Reading the Detectives discussion

Welcome to our Jan/Feb 22 buddy read of Death in High Heels: An Inspector Charlesworth Mystery the first in the Inspector Charlesworth series and published in 1941.

Inspector Charlesworth did appear in some Inspector Cockrill books, but did not have his own mystery again until 1979 with The Rose in Darkness!

Inspector Charlesworth investigates a strange murder in a dress shop

The sales room at Christophe et Cie is staffed by five young women. Each is beautiful in her own way-and each could be a murderer. One morning, two of the women purchase some oxalic acid to clean a stain off a Panama hat. No one knows how the poison gets into Miss Doon's system, but it doesn't take long to kill her. When Inspector Charlesworth steps into the little shop, he finds a dozen motives and no clear solution.

Everyone in the shop was jealous of Miss Doon, for as the owner's girlfriend she was the favorite to head up the store's new Riviera branch. Romantic feelings for his chief suspect sidetrack Charlesworth, and it takes a second murder to put him back on the trail of the killer.

Those who read the Inspector Cockrill series, will recognise some of the characters in this novel, which presents an interesting social-historical portrait of wartime London as well as being an interesting mystery.

Please feel free to post spoilers in this thread.

As you say, Susan, I loved the social history aspect of this, especially female friendships forged through work.

It's a shame the book is dated, though, in that spiteful portrait of poor Mr Cecil - and that nickname of Cissie! The way Charlesworth and his sergeant giggle at him is jarring.

I was also disappointed that Charlesworth is such a fool - not just discounting a suspect because he's fallen in lust with her, but the way he doesn't follow up obvious trails like checking the other chemists for purchases of the drug. A prime case of nepotism as his chief seems to know him and his family!

Charlesworth appears in a later book, as does Cecil. The book is badly dated, I agree, but very interesting in terms of the social history, as you say. At least Charlesworth didn't know the people he was investigating, as Cockrill always seemed to...

Yes, Mr Cecil is mentioned in Green for Danger (view spoiler)[where it's claimed that he passes off other people's designs as his own. Brand really dislikes him, doesn't she! (hide spoiler)]

That confused me about Cockrill - Green for Danger is the first I've read of his series, following this one, and I couldn't understand why all the suspects are so familiar with him, even calling him Cockie!

Mr Cecil is also in Tour de Force and Charlesworth appeared in Death of Jezebel and Fog of Doubt, alongside Cockrill.

I also found the stereotyping hard to take, but, oddly, I have the impression that Brand became increasingly keen on Mr Cecil as a character despite this.

He is also in The Three-Cornered Halo, the strange non-detective story sequel to Tour de Force, where the portrayal is still just as stereotyped on the surface, but I think he is one of the main viewpoint characters if I remember rightly, and Brand includes some sympathetic mentions of a broken relationship he has suffered. I've given my copy of this one away so can't check back.

Oh yes, that's right, Judy. Her characters do tend to pop up in other books and everyone knows everyone else, so it can be a bit confusing!

Roman Clodia wrote: "Yes, Mr Cecil is mentioned in Green for Danger [spoilers removed].."

Oh yes, I'd forgotten this! I think Brand is more sympathetic to him in The Three-Cornered Halo, though, as I just mentioned above. Her attitudes to her characters are sometimes a bit hard to follow.

Susan wrote: "Oh yes, that's right, Judy. Her characters do tend to pop up in other books and everyone knows everyone else, so it can be a bit confusing!"

Very true - she almost seems to have her own world, for instance with everyone referring to the loo as the "hoo-hah"!

I have read that before - perhaps in Nancy Mitford?

That's interesting about characters reappearing in other books. Do any of the nurses from Green for Danger pop up again? I like the way Brand gets us interested in their lives, as with the shop girls in this book.

