Friday, May 20, 2022

Death in the Tunnel by Miles Burton, 1936



About the author: Miles Burton is a pseudonym of Cecil John Charles Street, MCOBE (3 May 1884 – 8 December 1964), who was known to his colleagues, family and friends as John Street. Here is a Wikipedia article about him. He has one other title in the Mystery League series: The Hardway Diamonds Mystery.

Major characters:

  • Sir Wifred Saxonby, chairman of importer Wigland and Bunthorne
  • Miss Olivia Saxonby, his niece, a director of the firm
  • Richard Saxonby, his son, the other director of the firm
  • Irene Wardour, his daughter
  • Stephen Wardour, her estranged husband
  • Henry Torrance, secretary of the firm
  • Malcolm Dredger, retired manager of the firm
  • Yates, a mysterious visitor
  • Inspector Arnold, C.I.D. Scotland Yard
  • Desmond Merrion, amateur criminologist

Locale: London and environs

Synopsis: Sir Wifred Saxonby, chairman of importer Wigland and Bunthorne, is travelling home alone in a first-class train compartment. The corridor door is locked, the outside door unlocked. He is alive and well when the train enters a long tunnel. Midway through the tunnel, the engineer is surprised by a red signal, and begins to stop the train. The signal changes to green, and he resumes speed. After the train exits the tunnel, Sir Wilfred is found shot to death, a pistol close at hand. But is it suicide or murder?

It is quickly determined Sir Wilfred had no cause at all for suicide. It is also discovered he arranged for all his family members - and also his business associates - to be away simultaneously, essentially eliminating their opportunity to do the deed.

Inspector Arnold of the C.I.D., Scotland Yard, investigates this locked-room puzzle. He consults with amateur criminologist Desmond Merrion, and together they work through the possible solutions. The vital question is the significance of the strange railway signals - since there are no signal lamps inside the tunnel, and it can be proven no one was in the tunnel itself.

Review:  I'll save you a lot of mental effort by providing this sketch of the train in the two-track tunnel. A lot of words are used to describe this, when a sketch would have been more valuable.


U.S. readers should note that unlike American railcars, British compartments have two doors: in addition to the usual one opening to a corridor, there is a second door which opens directly to the outside.

The continuing conversation between Arnold and Merrion is essentially a narration of the investigation, and serves well. However, it does get tedious at times as they explore avenues which are later eliminated.

Also please see this review by Bev Hankins on My Reader's Block, and this review by Kate on Crossexaminingcrime.

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