A Dislike of Cynical Lawyers

I closed my last post, a review of All the Lonely People by Martin Edwards, by stating the solicitor as sleuth, Harry Devlin, frustrated me.

Harry is a lawyer I found hard to like as a character. I start with a predisposition to liking lawyer characters since I have practiced law for 43 years.

I can appreciate a lawyer who chooses to handle the cases, mainly criminal, of those struggling through life, especially economically. I have represented many people in such circumstances.

What frustrates me is that Harry manifests a cynicism that stereotypes his practice. For most accused there is little more to be done than to seek a just sentence yet every defence lawyer has represented accused who were guilty but are found not guilty in a trial. It is Harry’s responsibility, having chosen criminal defence practice, to represent the clearly guilty and unrepentant.

By contrast is a fictional English lawyer of a generation earlier, Rumpole in the fiction of Robert Mortimer. The blustering barrister is an acknowledged Old Bailey hack but still an optimist. He recognizes the Timson family business is the commission of modest crimes. They have carried on that business for multiple generations. Yet Rumpole is not cynical in his assessment of the Timson’s but represents them with all the skill and guile he can muster from his decades in the courts.

I am sure Harry represents his clients well. He appears conscientious in the book. Yet he does not really see them as individuals. They are an assembly line to be processed as efficiently as he can through the legal system.

Rumpole sees every client as an individual. Each accused is not a file number for him but a person deserving of specific attention.

It will not be a surprise that I strive to see the accused who retain me as individuals. I try hard not to stereotype them.

In Canadian legal fiction I see Robert Rotenberg’s lawyers in his books set in the Toronto legal community creating Crown prosecutors and defence counsel who represent people not file numbers.

Nancy Parrish could not spend the long hours needed for a major trial were her clients almost anonymous to her.

It is harder to maintain focus on the individual in Harry’s practice where there is a daily stream of accused in contrast to books where the lawyer is dealing with a single prominent trial.

Mickey Haller, especially in the earliest books of the series by Michael Connelly where he is constantly moving from court to court in his Lincoln to deal with multiple accused every day, does not succumb to cynicism. Each of his clients stays an individual and Haller continues to be an optimist.

Edwards can certainly shape his solicitor as best fits the story he is writing but I will never like a cynical lawyer.  They exist in life but there are fewer in real life than in fiction.

I hope in future books of the series Harry is less of a cynic.

I expect it is easier, even expected, in crime noir fiction that cynicism is prevalent among the characters. I hope, but doubt, future authors of legal fiction will write about criminal defence lawyers who look forward to each day in the criminal courts for they are working hard to achieve justice. Those readers who react cynically to that comment should consider whether they have lost respect for the person accused of crime in criminal fiction.

****

Edwards, Martin - (2018) - All the Lonely People

All the Lonely People by Martin Edwards

All the Lonely People by Martin Edwards (1991) – Harry Devlin is a depressed solicitor in a depressed Liverpool. Life and work has been grinding on since his wife, Liz, left him two years ago for Mick Coghlan, a hard man with money.

Love is hard to explain. Why Harry still loves Liz has no logic to the love. Mercurial in nature, impulsive to the core and completely self-absorbed Liz is enchanting but she casually breaks the hearts of man after man.

Harry finds her in his apartment one night after work. She has rightly assumed he will be glad to take her in for whatever time she will deign to spend with him.

His brief dream of reconciliation is dashed by her announcement that while she has left Coghlan there is a new well-to-do man with whom she will be living.

While Harry is dealing with his battered emotions Liz goes out for the evening and is brutally murdered.

Liz’s hold on Harry’s emotions is as strong after death as it was in life. He must find out who has killed her. Neither friends nor co-workers nor the police can sway him from his quest to solve the murder.

When he applies his lawyerly mind to his actions Harry sees there is no sense to his quest but sober analysis is outweighed by emotion. 

The police see him as a primary suspect. What reasonable person would not be driven to anger by Liz’s easy disregard for Harry’s emotions and confident expectation he will readily serve her needs. They find his explanations of continuing love unconvincing.

As Harry delves into Liz’s life he finds assignations and dalliances that provide multiple suspects.

Yet Harry is fixated on Coghlan being the murderer or financing the murder. Contrary to all his legal experience he loses objectivity in assessing the evidence. His tunnel vision draws him towards Coghlan as directly as the police tunnel is focused on him. Both Harry and the police are caught up in proving suspicion rather than determining facts. 

