Wednesday, May 2, 2018

High Spirits

Damnant quod non intelligunt

If someone says they're too cynical to participate in a seance, does that mean they are actually leaving the door ajar for the supernatural because they recognize their cynicism might be getting in the way of results?

Table-turning, speaking with the dead and other spiritualist trends took hold of the wealthy in fin de siècle London, but even in spheres so enlightened as these, crime occurs. Sergeant Cribb of London's Criminal Investigation Department is asked to investigate a series of odd thefts among wealthy citizens. The link between the robberies is the owners were all absent from their homes during the theft as they were attending a seance by a certain spiritualist whom experts think might be the genuine thing. Cribb however is of course not as enlightened as his social superiors, and suspects that this spiritualist might actually be behind the thefts. The spiritualist, eager to prove his powers to the world, agrees to undergo an experiment. The spiritualist is to summon the spirits from the dead in a closed-off section of a room, divided from the group by a curtain. A special contraption has been rigged in order to ensure the spiritualist won't cheat while out of sight. He is seated in a chair, with special handles. As long as his both hands are on the handles, a weak electric current runs through the chair, which can be checked by a galvanometer by the other people. The seance session however ends in a death, as the spiritualist is electrocuted to death. As nobody could've messed with the transformator or the chair, it appears only a ghost could've killed the man. Cribb however suspects a human hand behind all this, and with the help of his constable Thackery, he intends to find out whose hand it is in Peter Lovesey's A Case of Spirits (1975).

I have read awfully little by Peter Lovesey (only Bloodhounds I think), but I did like what I read of him, and as I had heard A Case of Spirits mentioned as an impossible crime once, I decided to pick it up. A Case of Spirits is a book in the Sergeant Cribb series by Lovesey, set in Victorian London and focusing on a policeman rather than a certain consulting detective. I had no problems starting with A Case of Spirits by the way, even though it's the sixth entry in the series. The series was also dramatized in the late 70s/early 80s (A Case of Spirits was also dramatized), so I assume that this series is actually well-known by people better informed than I, giving the exposure it got.

What I enjoyed most of this book was probably its setting. Victorian London is not a place unknown to mystery fans. Most people have some affinity with Sherlock Holmes, even if one's not too familiar with early detective fiction and there are even (fantastic!) Japanese stories set in the London of Jack the Ripper. And yet A Case of Spirits managed to entertain me in a way I had not foreseen. Partly because of the main topic: spiritualism. It's well known that spiritualism became a real hype in those times, with people trying to contact the Other World, and even Holmes' author Conan Doyle has been known to dabble quite a lot with spiritualism. The seance is not an unknown sight in mystery fiction, of course. I always think of Christie's Peril at End House and The Sittaford Mystery, though in those stories, no crimes happen during the seance, which is also the case in episodes 603-605 of Detective Conan. A good example of an impossible crime during seance would be one of the early cases from Tantei Gakuen Q, but A Case of Spirits has an interesting one too, as every suspect is in another section of the room than the victim, and it appears nobody could've tampered with the seat-contraption. It is a kind of impossible crime, though I thought the final solution somewhat lacking in power. I have to admit I had trouble visualizing what had happened exactly, and that usually doesn't help with the enjoyment of a plot. While there is some good clewing going on, other (essential) aspects are left rather vague in the story, making it hard for the reader to 1) come up with the complete solution themselves before it is revealed, and 2) still somewhat hard to really visualize after it's been revealed. Or maybe it's just me. One object for example is supposed to be used in a certain way, but I don't think the prior description of that object would've allowed for that until it is described as such in the solution. But other elements of the plot, for example the way Sergeant Cribb determines who's the culprit, are worked out much better, in an almost Queenian way of elimination. So some very good elements, some less so. The plot also involves some more minor mysteries, like the thefts, that do tie in with the main mystery eventually, but those are fairly light elements in comparison.

But I did really like the whole seance setting, as well as the grander Victorian setting. What I liked especially of the Victorian London in A Case of Spirits is actually that it's not emphasized at all! Yes, the story is set in Victorian London, explaining the spiritualism hype, but you don't get constant references to the historical setting, and in fact, you could easily forget one's reading a historical novel at times because of the lack of elements truly dating the story. It helped make the story feel more genuine and focused on the plot, rather than being dressed gaudily in Victorian dress. I already mentioned the game Dai Gyakuten Saiban already in passing, and there the Victorian setting is emphasized, but that is okay, as the mystery plots there are intricitly connected to objects and customs from those times. But not every single story set in Victorian London needs to be like that, so I think A Case of Spirits works great in respect as it is clearly set there, but does not overemphasizes its setting, with historical references cluttering the pages. You'll occasionally come across something that seems dated to the reader, but that is all, and it never screams in your face it's a historical novel.

