LemonSky's review of Death in the tunnel

LemonSky reviewed Death in the tunnel by Cecil John Charles Street (British Library crime classics)

No cover — Cecil John Charles Street: Death in the tunnel (2016, Poisoned Pen Press)

"On a dark November evening, Sir Wilfred Saxonby is travelling alone in the 5 o'clock …

Review of 'Death in the tunnel' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Sir Wilfred Saxonby is riding alone in a locked train compartment when the train suddenly stops in the tunnel. When the train emerges from the tunnel, Sir Wilfred is dead - shot in the heart with a gun that is found in the compartment.

Suicide? It certainly seems like it, but Inspector Arnold of Scotland Yard has some nagging doubts about that verdict. For one thing, the train stopped due some mysterious red and green lights in the tunnel, lights that should not have been there. Sir Wilfred is also an unlikely candidate for suicide - rich, successful, powerful, and apparently healthy. Why would he kill himself? The more Inspector Arnold investigates, the more doubts he has that this is suicide. He decides to ask for the help of his friend, Desmond Merrion, an amateur criminologist.

At first Merrion believes that Sir Wilfred committed suicide, but like Arnold, he begins to have his doubts. Things aren't adding up and it becomes increasingly obvious that Sir Wilfred was murdered. There is no shortage of suspects - the dead man was an extremely strong-willed, arrogant and unforgiving character who made more than his share of enemies.

Death in the Tunnel is not for everyone. It is strong on puzzle and rather weak on characters. Merrion and Arnold remain flat and two-dimensional. There is a great deal of talking and exposition in this novel. For example, Chapter 8 (pages 70-78) is almost entirely dialog. There are also painstaking descriptions of the scene investigation. Now, these issues may not appeal to some people who are more interested in character-driven stories. However, if you like puzzle-oriented stories with an emphasis on detection, then this is the book for you. The plot is complex and well drawn. I never suspected the killer and was actually rather surprised by who did it. Once you learn what really happened, everything fits nicely together and makes perfect sense. I can't remember the last time I actually encountered that outside of my favorite authors ([a:Agatha Christie|123715|Agatha Christie|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1321738793p2/123715.jpg], [a:Rex Stout|41112|Rex Stout|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1201136975p2/41112.jpg] & [a:Erle Stanley Gardner|10214|Erle Stanley Gardner|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1211517281p2/10214.jpg]).

Miles Burton was a pseudonym of Cecil John Charles Street (1884-1964), who also wrote under [a:John Rhode|280354|John Rhode|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1320143165p2/280354.jpg] and [a:Cecil Waye|5785196|Cecil Waye|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1332934248p2/5785196.jpg]. He was an artillery officer in the British army during World War I, a propagandist for MI7 (British Military Intelligence), and an Information Officer for the British government during the Irish War of Independence. He rose to the rank of major.

Street turned to writing during World War I and eventually to mysteries. In addition to Desmond Merrion in the Burton books, he created Dr Priestley, whose books were published under the Rhode name. A good source on Street is [b:The Golden Age of Murder|22998983|The Golden Age of Murder|Martin Edwards|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1420790896s/22998983.jpg|42563669] by [a:Martin Edwards|31252|Martin Edwards|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1272814970p2/31252.jpg]. [a:Julian Symons|30747|Julian Symons|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1274213689p2/30747.jpg] was rather dismissive of Street, placing him in the "Humdrum" school of detection:

"Most of them came late to writing fiction, and few had much talent for it. They had some skill in constructing puzzles, nothing more, and ironically they fulfilled much better than S. S. Van Dine his dictum that the detective story properly belonged in the category of riddles or crossword puzzles. Most of the Humdrums were British, and among the best known of them were Major John Street."