While Harry is an interesting character and Liz a compelling victim I found myself depressed reading the book. I could not find a character who is looking ahead in their life. All are caught up in past and current despair. 

The Liverpool of All the Lonely People is a decaying, even decrepit, city with no apparent future. It is grim in appearance and long past the days of its glory as a leading port for England.

All the Lonely People is fine noir but I realize I am not fond of noir. The book is well written and I appreciate its characterization by the publisher as a crime classic. I may read another to see if Harry can raise himself from depression. He is a good man. He does frustrate me as a lawyer.

The Inspiration for Body on Baker Street

My last post was a review of Body in Baker Street by Vicki Delany. I enjoyed the book as I have enjoyed all of the books I have read that were written by Vicki.

After completing the book I wondered if the inspiration for the murder could have come from the book of another Canadian mystery writer. 

I emailed Vicki and she promptly and candidly responded. I appreciate her willingness to reply to my questions. Our exchange is below

****

Vicki

I enjoyed reading Body on Baker Street and will have a review posted shortly.

In reading the book I was struck by the use of a bottle of poisoned water as the method of murder. I thought of Deadly Appearances, the first book in the Joanne Kilbourn series by Gail Bowen. In that book the fictional Premier of Saskatchewan, Andy Boychuk, is speaking at a political picnic. A carafe of water is sitting upon the trailer bed from which he is addressing the crowd. He dies after drinking the water which has been poisoned.

I was wondering if you might have been inspired by Deadly Appearanecs in your choice of death for Renalta Van Markoff. If not I would be interested knowing what led you to the poisoned water.

I admired your creation of a fictional series with a specific plot in a Body on Baker Street. I was reminded of Another Margaret in the Randy Craig series by Janice Macdonald. In that book Macdonald also created a fictional author and series. Considering your very varied sleuths might you have been tempted to actually write a series featuring the Desdemona Hudson you created within Body on Baker Street?

If you are able to reply and are willing, I would put up this email and your response, as a post.

All the best.

Bill Selnes

Hi, Bill. Always happy to talk books.

I have read Deadly Appearances, as I have most of the Kilbourn series, but that was a very very long time ago.  Probably when the book first came out.  So I don’t remember any details.  In my case, the setting came first – the book signing – meaning I wanted the author to drop dead in front of the room full of people. I then had to think about how to accomplish that. Poison was the obvious way of doing that , short of having someone stand up with a gun and shoot her – not much mystery there.  But it had to be obvious that the poison was taken within the last few minutes, so that the people in the room, and no others, would be the suspects.   It also needed to be fairly obvious that it might not have been intended for someone else, as would have been the case if she’d had tea in the tea room earlier.

One of the problems with writing several cozy series is trying to come up with new and original ways of bumping people off, but keeping it polite.

Come to think of it, I have written something similar to the Desdemona Hudson series.  Have you read any of my Klondike Gold Rush mysteries? Published by Dundurn from 2008 – 2013. I never thought of it before but Fiona McGillivray in that series is somewhat similar.

Best

Vicki

Body on Baker Street by Vicki Delany

(8. – 938.) Body on Baker Street by Vicki Delany – Gemma Doyle is back in fine form as the brilliantly deductive, though a touch condescending to the less quick of mind, owner of the Sherlock Holmes Bookstore and Emporium. It is summer on the coast of Massachusetts and the town is overflowing with tourists. A fair share of the visitors stop by the store and Gemma is well stocked with mysteries.

A regular, if busy week, is upended by the visit of Linda Markle, a rather plain young woman, who asks Gemma if the store would host an author event for Renalta Van Markoff, the author of the wildly successful Desdemona Hudson mystery series. Van Markoff has added to the trove of Sherlockia by making the estimable Mrs. Hudson into a detective, brighter than Sherlock, who actually solves the mysteries. This Mrs. Hudson is a member of the aristocracy and bears but a slight resemblance to the Mrs. Hudson of Conan Doyle’s books which becomes even slighter with the revelation Mrs. Hudson and Sherlock are lovers.

Gemma instantly agrees to the author event for best selling authors rarely come to her store and, wth the newest book, Hudson House, just published and already atop bestseller lists readers will flock to the store.