I understand this book was the first she had written in the mystery genre, as up until now, it had been children's books. I'm pleased that this wasn't the first of her books I had read, as to me it was a dud. Her Inspector Cockrill books also contained a couple of duds, but taken overall she had also written some rather good mysteries. This book was set in a high-class ladies dress shop in London, however it could have been in any office or factory anywhere, as it was about a group of workers there, some vying for a position in a new shop opening in France. The owner of the shop is a man who has affairs with just about all his employees, excepting the elderly cleaner and the actual dress-designer, a Mr Cecil, who has been written as an emotional who does not share a taste for women. Having been given this information, as is usual a murder via poisoning is committed, or could it have been an accident. An Inspector Charlesworth is to find out why and how a person has been killed, but he is really a complete, lustful fool. His main point of interest is focusing on one of the suspects, convincing himself he is in love. Because of this he misses a lot of the information that turns up. All rather pathetic, and if he hadn't had a good sergeant working with him, I think the book would still have been meandering on. This book went on way too long as it is.

Sorry it was a dud for you, Jill. This was, actually, the first of her books I read and I really enjoyed it, although I recognise that it has not aged well.

I think I was working in Regent Street when I first read it and the thought of having a canteen and a hot lunch amazed me when I was young. Also, I recall that I didn't know what mannequins were and had to go and find that out (where from, before the internet, I can't recall now!) and found that quite mystifying. How a young, pretty model wearing a dress would show me how I would look in it - wishful thinking aside - is still beyond me!

I was fascinated by the shop canteen as well and it's striking that the arguments made for it by the boss (that the women would work better as a result of a hot meal) are not dissimilar to those made now for school meals for kids.

I thought the murderer wasn't hard to identify as no-one else knew Doon would be eating from that plate - but it was a clever red herring to think that it had been a case of the wrong person killed. Not that Charlesworth even realised that as a possibility till about three-quarters of the way through.

I've read about dresses being modelled by mannequins before and agree, Susan! Maybe they buy and then try at home because there are mentions of people coming in for adjustments to be made and refittings.

I thought it was realistic when Gregory pointed out that customers would be more likely to come into the shop, rather than avoid it, as Bevan first thought. Times change, but human nature, never!

Roman Clodia wrote: "That's interesting about characters reappearing in other books. Do any of the nurses from Green for Danger pop up again? I like the way Brand gets us interested in their lives, as with the shop girls..."

I don't think so though I could be wrong, as I haven't read her books very close together.

We had a canteen where we could have hot breakfasts and lunches at my workplace when I started in the 1980s, but that was a local newspaper office and printing works, so we had a lot more staff than the fashion shop would in this book.

My eldest son went to a school rather like St Oswald's in the Joanne Harris books and they had a wonderful breakfast every morning, for parents and kids. We used to go early and eat there - it was literally the only period of my life where I ate breakfast but it was like a five star hotel buffet!

Judy wrote: "... we had a lot more staff than the fashion shop would in this book."

There are a couple of mentions of staff in the 'workroom' who aren't part of the story and I seem to recall that the lunch was principally arranged for them - and they eat separately from the shop staff. Presumably they're the women (probably all women) who either make up the designs or do the tailoring and alterations for fittings. So there's still a class difference in the book even if the main characters are working women.

That breakfast sounds amazing, Susan - I'm also a no breakfast person, unless I'm in a hotel in which case you can't drag me away from the breakfast bar!

Yes breakfast is usually just a holiday thing for me.

I forgot about the workroom, but that's a good point. There were a number of women doing all the alternations.

Yes, I'd forgotten about the workroom too - thanks, RC.

I've just watched the 1947 Hammer film adaptation, also called Death in High Heels, which is on BFI Player to rent for £2.50. I'd have to say it isn't all that good, although it's not at all over the top in Hammer horror style! It's very low budget, none of the actors are big names, and the pace seems quite slow although it's only 48 minutes. It is interesting though to see scenes like the mannequins wearing fashions in the shop.

Christianna Brand wrote the screenplay herself and it sticks quite close to some parts of the book, although a lot has to be cut out.

