Kissing Covens

Colin Watson

Colin Watson's books, in the main, are out of print now. Pity. Mystery readers who haven't been introduced to the wonderful world of Flaxborough will have to go well out of their way, and probably pay a pretty penny, for admission. Those who make the journey will likely be amply rewarded.

There is a particular subset of the mystery that's somewhat uncategorizable under the usual terms used to describe mysteries. They're not really cozies, in any sense, but they're not hard-boiled. They use elements of both and combine them with broad strokes of satirical humor. The Jeeves and Wooster mysteries are an excellent example, thought they lean a bit to the cozy side of things; J. S. Borthwick's New England mysteries have the same taste to them. Colin Watson's books inhabit this realm, but his humor is more satirical than either of the series mentioned above, and often achieves the laugh-out-loud level.

In this particular Flaxborough tale, the Flaxborough Folklore Society holds its annual May Day Eve revel, after which one of its members promptly disappears. A day or so later, her car turns up abandonedwith her clothes neatly folded in the front seat. The local grocer has disappeared, as well, and just as the Lucillite Detergent Company is in town to work with said grocer to produce a TV commercial. It's all quite dreadfully inconvenient. However, the local constabulary, with some help from various shadowy sources, is on the case.

Watson is in good form here. Everyone gets a fine rogering, from the Lucillite executives (whose marketingspeak is just as funny today as it was thirty years agothe more things change, etc.) to the Satanists to the local vicar. The plot does the usual twisting and turning one expects from a mystery, and some of the cluemongering is quite nicely done; Watson is very good at delivering an unobtrusive clue beneath a more obvious red herring, and so the book isn't quite as predictable as it seems on its face.

Mystery readers who like a little satire along with their sleuthing are going to love this.