A Queer Case from 1929

A Queer Case 
by Robert Holtom 

It's 1929 and almost the Golden Age of the English murder mystery when bank clerk and would-be bon vivant Selby Bigge is out prowling Hampstead Heath in search of brief, illicit human connection when he bumps into an old flame from his university days. Well, not so much an old flame as a brief flicker of connection/affection/prospective amour at the end of a drunken night among fellow undergraduate academics. When Patrick, that well-dressed scion of a recently knighted sire, invites him for a meal at The Ritz, Selby's hopes rise for a rekindling.

Except this evening turns out to be a family dinner with the knight and his new wife, a lady much nearer Patrick's age than his father's. It soon becomes apparent that all is not well in that family circle. And, to further deepen the familiar trope, Selby is invited to the knight's upcoming birthday dinner at his relatively isolated manor on the far side of Hampstead Heath. 

 

Any reader of a Golden Age mystery knows what happens next.

This is very much a classic murder mystery, except that it's set amid the very real perils of being homosexual in the England of (barely) yesteryear, where the wrong glance or word at the wrong time or place could bring unwanted attention from the ever-vigilant police and public anti-sodomy brigade. Being caught in a compromising position with another man, even in the privacy of his own home, could cost cost Selby his freedom, his reputation, his job, and possibly his ability to live in England without being hounded everywhere. And yet he yearns for another kiss from his longtime crush. And so he agrees to help when Patrick falls under suspicion.

 

The subsequent investigation takes Selby through various London underground clubs and furthers his acquaintance with a cross-dressing baronet‘s daughter, Theo, who also wants to solve the murder. Tension is inevitable as Selby juggles and conceals his intermittent contacts with other gay men. There are some sage and essentially timeless observations about life and relationships, and especially marriage, from several angles of LGBTQ+ life experience. There's an homage to one of Agatha Christie's lesser sleuths, Ariadne Oliver, in the prolific if not, highly respected, crime writer who thinks Agatha Christie is stealing her plots. Any violence is constrained in true traditional crime novel style, and the solution owes more to careful thought and deduction than to anything so sensationalist as a climactic action scene.

All in all, a lot to enjoy, and ideal timing for its release at the start of Pride Month across North America. 

Thanks #NetGalley
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