A Deep Dive into a Classic (Murder) Mystery: Footsteps in the Dark by Georgette Heyer
This is a murder mystery, so this book has a trigger. I don't want to put the trigger since it's a spoiler, however there is no blood in the book. I really enjoyed this mystery!
Summary
Footsteps in the Dark by Georgette Heyer features three siblings, Celia, Margaret and Peter, who inherit a priory and its chapel in a countryside village near Framley from their uncle. Their uncle never lived there, but he had let it out to tenants once who had left within the year, claiming it was haunted; since then, it gained that reputation with sightings of the Monk on the property. Despite this, the siblings, Celia's husband, and their aunt, move in, and soon experience strange occurrences, from startling noises during the night to a cowled figure known as The Monk suddenly appearing in the darkness. Charles and Peter investigate the house and the village, meeting their neighbors as well as the locals and visitors at the pub. As they follow leads, however, things turn deadly and an artist is found murdered in his home.
Movie versus Book
The movie is completely different from the book since it's based on two plays; the characters don't even have the same names. The movie was released in 1941 with Errol Flynn as the protagonist. His character, Francis Warren, leads a double life unknown to his wife and mother-in-law where he works as an investment advisor and a writer of lurid detective novels. His novel is called Footsteps in the Dark, which multiple characters talk about. His mother-in-law hates the book.
A man named Leopold Fissue tries to blackmail Warren into changing uncut diamonds into money for him, otherwise Fissue will reveal Warren's secret. Later, Fissue is found dead, and the police investigate while consulting Warren whom they know solely as a mystery writer and are clueless about his double life.
It was an entertaining movie with some action and a lot of fast-talking, but I really want to see the book version turned into a movie.
-- Spoilers --
Characters
Charles "Chas" Malcolm: Husband to Celia; likes to fish; persuasive; thorough.
Celia Malcolm: Wife to Charles; sister to Margaret and Peter.
Peter Fortescue: Brother to Celia and Margaret; likes to fish; cares about his siblings.
Margaret Fortescue: Sister to Peter and Celia; considers herself to be someone who doesn't fall in love and is "affronted" that she develops feelings for Michael; is a bad driver.
Mrs. Bosanquet/Aunt Lilian: Aunt to Peter, Margaret and Celia; she lives with the siblings and Celia's husband; is hard of hearing and doesn't drink; is level-headed, but sees the Monk and instantly believes in spirits.
Mr. & Mrs. Bowers: Live-in butler and cook for the priory; butler refuses to go into the cellar because the couple heard footsteps in the night and are convinced the place is haunted.
Mr. & Mrs. Pennythorne: Local vicar and his wife; neighbors to the protagonists; informs Celia of the neighbors and is up on latest gossip; doesn't like Dr. Roote.
Dr. & Mrs. Roote: A neighbor to the protagonists; the doctor drinks a lot.
Mr. Titmarsh: Has steel-rimmed glasses and sparse grey hair; a neighbor to the protagonists; is an entomologist; has a hobby of collecting moths so he is often found outside at all hours and on private property; talks only about his hobby and bores others.
Colonel Ackerley: A neighbor to the protagonists; is 45-years-old; has an army-like manner.
Mr. Wilkes: Barkeep of the local pub and inn; indulges in telling visitors about the haunted priory.
Michael Strange/James Fripp: Dark young man with black brows that grow close to the bridge of his nose; he is about thirty years old; he's a fisherman visiting the town; gentlemanly towards Margaret.
Louis Duval: French artist; doesn't like English people; he dresses like it's 1890s and likes to drink; becomes arrogant and disrespectful when drunk; has a self-important attitude.
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| Photo by cottonbro studio |
What I Liked
Atmosphere & Writing Style
I am a fan of (certain versions of) Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Sherlock Holmes, Hercules Poirot and various other detectives. I love classic and (mostly) clean mysteries with secret passageways, scavenger hunts, train trips, dinner parties, séances, puzzles, missing items, suspect interviews, etc. If you know the yellow hardcovers of the classic Nancy Drew book series or the blue hardcovers of classic Hardy Boys, then you will know that they are written with a succinct writing style. Location descriptions are written in a single, short paragraph, characters may be given one to three significant characteristics, and the pace of the book is snappy. Footsteps in the Dark has a similar writing style, although it feels less constricted than the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys' books can seem to be.
Much like the teen sleuths' series and the Scooby Gang, Footsteps in the Dark has the characters explore the home when scary occurrences take place, invoking suspense and intrigue. They live in a large building, so it should have at least one secret passage or cupboard; it turns out that there is a whole network of passageways!
Lysol
I was confused and stunned that Lysol was mentioned in the book. Aside from more contemporary books maybe mentioning a character having a Coke, I've never come across brand names used in mystery books, no matter the era. I thought it might have been a word for something else but the word is capitalized in the book: "Not even the sight of Mrs. Bosanquet sprinkling Lysol in the priest's hole could lighten the general gloom..." (44).
It turns out that the Lysol company was founded in 1889. Footsteps in the Dark is set in 1932 (also its original publication date), and Lysol was a popular brand, but for a bad reason: they were marketing their product as being good for feminine hygiene and their ads, when looked at from today's perspective, make women feel bad about themselves and put a massive amount of marital blame on them.
