Book Review: A Scream in Soho (1940) by John G. Brandon #1940Club

The week has just zoomed past and we’re on the final day of the #1940Club hosted by Karen at Kaggsy’s Bookish Rambings and Simon at Stuck in a Book. Today I’m sharing a review of my third and final read for the club, A Scream in Soho by John G. Brandon. Later in the day, I’ll also be sharing the my mother’s review of her second pick for the club!

With murders, stolen aircraft plans, espionage, people in disguise, glamorous women, Italian gangs, one-to-one fights, and an Inspector who’s not only a step ahead of the criminals, but also one up on the poor Assistant Commissioner—though not PC at all (lots of stereotyping, xenophobia and much else), and not a whodunit either, A Scream in Soho (1940) by John G. Brandon is still a good deal of fun.

A former heavyweight boxer, Australian writer John G. Brandon went on to write over 120 novels and several short stories including Sexton Blake stories. Among his novels were a series featuring Detective Inspector Patrick Aloysius McCarthy, of which this is one entry.

Our story opens in the midst of the blackout one evening as Detective Inspector McCarthy makes his way to a small Italian restaurant (which he had a role in the establishment of) to dine with his friend, Assistant Commissioner William Haynes. There a man with very light eyes attracts his attention, and McCarthy’s intuition does turn out right as we see later. The same evening after blundering his way home, McCarthy is settling into bed only to be shaken by a bloodcurdling scream which rouses all and sundry around. Once again blundering his way through the blackout, he finds a bloodied knife and some blood but no body. By the next morning though, there are no one but three bodies, one of which is a beautiful woman who goes by the name Madame Rohner.

A fair bit of the action unfolds in Soho, where McCarthy himself lives, and as he investigates these mysterious occurrences, he is also assigned to the matter of missing aircraft plans, stolen from Whitehall no less—and no surprise that the two sets of events turn out to be connected. With some help from trusted (and not-so trusted) informants and small-time criminals, as also his friend and taxi driver ‘Big’ Bill Withers, McCarthy almost always has the upper hand (while the AC seems not to have the slightest clue what’s going on), getting to the bottom of things and taking the crooks by surprise.

Detective Inspector McCarthy here is presented as rather unconventional, and almost a larger-than-life character, able to see what others are not.  

Rumour had it that the inspector, albeit as clever as paint and a man who was bound for the top of the tree fast, was not only as mad as a hatter, but an inveterate joker under any circumstances.

He lives in Soho (where he also grew up), is familiar with all its residents and also its small and big criminals and gangs, and can navigate his way through its lanes and people, and seems to be able to see through the more glamorous crowd with equal ease. While he is the kind of character who is always shown as being many steps ahead of others (while some like the AC seem to just bumble around)—clever, just, kind-hearted (your typical conventional movie hero)—Brandon doesn’t make him entirely invincible either, as one villain does manage to catch on to him (even if he doesn’t win), and the darkness of the blackout does manage to defeat all his claims:

Just how many times in his career McCarthy had boasted that he could traverse Soho at any hour of day and night blindfolded, or in the thickest fog was borne in weightily upon him at this moment.

This book is more thriller than mystery as we know from the start who the villains of the piece are, and others we get hints to as we go on, still it is a fairly action-packed book with some surprises along the way which keep one entertained as also interested in seeing how things will be resolved in the end.  Brandon also weaves in a fair bit of humour into the story.

There are plenty of problems however, from McCarthy’s cockiness (which while I didn’t like also didn’t annoy me too much) to more importantly all the attitudes of the time (stereotypes, exaggerated accents, xenophobia…) but while these did stand out, they didn’t completely ruin the book for me either (though I can see that these did mar other readers’ enjoyment).

Despite its problems, the book plays out more or less like what I’d describe as a typical (conventional) ‘action’ film—with a larger-than-life hero, stereotypical villains (among them a rather powerful and sinister dwarf character who kills, and a glamourous woman), spies and disguises, hand-to-hand fights—an entertaining bit of fun. Good for a one time read!