gladys Mitchell when we were living in Oman and any kind of reading was welcome. Certain aspects of her writing can indeed be tiring, although once you mentally edit the quirks reads, the story-telling begins to shine through and you can almost forgive her everything! 'The Saltmarsh Murders' is worth spending a wet weekend on.
Have to say that Diana Rigg was most awfully miscast when Auntie brought the redoubtable Dame B. to the small screen.
T
Posted by: fifiquilter | 09 May 2012 at 04:02 PM
I read When Last I died last month - she certainly wouldn't go to the top of my list of favourite crime writers, but I quite enjoyed the absence of anything PC about Mrs Bradley - I do like the sound of Merlin's Furlong, I must say! My kind of silliness, I think.
I rather enjoyed the Diana Rigg series, but couldn't see that her portrayal had much to do with the Mrs Bradley of the books.
Posted by: GeraniumCat | 09 May 2012 at 06:22 PM
Gosh, they look tempting. I haven't read anything by her and didn't enjoy the TV series especially but what GeraniumCat says makes me fancy giving the books ago.
Posted by: Juxtabook | 09 May 2012 at 09:04 PM
When Last I Died is good as I recall but she really is mixed. The Vintage reprints have been generally good but I couldn't manage to finish the saltmarsh murders.
Posted by: Desperate Reader | 11 May 2012 at 04:59 PM
I also enjoyed the Diana Rigg Mrs Bradley Mysteries, they were so over the top, those wonderful clothes and talking directly to the screen ... and of course, the new Inspector Barnaby, Neil whatsit as her sidekick. I once wrote a piece about subscription libraries and when I went to interview the librarian of the Exeter Institute, he told me that one of the Gladys Mitchell mysteries had been set in the Institute, which has a spiral staircase to a gallery above the main room. Eek!
Posted by: Margaret Powling | 11 May 2012 at 10:28 PM
absolutely.
I was rarely so disappointed as I was at the TV representation; Rigg was as different from Mitchell's description (both in appearance and behaviour) as it is possible to be.
I have read as many of the books as I could find and have never been disappointed though, of course, some are better than others
Posted by: j ross | 19 April 2017 at 10:22 AM