Murder mystery

Lone Veiler reviews An Oxford Scandal by Norman Russell

The historical detective novel, An Oxford Scandal, is set in the perennially popular Oxford in the late Victorian period. At the fictional St Gabriel’s College, Anthony Jardine is a well-liked tutor and ladies’ man. In conversation with the Provost he learns a tomb has been discovered containing the alleged remains of St Thomas a Becket. While this sets the scene for later interdenominational sparring between Cardinal Vaughan , Archbishop of Westminster, and Edward Benson, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and comes to the attention of an old recusant Sussex family through their undergraduate son Harry Napier, it is slotted in to what is primarily a murder mystery. Away from the job, Jardine has a neglected morphine addicted wife, Dora, migraine headaches, and a mistress, Rachel Noble, with whom he has set up house in Cowley where they can play at Mr and Mrs.

Dora’s confidante, Jean, attracted to but suspicious of Jardine, snoops around witnessing Rachel and he meeting, and finds Dora’s drug supplier. Meanwhile, the expert called down from London to examine the remains in the tomb, Count Raphael Savident to whom Jardine takes an instant dislike, pronounces them authentic.

Given Jardine’s charisma, no-one can really believe he murdered his wife on a tram one rainy night, even with no alibi that won’t ruin Rachel’s hitherto spotless reputation. Enter Inspector Antrobus, advanced TB sufferer, investigating along with doughty Sergeant Maxwell and renowned Doctor Sophia Jex-Blake. To cheer Jardine up following Dora’s funeral, his neighbours invite him to dine where he meets the charmante Mme Elodie Deschamps, unsurprisingly striking up an immediate rapport. He returns to the house in Cowley to find that Rachel has left him.

Confrontational, Jardine visits her house, finding her body laid out on the sofa and her husband playing the cello, singing the Dies Irae. Jardine is justifiably a bit perturbed. Antrobus and Maxwell learn that Dora, Rachel, and another called Melanie, were girlhood friends in London when Dora witnessed a murder. Terrified by the perpetrator into silence, Dora wrote a letter revealing his identity as an insurance policy, giving it to Rachel. The action then moves to London, where Antrobus’s life is saved by Sophia Jex-Blake and Maxwell takes over the investigation. He pulls together the evidence, solves the murder, but I won’t tell you how. And the bones? Well dear Reader, that too I leave to you.

The author uses the Inspector Sidekick-Pathologist formula to good effect. Introducing the real-life character of Sophia Jex Blake, along with the Cardinal and Archbishop, and name-dropping Lewis Carroll on the first page perhaps anchors the story, but I’m not sure it adds anything particularly to the narrative and feels too deliberate and set piece. As indeed does the final entombment of the bones of the Saint, while the denouement is rather melodramatic. The period detail throughout is atmospheric, which I like in a novel, and I am particularly fond of chapter headings, so a win there too. The narrative doesn’t always flow as it might as some of the characterisation is a bit generic, particularly of the women. Is it really feasible that Dora and Rachel would be unaware of the other’s existence in the same town after sharing such a terrible secret? Is it really possible that a murderer would let young Dora go with nothing more than a threat? Suspension of disbelief can only go so far. Jardine’s character is undeniably flawed, but there is an ‘oh well, boys will be boys’ attitude to his indiscretions, in spite of the raised eyebrows and moustache twitching, that is mildly irritating. The meal over which the fate of the bones is finally decided is hosted by bon viveur Monsignor Lucie. While excessive consumption by the characters may have dulled their minds, I found as a reader it didn’t quite convince me as a solid enough reason for Team Cardinal Vaughan to take custody of the bones rather than Team Archbishop Benson.

It’s not a long book but packs in a lot, and is a quick, light-hearted read. I quite enjoyed it, although I didn’t particularly warm to any of the characters. Catholicism is positively portrayed but not dominant and to paraphrase Flora Poste, Victorian set novels are really the only kind you can read while eating an apple.