That afternoon Ms. Van Markoff deigns to drop by the store. She makes a grand entrance:

The older woman paused for a moment, one perfectly manicured hand resting on the car door. She stood there smiling while camera and smartphones clicked. It was a hot summer afternoon, but she was draped in a black ankle-length cape with a scarlet satin lining hat shimmered as she moved. Her ruby-red shoes had four-inch heels. Her black hair was gathered behind her head in a tumbled mass, and her ruby earrings gathered the light of the sun and threw it at us ….. She extended her hand toward me, and I was enveloped in a cloud of Chanel No. 5. Expensive and classic. For a moment, I wondered if I was expected to kiss the ruby ring.

Gemma is bemused by the author as diva but appreciative of the public flair. Her mere appearance instantly draws readers to the store and a flurry of sales take place. On departure Gemma advises her sole employee, Ashleigh, that there were 27 copies of Hudson House sold. When Ashleigh asks how she knows without checking the computer Gemma says she observes what is going on the store. She is momentarily flummoxed when Ashleigh says the records show 28 sold. Observing the store more closely Gemma determines a book has been sold from the window display.

Holmesian purists, represented by local retired lawyer Donald Morris, disdain the series for, in their vision, distorting and contorting the traditional characters. Gemma, though not fond of the overblown dramatics of the series, is happy at the prospect of selling piles of books.

Gemma re-arranges the store to accommodate over 100 visitors and works out overflow with Jayne, co-owner of Mrs. Hudson’s Tea Room, which adjoins the bookstore.

Early Saturday afternoon Ms. Van Markoff and entourage – publicist Kevin Reynolds and personal assistant Ms. Markle and publisher Robert McNamara - sweep into the store.

Gemma is surprised to observe that the great author appears nervous about addressing her fans. Yet in the spirit of the show must go on Van Markoff is giving an excellent performance until, in the grand tradition of Victoria melodrama, she collapses and expires.

With suspects all around Gemma feels compelled to assist the police in their inquiries.

Her handsome ex-fiance, Ryan Ashburton, is leading the investigation with her nemesis, detective Louise Estrada, from the first series working with him.

Gemma does not rely only upon observation. She casts about on the worldwide web for information about the suspects.

The strength of this series is in the intrepid Gemma and the fascinating characters. The clever Emma cannot comprehend the inability of those around her not to observe the details that are instantly absorbed by her.

The Sherlock Holmes Bookshop mysteries are fun and I think Delany uses them to prick, not skewer, the pretentious. In this book the egos of inflated authors are exposed. I wonder upon which prideful group Ms. Delany will focus her attention in the next book of the series.

****

Delany, Vicki -

     1.) Const. Molly Smith - (2013) - A Cold White Sun

     2.) Fiona MacGillivray - (2014) - Gold Web

     3.) Writing as Eva Gates the Lighthouse Library Series 
     with Lucy Richardson - (2014) -  By Book or by
     Crook and Bodie Island Lighthouse; (2015) - Women v. Men in
     Clothing Descriptions

     4.) The Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mysteries with Gemma
     Doyle - (2017) - Elementary, She Read and Fictional and Real
     Life Bookshops and Sherlock and Where is "Gemma" From?

Conan Doyle Detective by Peter Costello

(7. – 937.) Conan Doyle Detective by Peter Costello (1991) – I knew from reading The True Crime Files of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle rediscovered by Stephen Hines that Arthur Conan Doyle was involved in a number of real life criminal cases. In that book he was a powerful advocate for a pair of wrongly convicted men in early 20^th Century England. Those cases are also featured in this book.

What I had not realized was the extent of his involvement in real life crime. He participated in investigations to find those guilty of crime and to aid those unjustly accused.

I expect he was partially inspired by his own experience with the criminal justice system. As a young doctor in 1885 he was visited by the police who, after receiving an anonymous letter, were making inquiries into the death of a boy for whom Doyle was caring in his home as a “resident patient”. Medicated with choral hydrate he had suddenly died. Though proper, police suspicions were raised by Doyle signing the death certificate. Doyle would have at least faced a major investigation but for the visit of a local doctor the night of the death who confirmed Doyle’s treatment.

It is no surprise that he was constantly contacted by members of the public seeking his assistance in solving mysteries. The chapter title concerning those letters says it best – By Every Post a Call for Help. He responded to many letters. My next post will provide an example of both his deductive skills and his willingness to reply to letters.