The characters of Irene, Rachel, Judy and "Macaroni" are removed (maybe some others too!). The shop girls are Victoria, Aileen and a Chinese staff member, Miss Almond Blossom, played by Diana Wong. Bevan, played by Kenneth Warrington, is middle aged and not at all the dreamboat I'd expected from all the women fighting over him in the book! Mr Cecil is just as stereotyped as in the book and keeps referring to his mother calling him "lambkin".

Charlesworth doesn't come in very much but actor Don Stannard who plays him is quite handsome. There is a twist at the end that I'll put in spoilers in case anyone wants to watch the film. (view spoiler)[ Charlesworth and Victoria, who has no romantic ties in the film, get married, and Bevan fails to notice. (hide spoiler)]

Thanks for letting us know, Judy. Not a typical Hammer film, perhaps?

Susan, I've just looked up the Hammer website, which says they produced quite a few crime films in the 1940s and didn't get into horror until the 1950s, starting with The Quatermass Xperiment in 1955.
http://www.hammerfilms.com/about-hammer/

While checking whether Christianna Brand wrote the screenplay, I saw on a Hammer site that she had several pseudonyms, and wrote one at least one historical crime novel under another name in the 1970s, Alas, For Her That Met Me! by Mary Ann Ashe, based on the Madeleine Smith case.

Ah yes, it says on her Goodreads page, Brand also wrote under the pseudonyms Mary Ann Ashe, Annabel Jones, Mary Roland, and China Thomson. Makes it hard to keep track!

Yes, definitely does! Her potted biography on Fantastic Fiction says she worked as a model and a shop assistant, so she possibly worked somewhere similar to the smart dress shop in this novel?

Charlesworth is a fool, I agree with you all. Besotted with Victoria after having just met her. I miss Cockie. Definitely not my favorite Brand. She must have liked Cockie better also since it is his series that she continued.

Everyone seemed very accepting of Cecil and his boyfriends--his landlady, his mother, his co-workers. Grantchester on television has just played the episodes of Leonard arrested and jailed for "gross indecency" for what went on behind closed doors. I think it was set in the 50s. I wondered about the shift in perspective in ten years or so.

Did anyone else find the ending unsatisfactory? The seance came out of nowhere, and suddenly Charlesworth boasts about clearly seeing what happened after we watched him bumbling around throughout the whole book. Still, I appreciated how Brand tied up the Victoria/ Charlesworth romance.

Chris, I agree about Charlesworth being foolish and that it is odd how he suddenly solves the case. I also liked the ending of the romance, though!

Interesting comments on Mr Cecil. In general, I think there would probably have been even more persecution of gay men in the 1940s than in the 1950s, which was only a few years before the law changed, but it would vary in different industries and social circles. I believe members of my family had gay friends who lived together in the 1940s or 50s, not sure exactly when, although of course many gay men at that time were prosecuted.

The law was changed in 1967, so quite a while after the 40's

Yes, I said a few years after the 1950s, or that was what I meant to say. I think my sentence was a bit convoluted.

I read The Velvet Mafia: The Gay Men Who Ran The Swinging Sixties which had quite a bit about how gay men were persecuted. I am unsure whether it was in that book or not, but there was a part on John Gielgud being arrested and being very nervous about appearing on stage the next day, after the story had hit the papers. When he did appear, the entire audience (in Liverpool it was) stood up and applauded him for five minutes. So perhaps much of public opionion changed before the law caught up.

That's a great story, Susan. Of course, no single opinion is ever held by an entire population at any point, so there are always 'official' views as seen in the law and a spectrum of personal views alongside that.

Yes, I remember I thought it was interesting, as the audience were not in London, which are not always the same as the rest of the country and therefore more valid?

Yes, I thought the same about that happening out of London.

Gielgud was had up for cottaging though, which is a pretty unsavory business all round, and I doubt that would have met with mass approval.