It Can't Be My Grave

by Pa Rock
Reader 

"It Can't Be My Grave"  is the fourth Professor Neil Kelly mystery in the series of six that were authored by S.F.X. Dean (Francis Smith) in the 1980's.  In this volume, the college professor/amateur sleuth Neil Kelly has finally completed and published his biography of the English poet John Donne, and the book has not only been well received by scholars, but is experiencing some commercial success as well.  As the story opens, Neil is in London to attend post publication events that are being put on by his publishers.

Neil is sitting in a pub in the West End's theatre district when he runs into Hugh James, a British stage actor and old friend from their days as under-graduate students at Oxford.  They are soon joined in the bar boy Hugh's new wife, Sheila, also a stage actor.  Both Hugh and Sheila have just finished the afternoon matinees of their shows, and they invite Neil to their house where he winds up spending the night.

The next morning as they are enjoying breakfast, one of London's richest tycoons, Sir Gordon Fairly, drops in and joins the group.  Sir Gordon has a strong interest in 16th century literature and quickly forms a bond with Kelly, the American professor who specializes in that period.  Fairly tells Neil a tale about an ancestor of his, Lucy Goodman, whom he believes authored a famous 16th century play called "Arden of Faversham," a heretofore anonymous work that most believe was written by Thomas Kyd, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare - or some combination of those three.  

Sir Gordon Fairly has a theory that Lucy Goodman, an ancestor of his, wrote the play, later posed as a man so that she could be in the acting company - which at the time were always solely composed of men, and was ultimately murdered - probably by William Shakespeare.    Fairly is also getting ready to bankroll a contemporary production of "Arden of Faversham" which will star Hugh James.

(Note:  "Arden of Faversham" was an actual 16th century play whose author is unknown, but suspected authors are Kyd, Marlowe, and Shakespeare.  It is about a wealthy farmer whose wife takes a lover, and the wife and her lover hire some locals to murder the husband.  It is based on an actual crime, and the actual home of Arden of Faveersham still stands today.  The play is considered to be the oldest surviving domestic tragedy in English literature.)

As the morning progresses, Neil learns that not only does the ultra-rich Sir Gordon Fairly share his interest in 16th century English literature, Sir Gordon also owns, among many other properties and businesses, the publishing house that printed Neil's book on John Donne - and Fairly wants to hire Neil to research Lucy Goodman and "Arden of Faversham."  When their impromptu meeting at the home of the actors adjourns, Fairly offers Neil a ride back to his hotel.  His armored Daimler is sitting at the curb, replete with its 17th-century furnishings in the passenger compartment.   Neil is appropriately impressed with Sir Gordon's luxurious lifestyle, but he says that he needs more time to consider the rich man's very generous offer of employment.

One of the personal privileges that Sir Gordon enjoys as he travels about London in his chauffeured Daimler is the delivery of his mail to the car - wherever he happens to be.  The next day as Sir Gordon is being driven about town, the postman catches up with the Daimler and passes the mail to the lone passenger.  At least one of the letters - and possibly as many as three - in that day's post contain a letter bomb.  The blast blows the passenger and his 17th-century antiques to bits, and snarls traffic in front of the main offices of the Bank of England for hours.  The chauffeur, being beyond the armored compartment, is not seriously injured.

From that point Professor Neil Kelly becomes more and more involved with family members and business associates of Sir Gordon Fairly, many of whom have reasons for wanting the rich man dead.  He also becomes quickly connected with Thomas Bowie, a wise-cracking detective from Scotland Yard, who adds a strain of light-heartedness to the investigation.   Eventually the team of Kelly and Bowie manage to unravel the mystery and unmask the killer.

It is also in this volume of Neil Kelly's saga that he meets the next love of his life, his editor - Dolly Allen.

S.F.X. Dean (Francis Smith, who passed away in 2017) had a talent for describing characters and settings. His descriptions of the theatre and publishing environs of London's West End are realistic and beat with the pulse of the times, and the characters are quirky and believable, with some of those in the publishing business being every bit as dramatic as those who pound the boards of the London stages for their livelihoods.

The mysteries of who killed Sir Gordon and why are sound and well plotted, but in the end it is the colorful characters and the charming eccentricities of London's West End that make this tale so enjoyable - and the murder of Arden of Faversham is every bit as compelling as the violent death of Sir Gordon Fairly.

There is much to enjoy and ponder in "It Can't Be My Grave."  Strongly recommended!