Doyle was willing to lend his support to causes through the grand English tradition of writing a letter to The Times. In 1896 an American woman, the wife of a prominent San Francisco businessman, was caught stealing from a series of shops and a hotel. She pled guilty with her barrister advancing evidence of a nervous disposition “at certain periods” and was sentenced to 3 months to jail. Doyle, after recounting her theft of items of modest value she did not need, submitted:

It can surely not be denied that there is at least a doubt as to her moral responsibility, and if there is a doubt, than the benefit of it should be given to one whose sex and position as a visitor amongst us give her a double claim upon our consideration. It is to a consulting room and not a cell that she should be sent.

After considering the representations of Doyle and others she was released the next day.

Doyle was an active participant in the efforts to determine the identity of Jack the Ripper. In his analysis of the Ripper’s letter Doyle thought the Ripper had at least been to America as he used expressions from the United States. Doyle also believed the Ripper disguised himself in women’s clothes to escape from the scenes of the murders.

On his travels Doyle was consulted on local crimes. During a major trip to Africa a couple of years before his death the South African police sought his insights on a puzzling murder.

As he grew older Doyle was committed to spiritualism and looked to the insights psychics could provide in solving crimes.

After Agatha Christie disappeared the police approached Doyle. He obtained one of Christie's gloves and took it to a “medium and psychometrist” who, without information on the owner of the glove, identified it as from an Agatha who was not dead and would be found by the following Wednesday. The medium’s statements proved to be true.

Doyle sought to right injustice to the end of his life. Shortly before his death he supported the campaign to exonerate the executed American anarchists, Saaco and Vanzetti. He believed they were executed because of their political convictions rather than for committing murder.

Through reading the book my admiration for Doyle grew. He was stalwart in seeking justice for over 40 years. Many complain about injustice but few take action to right wrongs. Doyle was committed to acting in support of principle.

Costello’s approach of providing examples and analysis chronologically is my preferred approach to non-fiction. His narrative is brisk. He is not writing an academic work but his statements are well researched and his analysis solidly based.

Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz

Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz – After reading The House of Silk I was anticipating another Holmes mystery even though in The House of Silk it was stated by Watson to be the last of the series. My anticipation was unfounded. Holmes makes but a brief appearance Moriarty. Instead, Horowitz begins by delving into what really happened at Reichenbach Falls.

An American Pinkerton agent, Frederick Chase, has traveled to England seeking to find Professor Moriarty who has been invited to meet with a great American villain. Learning on his arrival that Moriarty has died in the struggle with Holmes at the Reichenbach Falls he rushes to Switzerland to see if there is any trace of the letter to Moriarty.

At the Swiss police station he meets Inspector Athelney Jones of Scotland Yard. The British policeman has come to investigate what happened and determine if the body is that of Moriarty. The circumstantial evidence leads them to believe it is Moriarty but they cannot be sure it is the great master criminal.

Jones is a wonderful character. Having been shown as lacking in deductive skills by Holmes he has diligently studied the techniques of Holmes and become a great observer. His ability to observe and deduce rivals Holmes.

Physically they are far different. Horowitz describes Jones:

… as he moved inside I saw that he was about the same age as me, perhaps a little younger, with dark-coloured hair lying flat on his forehead and soft grey eyes that questioned everything. There was a sort of seriousness about him, and when he stepped into a room, you had to stop and take notice. He was wearing a brown lounge suit with a pale overcoat, which was unbuttoned and hung loosely from his shoulders It was evident that he had recently been quite ill and had lost weight. I could see it in his clothes, which were a little too large for him, and in the pallor and pinched quality of his face. He carried a walking stick made of rosewood with an odd, complicated silver handle.

After finding and decoding a secret message to Moriarty, sewn into the suit of the drowning victim, they rush back to London seeking out the Café Royal, the location for the meeting of the criminal masterminds – Moriarty from London and Clarence Deveraux from America. Chase intends to impersonate Moriarty.

At the Café Royal there is a teenage messenger, Perry, who swiftly penetrates the impersonation and shows great dexterity with a knife.

Jones follows Perry to a fine English home, Bladeston House. Though he does not see Perry actually enter the home he is confident that it was the destination of the messenger. It turns out the house is being rented by Scotch Lavelle, an American criminal colleague of Deveraux.

Lavelle is unperturbed by the visit of the British police and Chase and their inquiries are turned aside. Frustrated they decide to return the next day to investigate further what is going on in Baldeston Hall. In the morning they are shocked to learn that Scotchy, his wife and servants have all been slain.

Great evil is about in England. Mass murder was, and is, much more common in America.

