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Nazis and nudists!
It is an intriguing combination of elements to include in the same mystery novel, but Gladys Mitchell could never be accused of shying away from bizarre situations and imaginative plots in her novels, and the series of Mrs. Bradley cases would not be so individual without these unusual ingredients.
The plot of Printer's Error centres around the imminent publication in a limited edition of a scandalously anti-Semitic book - The Open-Bellied Mountain - by the printing house of Saxant and Senss, and the work's author - Fortinbras Carn - soon finds himself the victim of a series of threatening and anonymous letters; threats which have to be taken deadly seriously when the author's wife dies in mysterious circumstances.
Mrs. Beatrice Adela Lestrange Bradley is soon drawn into a mystery as bizarre and as baffling as any that she has encountered during her long and illustrious career and, ably assisted by her energetic nephew Carey, and by the young and enterprising solicitor to the author's family - Mr. Justus Bassin - she finds herself battling Nazi spies, nudists, and gun-toting motor-cyclists in equal number, whilst unmasking the reason behind a sudden craze for wearing false beards, not to mention discovering the origin of several dismembered human body parts, before eventually arriving at the case's surreal climax.
Although the subject matter of Printer's Error may seem slightly dichotomous to a modern readership, it must be remembered that the book was first published in 1939: it was the very early months of the Second World War, and a paranoia regarding Nazi spies was rife in the country. As well as being a highly entertaining writer of crime fiction, Gladys Mitchell was also a very proficient social commentator, and much of her best writing holds a mirror up to the events that were happening in England at that time.
Another phenomenon of the age, was the rise and spread of the nudist sanctuary. The Sun Bathing Society had been founded a decade before the original publication of Printer's Error, and by 1939 21 similar clubs had spread across southern England. Nude sunbathing was permitted by the owner of a stretch of land near the Welsh Harp in Hendon, Middlesex, close to where Gladys Mitchell both lived and taught.
Printer's Error reads as much like a caper novel as a tale of detection today and, despite its Carry On-like ingredients, it is infused with a humour, which is distinct to Gladys Mitchell alone.
Genre: Mystery
It is an intriguing combination of elements to include in the same mystery novel, but Gladys Mitchell could never be accused of shying away from bizarre situations and imaginative plots in her novels, and the series of Mrs. Bradley cases would not be so individual without these unusual ingredients.
The plot of Printer's Error centres around the imminent publication in a limited edition of a scandalously anti-Semitic book - The Open-Bellied Mountain - by the printing house of Saxant and Senss, and the work's author - Fortinbras Carn - soon finds himself the victim of a series of threatening and anonymous letters; threats which have to be taken deadly seriously when the author's wife dies in mysterious circumstances.
Mrs. Beatrice Adela Lestrange Bradley is soon drawn into a mystery as bizarre and as baffling as any that she has encountered during her long and illustrious career and, ably assisted by her energetic nephew Carey, and by the young and enterprising solicitor to the author's family - Mr. Justus Bassin - she finds herself battling Nazi spies, nudists, and gun-toting motor-cyclists in equal number, whilst unmasking the reason behind a sudden craze for wearing false beards, not to mention discovering the origin of several dismembered human body parts, before eventually arriving at the case's surreal climax.
Although the subject matter of Printer's Error may seem slightly dichotomous to a modern readership, it must be remembered that the book was first published in 1939: it was the very early months of the Second World War, and a paranoia regarding Nazi spies was rife in the country. As well as being a highly entertaining writer of crime fiction, Gladys Mitchell was also a very proficient social commentator, and much of her best writing holds a mirror up to the events that were happening in England at that time.
Another phenomenon of the age, was the rise and spread of the nudist sanctuary. The Sun Bathing Society had been founded a decade before the original publication of Printer's Error, and by 1939 21 similar clubs had spread across southern England. Nude sunbathing was permitted by the owner of a stretch of land near the Welsh Harp in Hendon, Middlesex, close to where Gladys Mitchell both lived and taught.
Printer's Error reads as much like a caper novel as a tale of detection today and, despite its Carry On-like ingredients, it is infused with a humour, which is distinct to Gladys Mitchell alone.
Genre: Mystery
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