The novel also has a light comedic tone to it by the way, which also helps make this a pleasant read. It's funny though, in terms of 'feeling', I tend to think that mystery fiction set in Victorian London (written contemporarily) has a tendecy to be 'dark and serious', but when I start to think of examples of titles I've actually read/seen/played, all I remember is fiction that's mildly comedic in tone at the very least.

Anyway, A Case of Spirits is a fairly short book, and I am afraid I have also very little to comment on it. It's a decent mystery novel with some elements that are truly great and some elements that could've been polished a bit better, but an entertaining story nonetheless. I for one definitely intend to read more of this series in the future.

15 comments :

  1. I think that the best of the Cribb books is undoubtedly Waxwork (1978), unfortunately the last of the series. I would highly recommend that one as your next read. I thought it was so good it is in my top ten all-time best. They also made an excellent TV production out of it for the Cribb TV series. I think you are right about Lovesey's handling of historical material; there is enough to make the times plain but not so much that it clogs up the plot. The differences between us and our ancestors are mainly stylistic.

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  2. Coincidentally, I finished Bloodhounds just yesterday.

    It was ok, didn't like the police-procedural aspects of it and thought the impossibility was far too easy to figure out... Don't think it's worth the reputation it has in general.

    Perhaps I should give the Cribbs series a chance. This sounds kind of interesting.



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    1. I have to be honest I remember few of the details of Bloodhounds, though I think it was especially the concept of having these mystery fans together that made it a fun read. Then again, since then, I've seen A LOT of that in Japanese mystery fiction :P

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    2. Yes that was fun indeed, but was not as prominent as I had hoped!

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    3. "Don't think it's worth the reputation it has in general."

      You can blame that on the lack of any real competition during the 90s. There were mystery writers at the time who wrote (some) locked room mystery novels, like Michael Bowen, Paul Doherty and William DeAndrea, but Bloodhounds is the only 90s impossible crime novel that distinguished itself. You can put that down to the story taking place among mystery fans. It makes for a tremendously fun read and the book will probably always have a spot on my list of favorite detective novels.

      Glad you liked A Case of Spirits. This was also my first (and so far only) encounter with Sergeant Cribb and have to agree that one of the most attractive aspects of the book, besides a great plot, is that it wasn't overtly a historical novel littered with references to show the author had done his homework. So I don't have a recommendation for you, but I can tell you that Wobble to Death is on my big pile, because the premise is amazing.

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    4. I also considered watching the show, but the home-video release is a tad expensive for something I'm not sure how good it is (though the general opinion is that's quite good, it seems).

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  3. It appears to me that the Cribb TV series (including Waxwork) is available on Youtube. Put "Cribb TV" in the Youtube searchbox. I wouldn't watch it before reading the books however.

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  4. Of all the seance themed murder cases you have read, where does the detective academy Q case stand ? I watched it in anime version & also read the manga.Personally,I rate it as one of the best cases of the series especially for the way Kyu solves the case.I watch conan too but i havent seen the seance murder case episode.

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    1. I personally really like, as it's one of the few examples I remember where the murder actually happens during the seance, and the mystery plot makes excellent use of the visual format (the way they figure out who did it).

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    2. Thanks for your reply.Would you please review the crooked house movie in your future post if its possible ?

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    3. I don't have any plans for viewing it for the time being, so it's a 'maybe if they happen to finally broadcast here and I happen to cath it'.

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  5. I've heard that this is one of Lovesey's strongest entries for the Cribb oeuvre. My one foray into Cribb and Lovesey - Wobble to Death - felt good, if slightly prolix. I've also read a few of the Diamond novels, which lean slightly more to the procedural than I'd personally prefer; perhaps the exception was 'Bloodhounds'.

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    1. Haha, Bloodhounds IS really popular, isn't it? I think basically everyone here has read it.

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    2. I thought it was one of the strongest of the titles I've read by Lovesey - but I fear his novels are slightly too long, and lean slightly too much towards the procedural, for my wholehearted liking.

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