A review of Dark is the Clue by E R Punshon – 240218

The entertaining and enthralling Bobby Owen series is winding to a conclusion. Dark is the Clue, the thirty-third in the series, originally published in 1955 and reissued by Dean Street Press, is an astonishing piece of work from an author who is now in his eighties. Having followed the series in chronological order, this is one of Punshon’s best, a slow-burning, complex mystery that sees the series detective, Commissioner Bobby Owen of the Yard, at his best.

There are two separate strands to the mystery. The first is the recovery of monies stolen during a Post Office robbery which are said, according to underworld gossip, to be buried in a copse at Twice Over. We enter a murky world where criminals masquerade under monikers such as Jolly Rogers, Fingers, and The Milkman, Charlie Cream, natch, and the recovery of the loot is the Yard’s responsibility. However, the body of a murdered woman is also found at the copse. The apprehension of that particular culprit is the responsibility of the local police led by Inspector Kimms but, naturally, the two are inextricably linked.

While Bobby Owen, diplomatic as ever, is anxious not to step on Kimms’ size tens, it is clear that the local man is at sea and is more than grateful for the more experienced Bobby to take the lead. Kimms becomes Owen’s sounding board as he grapples with the complexities of the cases, a role normally assumed by his wife, Olive, who is conspicuously absent from this book.

For all the plot’s complexities, there are only really five credible suspects; two local worthies, Stuart and Wynne, both of whom appear to lead double lives, Rogers, one of the Post Office gang, Dowie who visited the area with his machine which he claims located treasure, and Maxton, a troubled writer who had fallen for Wynne’s daughter. As the investigations rumble on, and backstories, movements and alibis are established, the numbers are whittled down until the guilty man is cornered in his lair.

The most fascinating character in the book is Sylvia Wynne, another of these women who appear in Punshon’s novels who have a bewitching power over men. I am thinking particularly of Helen Passes By. Sylvia has a sunny, happy disposition and her smile is enough to melt even the most hardened of hearts, but she is disarmingly naïve and a couple of innocent but indiscreet remarks she makes gives Owen the first glimmer of an understanding of who was behind the murder of Mrs Fields aka Mrs Meadows, the barmaid at The Bell and Boy with a penchant for loganberries whose corpse was found under a loganberry bush at Two Over copse.

Sylvia’s presence has a profound effect on Owen. Always quick to distance himself from the judicial consequences of the successful culmination of his investigations and an occasional critic of the capital punishment system, he is particularly perturbed by the potential broader consequences of unmasking the culprit in this case. He is almost reluctant to see it through but recognises that it is his duty. Interestingly, some other sleuths would have found a way to fudge the outcome to assuage their conscience but Owen is a man of duty and however distasteful, his duty has to be done. It does show the complexity of Punshon’s series hero.     

There are many references to the detectives groping in the dark as clue after clue leads to a dead end, but the book’s title also refers to a dark cellar where the denouement unfolds. This is the only part of the book where the pace livens up, if only momentarily. If you are looking for a fast moving, all action murder mystery, this is not for you. If you are looking for a clever, well thought out, occasionally witty, always insightful mystery, then you cannot go wrong with this.