Constable Guard Thyself!

Major Sir Henry Lancelot Aubrey-Fletcher, 6th Baronet (1887-1969) wrote twenty-two novels under the pseudonym Henry Wade. He was one of the more interesting golden age detective writers and was at times quite innovative. Constable Guard Thyself! appeared in 1934. It was his ninth book and featured his series detective Inspector John Poole.

The book starts with the murder of a policeman. Even more shockingly, a senior policeman is the victim. There is no mystery about the murder at all. Albert Hinde, recently released from prison and a man with a very strong grudge against the victim, had sent a threatening. He was seen in the area and he followed up the letter with a personal confrontation with the victim. There can be absolutely no doubt of Hinde’s guilt.

There can also be absolutely no doubt that Hinde will soon be in custody. His distinctive personal appearance combined with the fact that he has every policeman in the Brodshire Constabulary, and every policeman in all the neighbouring counties, searching for him guarantees that. A shocking crime but hardly a challenging case. The superintendent in charge of the investigation sees no need whatsoever to ask Scotland Yard for help.

But of course it doesn’t turn out to be quite so simple. Albert Hinde cannot possibly elude such a massive manhunt for very long, but somehow he manages to do so. It’s as if he has vanished from the face of the earth. And the superintendent has some tiny niggling doubts. He is also unable to resist the mounting pressure to call in Scotland Yard. Inspector John Poole is despatched by the Yard to lend assistance.

Poole soon discovers that there are quite a few puzzling things about this case. Not just puzzling, but very disturbing. If his suspicions are correct the case is even more shocking than initial appearances suggested. Poole is patient and methodical. His belief is that when you reach a dead end you simply have to start again from the beginning, discarding all preconceptions.

Apart from the delightfully complex and ingenious plot the most interesting thing about this book is that it deals with matters that most English detective writers of the 30s would not have dared to go anywhere near. Poole finds evidence that suggests police misconduct. Not just misconduct by one “bad apple” but possibly involving a number of officers. And not just minor indiscretions but possibly misconduct of a sort that could discredit the entire criminal justice system. In fact Poole finds himself in a very awkward situation - he cannot share some of his suspicions with anybody, not even fellow police officers.

There are also questions of loyalty, and the conflict between loyalty and duty. Wade does not try to pretend that these are easy questions and he teases out the nuances with considerable skill.

Poole is a fairly believable character. He’s a fine detective but he’s not infallible. He’s honest and conscientious but there are times when he feels that he has to pursue a particular course of action even though he’s not entirely confident that it’s the right to do. His strength, in the moral sense, is that he is aware of the potential problems. He always tries to do the morally right thing and he’s also the sort of policeman who instinctively dislikes cutting corners. He’s also very much a believer in respecting the rights of suspects even if it makes his job more difficult.

The relationship between Poole and the local superintendent is quite complex. They both appear to be trying to do the right thing but they don’t always agree as to what the right thing is.

The plot itself is not quite an impossible crime but it does tend in that direction. It’s easy to see how the crime could have been committed, except that the physical evidence does not seem to square with any of the possible explanations.

There’s also a neat unbreakable alibi aspect to the story.

Constable Guard Thyself! is Wade in top form and golden age detective fiction doesn’t get much better than that. Highly recommended.

Wade’s The Hanging Captain, The Duke of York’s Steps, No Friendly Drop and Heir Presumptive are all very much worth reading as well.

Henry Wade's No Friendly Drop

Sir Henry Lancelot
Aubrey-Fletcher

Sir Henry Lancelot Aubrey-Fletcher, 6th Baronet (1887-1969) wrote twenty detective novels under the name Henry Wade between 1926 and 1957. No Friendly Drop, published in 1931, was the third of his seven Inspector Poole mysteries,

Wade is one of the best, and certainly one of the most underrated, of the writers of golden age detective fiction. At times (as in Heir Presumptive) he could be quite ambitious. No Friendly Drop adheres very closely to the established conventions of the genre but it is an assured and extremely successful mystery.

