Coffin In Oxford by
Gwendoline Butler
pbk out February 98
(Crime Time)
at £4.99
Ted is an artist and a good one and has an attractive girl friend, Joanna. Another friend is Gene, said "to be born in Poland - or was it Silesia? Or was it Lithuania?" He and Joanna are worried about Ted who has suffered two attacks. In the first he is found shut in a narrow cupboard with a scarf tightened round his neck; the second is similar, but milder: he is found with his tie round his neck, throttling him. He decides to move from his lodgings, taking all his artistic clutter with him, including a large trunk. And it is in this trunk that the body of a woman is found, but Ted has disappeared, to the dismay of his friends. Have the attacks prompted his disappearance? Joanna thinks so and Gene well, "Gene knew all about these attacks.” And what of the body in the trunk? Is Ted a murderer?
As one reads the book one becomes very conscious of the presence of the author, commenting on the action. The narrative is often jerky, switching from one character to another. But the English is impeccable: "Her immediate boss, a woman much older than she." There is, however, one odd
generalisation: "Being a South Oxford child she was dancing clumsily and heavily. " Is this a reflection of the fact that South Oxford is a poorer area of Oxford than the wealthier North Oxford where Joanna lives? And at least one questionable observation: "He wrote beautifully, but it was in
the style of Cicero, or Gibbon, or Trollope." One wonders what Trollope is doing in such company.
This paperback edition of Coffin in Oxford is published by CT in whose magazine, Crime Time, Gwendoline Butler has become something of a cult figure. One always applauds when a neglected or undervalued author begins to be appreciated and Gwendoline Butler certainly deserves that. If CT Publishing are set on reprinting all of Butler - and Jennie Melville - well and good, but if we are only going to get some of her books one wonders why Coffin in Oxford was chosen as an introductory volume. It is by no means the best of the Coffin books and to call it a John Coffin Mystery is something of a misnomer. Coffin appears only as a minor character, the focus being mainly on Joanna. It is a mystery, of course, and is satisfactorily resolved. Perhaps it should have been called an Oxford Mystery.
Coffin In Oxford by
Gwendoline Butler