Chase is given the rare opportunity to attend a meeting of Scotland Yard inspectors planning how to investigate the murders. Chase is barely tolerated by most of the inspectors. (Most had little regard for the Holmes that continually showed them up.)

Ultimately, the investigation takes them inside the American embassy where the Ambassador is Robert T. Lincoln, the son of the assassinated President. Even in the 1890’s diplomatic immunity is a challenging issue.

Through the book Jones continues to dazzle with his deductive skills. I enjoyed the portrayal of the police inspector who would be the new Holmes.

Yet what I will remember best is the startling twist that occurs at the end of the week.  While I am never surprised that I do not catch clues I was caught totally off-guard by the twist in Moriarty. It was dramatic, even melodramatic. I thought Jeffery Deaver was the modern master of the crime fiction twist though I sometimes thinks he has one or two or three twists too many in his plots for the Lincoln Rhyme series. Horowitz surpasses Deaver in the close of Moriarty

I consider it a better book than The House of Silk mainly because of Chase and Jones. The American Chase is a dogged and reliable hunter of criminals. Jones is clever and decisive. They are a formidable pair who are bold in their pursuit.

As with The House of Silk I had to work at times on suspension of my disbelief. Great criminal masterminds are almost as difficult to create as convincing grand conspiracies. Horowitz does well but not enough for me to go further than thinking it is a very good book. Moriarty is excellent reading entertainment.

House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz

(5. – 935.) House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz – It has been some time since I read a currently written Sherlock Holmes novel. My last 21^st Century experiences were with the Holmes novels of Donald Thomas.

The book opens with displays of clever Holmesian deduction through observation that strongly reminded me of Arthur Conan Doyle’s original Holmes.

Holmes confounds the faithful Watson by deducing from a swift look at Watson that not only has Watson’s wife left London to help care for a child ill with influenza but that Watson has left home in a hurry and missed a train.

While Watson contemplates the brilliance of Holmes a visitor, the wealthy art dealer Edmund Carstairs, arrives to seek the assistance of Holmes. He is concerned for his safety because of a mysterious stranger who is following him. With a flair for turning the mundane to the distinctive Horowitz has the stranger “wearing a hat, a flat cap for the sort that is sometimes called a cheesecutter”. It is the cap which makes the stranger memorable to the elegant Carstairs. Not because of its humble style but due to its connection with America.

Carstairs has recently travelled to the United States to pursue justice against a gang that killed an agent of Carstairs during the robbery of a train. The group of Irish American felons are known as the Flat Cap Gang.

As Holmes and Watson search for the mysterious stranger Holmes calls upon his Baker Street Irregulars. The homeless boys of the London streets are extremely efficient in collecting information and seeking out individuals.

A new member, Ross Dixon, is successful in finding the stranger. The young teenager displays an unexpected fear outside the hotel of the stranger but refuses to divulge what has made him fearful.

The investigation takes Holmes and Watson into a dangerous evil conspiracy that even Holmes’ renowed brother, Mycroft, with all his government connections cannot penetrate and causes Mycroft to warn Holmes of the danger of investigating the House of Silk.

Readers know Holmes will not be deterred and the detective plunges forward.

It was a pleasure to see Holmes escape a very dangerous situation, impossible to Watson, through his wits and talents at disguise.

It is a good Sherlock Holmes novel but not one to rival the best of the current generation of Holmes’ novels. I think the early books in the series of Laurie R. King featuring Holmes and Mary Russell are better.

I found the conspiracy interesting and its nature monstrous but it is so hard to have a convincing vast conspiracy about which nothing is known by a figure such as Holmes with his vast memory and connections everywhere in London.

To suspend my disbelief with regard to a conspiracy I find it easier with more modest conspiracies for which there is some knowledge whispered about city or country.

I appreciated the touch of the fastidious in dealing with the subject matter of the conspiracy. It was convinicing, as a story purportedly by Watson, not to provide a detailed portrayal of the actual wickedness at the heart of the conspiracy.

I enjoyed the depiction of the aggressive, risk taking Holmes with Watson in the traditional role of the somewhat helpful chronicler whose deductive powers are minimal. The House of Silk does not adopt the current conceit of the Watson’s created in this century to either match or at least be close to Holmes in detective skills.

The House of Silk captured my interest to see where Horowitz could take the series especially since Watson states within the book that The House of Silk will be his last story of Holmes. I have started the second, Moriarity, and am already intrigued.