Lord Grayle has died very suddenly at his country home. His health was poor but his condition was not life-threatening. The assumption is that he succumbed to an overdose of  a sedative. Superintendent Clewth is not happy about the circumstances and the Chief Constable, Major Faide, is reluctantly inclined to agree. Given that Lord Grayle belongs to one of the most prominent families in the county Major Faide knows that he will have to tread carefully. It seems to him that it really would be better to call in Scotland Yard right away. 

Detective Inspector Poole is assigned to the case. Technically he is too junior an officer for such an important case but the chief of the CID has the feeling that, of the officers available to him, Poole might just turn out to be the right man for the job.

It soon becomes clear that Lord Grayle was poisoned, but he was poisoned in a rather strange manner. So strange that it is difficult to imagine why any murderer would choose such a complicated and potentially unreliable method of murder. There is a very strong suspect but despite compelling, indeed overwhelming, circumstantial evidence the suspect in question appears to have no motive whatsoever. There is another possible suspect, but one with even less motive. The only suspects with any plausible motives at all are entirely ruled out for other reasons.

The plot includes most of the features one expects in a golden age mystery - murder in a country house, a complicated murder method, a surprising will, a limited pool of suspects, family secrets, a hint of scandal, exotic poisons, murder disguised as suicide or accident. The ingredients are familiar but Wade blends them into a most enticing dish.

While the plot is complex it avoids the outrageous elements that one finds in many detective tales of this era. Once the solution is revealed we are bound to admit that it is entirely plausible and credible.

Inspector Poole is an interesting detective. He’s much younger than most fictional detectives, and very young indeed to be an official police detective in charge of a murder case. He is also unusual among official police detective heroes in being university-educated. Poole is a very ambitious young man who intends to rise high in the Metropolitan Police. He has had his career carefully planned out. Rather than entering the Force straight away he spent several years studying and then practising law, feeling that this would be a more useful apprenticeship for a future head of the CID (for that is his ambition) than pounding a beat. Having then entered the Force he became the protégé of the Assistant Commissioner and began a rapid rise through the ranks.

Despite his lofty ambitions Poole is a likeable hero, notably lacking in arrogance (although not lacking in self-confidence). He is also very much a young man, with the enthusiasm and the sensitivity of youth. He has not yet become hardened and he very much dislikes thinking about the fact that his investigations could send someone to the gallows.

Wade demonstrates his ability to make his supporting characters something more than mere marionettes. Some behave badly but they are not mere stock villains. They do have comprehensible motivations. Their actions are, in general, believable.

No Friendly Drop is a thoroughly entertaining intelligent and completely plausible detective story. Highly recommended.

Henry Wade's Heir Presumptive

Major Sir Henry Lancelot Aubrey-Fletcher, 6th Baronet CVO DSO (1887-1969) wrote detective novels using the pseudonym Henry Wade. And very very good detective novels they were too. Wade is arguably one of the most underrated of all writers of the golden age of detective fiction.

Wade’s first detective novel was published in 1926 and his last in 1957. Heir Presumptive appeared in 1935 and it’s not only superb in quality but also daring in conception.

At first it gives the impression that it’s yet another inverted detective novel, a sub-genre that I’m not overly fond of. If you happen to share my lack of enthusiasm for this type of story don’t despair - Wade has some very clever and original tricks up his sleeve and he uses this format in a very individualistic way.

Eustace Hendel is rather distantly related to the very wealthy Baron Barradys. So distantly related that he has rarely given the matter much thought and he is only very vaguely acquainted with the senior line of the Hendel family. When he hears of the sudden deaths of two members of the family he is at first only mildly interested. This lack of familiarity notwithstanding he is persuaded to attend the funerals. After giving the matter some thought it has occurred to him that these two unexpected deaths have removed the two immediate heirs to both the title and the family fortune. He had previously regarded his chances of succeeding to the title and the fortune to be so remote as to be not worth serious consideration. That has now changed somewhat. In fact there are now only two members of the family between him and the succession. And one of those two, Desmond Hendel, is an invalid who is not expected to live very long. Desmond’s father David is a widower so perhaps Eustace has a chance after all.

