Murder at the Pageant

 Murder at the Pageant (1930) by Victor L. Whitechurch

Sir Henry Lynwood, the Lord of Frimley Manor, has the idea to hold a grand pageant featuring as its centerpiece a recreation of the visit of Queen Anne in 1705. The lavish affair will bring in funds to support the hospital in Chiltonbury, a neighboring market town. Sir Henry, his two sons Harry and Charles, and their guests all dress up in period costumes to provide the entertainments. The reenactment includes the ritual carrying of the queen in a sedan chair from the estate's entrance gate to the front steps of Frimley Manor.

The pageant is directed by Captain Roger Bristow, ex-Secret Service member, and the role of Queen Anne is played by Mrs. Cresswell. Other attendants include Anstice Lockwood, daughter of the house; Sonia Fullinger, Sonia's friend; Mr. Ashley-Smith, vicar of the parish; and Mr. Jasper Hurst, a tenant on the Frimley estate. Mrs. Cresswell decides to embellish her royal costume with her spectacular pearl necklace, setting the stage for an unplanned criminal...and deadly...final act to the pageant. 

In the middle of the night, long after the crowds have left the estate grounds, Bristow happens to look out of his bedroom window and sees two men carrying the sedan chair back up the long drive. He thinks they're trying to steal the ancient relic and hurries out to give chase. The men drop the chair and run to a waiting car. He catches a glimpse of the number plate and is on his way back to the manor to report the incident when he realizes the chair is not empty. Hurst is inside, injured, and manages to gasp out what sounds like "The...line" before dying. So an attempted robbery becomes a murder investigation. A murder investigation that is complicated by an actual robbery--Mrs. Cresswell's pearls have disappeared!

Bristow uses the skills acquired in his Secret Service work to help his friends while Superintendent Kinch, the official police investigator, follows his own lines. The two find themselves crossing paths often as their separate lines all seem to point in the same direction. Or do they? Appearances and circumstantial evidence can be misleading and soon the two men are working together to catch the thief and the murderer.

This was great fun. I enjoyed watching Bristow and Kinch work at the problem separately. They're not quite rivals. Bristow is always willing to share what he's found--provided Kinch asks the proper questions. And in the end Bristow shares everything in order to see justice done. I've seen a review which implies that the solution is a bit unfair--that we didn't meet all of the suspects. But Whitechurch firmly plants the clues that lead to the unknown. There are no red herrings here, every clue when viewed from the proper angle points to the solution. Just because readers don't see the other angle, doesn't mean it wasn't there. A very nice county house mystery with a little twist in the standard country house mystery proceedings. ★★★★

First line: "The sedan chair used in this scene is the same chair in which Queen Anne was carried on the occasion of her visit to Frimley Manor in 1705."

Last line: And they went in to luncheon.

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Deaths = 2 (one natural [apoplexy], one hit on head)