It was interesting to learn about this, though!
It was interesting to learn about this, though!
Equal Suspicion
Heyer does a marvelous job at making various characters suspicious to prevent readers from instantly knowing who the culprit(s) is/are. While investigating for the cause of a horrible and loud sound that echoes throughout the house, the main group notice a stranger (Michael Strange) trespassing on their property very close to the house. At some point, Mr. Titmarsh is on the property at night right after a sighting of the Monk. Since all of the mysterious incidents happen inside the house, Bowers and his wife seem suspicious as well even though they claim to be afraid of the incidents and of being in the house. It could be an inside job.
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| Photo by Louis Bey on Unsplash |
Margaret
I love that Margaret becomes a character and is involved in the investigation in Chapter 9. We still have third person POV, but it focuses on Margaret where we learn about her opinion and feelings for Michael. She provides a good balance to Charles and Peter; the story uses a style many classic mysteries have where two different sleuths unknowingly investigate the same mystery from different angles.
Local Police versus the Sleuths
Classic mysteries often have this trope where the police are useless and/or bumbling and the amateur sleuth(s) get the job done. In this case, Charles and Peter are the sleuths that are on the ball. They find the source of the mysterious incidents in the house and informally interview people while Constable Flinders patrols and investigates with little success. Constable Flinders is, at least, a decent policeman who makes sense and is willing to do his job compared to other mysteries.
I found it odd that Charles and Peter decide to instantly seal up the secret door they find and bury the skeleton bones from the priest's hole. They never think to contact the police so they can view the evidence beforehand.
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| Photo by Ben White on Unsplash |
What I Didn't Like
Book Cover
The book cover I have (which you can see at the top of this post) is all white with silver dots, giving it the impression of a rural wintery scene with falling snow. It's a beautiful cover, but the story take place in summer.
Interchanging Names
It was hard to follow some of the conversations since the author would use "Mrs. Bosanquet" for the majority of the novel in the narration, but sometimes it would switch to "Aunt Lilian" because she is Celia, Margaret and Peter's aunt. Additionally, the dialogue would refer to her as "Aunt." I think the author should have used Aunt Lilian for the entire novel to prevent confusion.
The same thing is done with the Vicar. We're introduced to him as "the Vicar" and then the narrator later calls him Mr. Pennythorne, so I thought this was another character. It's only in the next chapter that I understood the context clues.
Lack of Description
Few of the characters are given any physical description. It's all left up to the reader's imagination. It feels a bit lazy on the author's part.
Goof?
When Margaret is captured by the Monk in the secret passage, the author writes that Margaret was falling into unconsciousness while having a gag over her mouth. This means that the Monk is using chloroform on her as he did with Duval earlier in the book. But the author does not include any mention of the smell, which is always the first thing characters or narrators mention. If there isn't any chloroform, there is no reason for Margaret to suddenly lose consciousness.
Unrealistic Couple
During the investigation, Michael tells Margaret that he loves her, even though he doesn't know her. Much later before the group puts their plan into action to catch the culprits, Michael and Margaret have a tender moment where he takes her hands and says how much he admires her pluck and sportsmanship. She responds by saying that she wants to go wherever he goes (in this instance, to help him in wrapping up the case). They embrace, (no kiss), and then when Charles interrupts, Margaret says she and Michael will be married. I found that rather startling. He didn't even propose or mention it! She doesn't know if he's on the same page, although he doesn't have any dialogue or description after her statement. They don't know each other. He fixed her car's tire early on and they both seemed to have feelings for each other, but they didn't have many conversations since Michael was still working undercover and Margaret was warned by Charles and Peter to stay away from Michael. I find the leap to marriage too much.
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| Photo by Jexo on Unsplash |
Comparing a Classic Mystery to a Psychological Mystery and a Cozy Mystery
The writing style of classic mysteries is very similar to the style of cozy mysteries where they are succinct, but have a little more room to add details. However, psychological mysteries give much more detail than the other two in order to give readers an in-depth look at the characters and their states of being. The characters of classic and cozy mysteries go through difficulties, such as one of them finding a body or being in a burning building, but readers feel tension rather than fear for the characters. In psychological mysteries, readers will feel more attached to characters and experience emotions, such as dread and empathy, toward them and their situations. And this genre of story will have darker themes, such as sex crimes and vulgar language, neither of which are in classic or cozy mysteries; although classic mysteries may touch upon sexual themes, such as in the occasional Miss Marple or Hercules Poirot mystery, but it's often mentioned briefly.
To see other differences, check out my previous book reviews:
Conclusion
The story offers the classic mystery atmosphere with rumors of a haunted building, strange sounds and apparitions, secret passageways, the interviewing of suspects and even murder. I love the intrigue it weaves into the story. The main characters were generally well written considering the era they're in and we're given a good cast of suspects that keeps us guessing about the identity of the culprit(s). I enjoyed this book and am very glad to see a female author regain recognition for her work. I will be looking into more of Heyer's work!
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