This comes at a very opportune time. Eustace had trained as a doctor but gave up his practice when he inherited a fortune from a wealthy woman. He has managed to dissipate that fortune by following his favourite hobbies - gambling, fast cars, actresses and drink. Eustace is very close to being penniless. Worse, he is seriously in debt to a money lender. If David were to meet with an accident all Eustace’s problems would be solved.

Eustace is not really such a bad fellow, not the sort who would normally contemplate murder, but he really is in desperate financial straits. In such circumstances murder starts to look like a rather attractive proposition. The more he thinks about it the more it seems like rotten luck that a fortune should pass to David when he is much more seriously in need of the money.

This all sounds rather like the kinds of novels that Francis Iles had made a big splash with in the early 30s - inverted detective stories with a strong psychological bent. Wade is however attempting something rather different with Heir Presumptive - a blending of the inverted detective story with the classic golden age detective story. In fact the inverted detective story angle can almost be said to be a red herring. Wade also combines the psychological angle, with a strong focus on Eustace’s thought processes and with a story told entirely from his point of view (although told in the third person), with the more conventional motivations of golden age detective fiction.

Wade’s plotting is remarkably skillful. He pulls off a spectacular feat of misdirection with the sure touch of an expert conjuror. Even more impressively the misdirection is not only practised on the reader but on his protagonist as well.

The potential disadvantage of a story told entirely from the point of view of a murderer is that a murderer makes a less than sympathetic protagonist. Wade handles this difficulty skillfully. There’s not a great deal to admire in Eustace Hendel but we can’t help feeling vaguely sorry for him as his schemes never quite work out as he’d hoped. We’re appalled by his selfishness but he’s a hapless victim of his own delusions rather than a monster, although of course a person driven entirely by self-interest and self-delusion does become monstrous in practice.

Heir Presumptive is much more interesting and much more satisfying than the Francis Iles inverted mysteries although it has to be emphasised that Wade’s novel differs from the Iles books in significant ways.

A fascinating novel by a writer who deserves a lot more recognition than he gets. Highly recommended.

The Hanging Captain

Henry Wade was the pseudonym used by Major Sir Henry Lancelot Aubrey-Fletcher, 6th Baronet CVO DSO (1887-1969) for his detective novels. He’s one of the more unjustly neglected writers of the golden age of detective fiction.

Wade’s main series detective was Inspector John Poole but The Hanging Captain, published in 1932, features two other detectives, both of whom are intriguing characters in their own right.

There had been a time when Captain Herbert Sterron had seemed to be a very lucky man. The dashing dragoon officer had a promising military career and a lovely wife, and an income that was ample for the maintenance of Ferris Court, a handsome Tudor mansion that had been in the Sterron family for four hundred years. Just prior to the outbreak of the Great War a change came over the captain, a change that was very much for the worse. So much so that when two decades later he hanged himself it came as no great shock.

There certainly seems no doubt that his death was suicide. And yet Superintendent Dawle is not quite satisfied. The Chief Constable is anxious to have the whole matter dealt with as expeditiously as possible, having no desire to start digging into the private lives of prominent county families. The Chief Constable’s hopes are dashed when Sir James Hamsted throws a spanner in the works, raising string suspicions of foul play. Hamsted had been staying at Ferris Court at the time of Sterron’s death. Hamsted is a harmless old gentleman occupying an important if rather dull government post, or at least that’s the impression he gives. In fact Hamsted is a medical practitioner with an extensive knowledge of medical jurisprudence, having occupied the post of coroner for many years. Sudden death is something he knows a great deal about, and he is far from satisfied.

With sinking heart the Chief Constable bows to the inevitable and Scotland Yard is called in. Detective-Inspector Lott is assigned to the case. Like most Scotland Yard men Lott regards county constabularies with a considerable amount of disdain and he expects that working with a well-meaning but rather incompetent bumpkin like Superintendent Dawle will be something of an ordeal. He will soon discover that Superintendent Dawle is no bumpkin and is far from incompetent. He’s a shrewd old bird who can teach the Yard a thing or two about criminal investigations.

