A review of Brought To Light by E R Punshon – 231214

I only wish I can write a book as good as this when I am eighty-two. Originally published in 1954, two years before his death, and reissued by Dean Street Press, Brought To Light is the thirty-second novel in Punshon’s Bobby Owen which began in 1933 with Bobby a bobby on the beat. Now he is a Deputy Commander at the Yard with a licence to roam and act independently, two characteristics which play to the detective’s strengths.

The opening chapter sees Punshon at his best, setting up the story with economy and clarity. In the churchyard at Hillings-under-Manor lies the Grave of Janet Merton, the mistress of a lauded poet, Stephen Asprey, who in his grief is said to have placed a casket containing his love letters and his last poems. The sexton, Hagen, unusually learned for a man in his position and unwilling to seek promotion, is paranoid that the grave will be opened and the casket removed. Edward Pyle, the proprietor of the Morning Daily, is campaigning for the grave to be opened as he intends to write a biography on Asprey. This horrifies the Duke of Blegborough as he fears that the contents of the letters will cast an unfavourable light on his dead wife.

Chrines, who claims to be the son from the relationship between Asprey and Hanet Merton, is also after the papers as he too is planning to write a biography. Asprey’s wife is also in the vicinity, anxious to preserve her husband’s reputation. To add some extra spice, the previous vicar of the parish, Dr Thorne, disappeared one evening and was presumed to be lost on the moors. His body was never found. Into this unusual maelstrom of heated passions with a Gothic twist of potential grave robbery boldly steps Bobby Owen.

Punshon takes time in developing the character of the odious Pyle who is used to getting his own way and has the knack of getting other people’s backs up. It is no surprise then when he is shot, and the caravan in which he was staying on the moor waiting for his opportunity, whether officially sanctioned or not, to open the grave is burned to the ground. Bobby’s task is to work out which of the suspects is guilty. Along the way he has to work out what really happened to Asprey’s letters and poems and to solve the mystery of Dr Thorne’s disappearance. A significant clue is a poem contained in Chrines’ recently published collection of poetry.

It is a tale of obsession and guilty secrets, populated with some fascinating characters. There is more than a little graphic horror with Punshon sparing no details in his description of the goriness of the deaths. The scene when Janet Merton’s grave is opened is vivid and has left an image that will stay with me for a long time. The brooding malevolent presence of the moor adds to the atmospheric feel of the book. I did miss the presence of Bobby’s wife, Olive, which meant that instead of deploying her as his sounding board and source of inspiration, we have to listen to his internal rationalising of what he has discovered so far, which works less well, I feel.

Nevertheless, there is much to admire in what is one of the best of Punshon’s later output and that he was able to pull it off at his advanced age is testament to the power of his creativity and his mastery of his craft. Remarkably, he was to publish three more Bobby Owen books before his death two years later.