Just Finished Reading: Kept – A Victorian Mystery by D J Taylor (FP: 2006) [470pp]

Suffolk, England 1863. Mr Henry Ireland apparently falls from his horse and dies from injuries sustained in the accident. Norfolk, England 1866. Mr James Dixey, who has been attending to the special needs of the seemingly deranged Mrs Ireland now in his care, is found dead at his estate seemingly attacked by a wild animal – possibly a wolf. Investigating both incidents is the fabled London police officer Captain McTurk. But questions abound like no case he has yet been involved in. Is there a link between the incidents over that of Mrs Ireland? Was Mr Ireland’s demise really an accident as it first appeared? Why was Mr Dixey’s estate in such poor repair despite his extravagant expenses elsewhere? What is Mr Dixey’s connection to a group of ‘gentlemen’ in London who are of interest to Captain McTurk’s ongoing investigation of the Crime of the Century – the removal of a great deal of gold bullion from a moving train? Finally, where on earth is Mrs Ireland?

This is a strange one – so much so that I even mused (for a while at least) about DNFing it. I’m so glad I resisted that impulse. The problem I had, which actually wasn’t a problem at all, was that this was an unexpected experience stylistically speaking. Although I was fully expecting a Victorian mystery I did not expect it be written in the style of a mystery novel of the period. As the blurb rightly declares this is not a simple ‘whodunit’ or a police procedural. This is a mystery in the sense of a Conan Doyle, Dickens or Wilkie Collins. As any reader of Victorian fiction knows from experience the plot of such mysteries does not progress in anything approaching a linear fashion. Here we are introduced to a small army of characters each of which has something to say or something to do with the deeper mystery (or indeed mysteries) involved here. Clues, such as they are, only appear important later when pieces of the intricate puzzle slowly fall into place. Although there is a central investigator he only appears near the end of the novel as he attempts to pull together all of the disparate elements of the central enigma (the location and disposition of Mrs Ireland who is the binding element of the tale). Elements of the prior investigations are undertaken by other interested parties such as servants, cousins, friends of the family as such like. All of this means that you cannot simply skim over sections that appear to be purely background and concentrate on the clues (and red herrings) as they fall into place. Oh, no. Nothing as simple as that. You have to read, and more importantly, pay attention to everything and everyone portrayed here. You have to immerse yourself in the lives of characters who only have small pieces of the puzzle and no more. Only the reader, with their omniscient eye, can see what the other characters cannot but even we cannot see everything all at once. That’s the thing that kept me reading and kept me in the strange but oddly familiar world on England in the 1860’s. This was a real, if somewhat unexpected, treat and will delight anyone with a love of subtle mysteries and wonderful writing. Definitely recommended.

New High Score (since records began 22^nd October 2020)

Page count: 470pp [+15pp]