Much of the interest in this book comes from the interplay between Dawle and Lott. Wade was rather stronger in the area of characterisation than most golden age detective writers and the two detectives are both well fleshed out and fairly complex characters. The rivalry between local police and Scotland Yard officers is a theme that runs through many English detective novels of this era. Wade handles it with particular skill as the two rival detectives match wits and a mutual respect slowly develops between them.

The other key characters are equally interesting. Wade is strong on plotting and he’s especially strong on motive. The various suspects all have possible motives but these motives are by no means clear cut. In several case the motives have a definite sexual angle that is dealt with more openly than one generally expects in detective fiction of this era.

One of the suspects happens to be High Sheriff of the county, with aspirations to be Lord Lieutenant. The author himself served as High Sheriff and subsequently Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire. Not surprisingly Wade displays in his crime fiction a keen understanding of the ins and outs of county politics and the subtle pressures they can exert on police officers in the course of an investigation into murder involving notable county families. THis is one of the elements that makes this book more than just another country house murder mystery.

Wade’s crime novels can be difficult to find but they are certainly worth the effort. The Hanging Captain is a splendid example of the golden age detective novel. Highly recommended.

The Duke of York’s Steps

Henry Wade’s The Duke of York’s Steps was published in 1929 and it’s a fine example of the golden age detective tale.

A wealthy banker, Sir Garth Fratten, dies suddenly on The Duke of York’s Steps in London. Sir Garth had an aneurism and his death comes as no surprise to his doctor. Sir Garth had had a very minor accident (a man had jostled him) and his doctor is satisfied that even a fairly mild shock such as that would have been more than enough to cause the aneurism to burst. He unhesitatingly makes out the death certificate stating that Sir Garth died of natural causes. There are no suspicious circumstances and it all seems so straightforward that there is not even an inquest.

Despite this Fratten’s daughter Inez is not entirely satisfied. She places an advertisement in the London newspapers, seeing the man who had stumbled into her father shortly before his death. The advertisement comes to the attention of the Assistant Commissioner in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department at Scotland Yard. He decides the matter should be looked into, purely as a matter of routine. He is in fact quite convinced that there is no question of foul play in Fratten’s death, but he assigns Inspector John Poole to make a few inquiries.

Poole soon realises that there is at least one person with a very strong motive for murdering Sir Garth. There are also some financial affairs connected with the deceased banker that seem worth looking into. Poole becomes more and more convinced that this is a case of murder, but the circumstances of Fratten’s death seem to make that impossible. Nonetheless Poole is now very interested.

It becomes apparent that there are in fact several people with strong motives. But Poole still cannot discover any possible means by which the banker could have been murdered.

Needless to say Poole does eventually uncover the evidence he needs. His investigation leads him into a world of high finance where things are not as they seem, and a sordid world in which rich young men make fools of themselves over chorus girls.

This novel boasts a very ingenious murder method indeed. This is in fact one of the strongest points in the book’s favour.

Inspector Poole is something of an intellectual, at least by the standards of official police detectives, having been educated at Oxford. After university he had been called to the bar and spent a year practising as a barrister before joining the Metropolitan Police. Poole is very ambitious, his aim being nothing less than to become Assistant Commissioner in charge of the Criminal Investigation Department at Scotland Yard. Such a position requires broader experience than would usually be gained by a straightforward police career. His immediate superior is rather sceptical of Poole’s abilities.

Despite his Oxford education Poole is not in the style of aristocratic detectives like Lord Peter Wimsey. His father was a country doctor and he comes across as a reasonably straightforward sort of person, educated but not one to parade his education to any degree. He’s a likeable and interesting enough detective hero.

Henry Wade was the pseudonym adopted by Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, 6th Baronet (1887-1969). He wrote quite a few mysteries between the late 1920s and the late 1950s including seven Inspector Poole novels and was a founding member of the Detection Club.

The Duke of York’s Steps is a classic golden age detective story. The plot stretches credibility but outrageously intricate plotting part is part of the charm of this school of crime fiction. Highly entertaining and recommended.