This was a re-read - or a re-re-read -or maybe even a re-re-re-read. I never get tired of the erudite, witty crime novels of Micheal Innes, who in real life was J.I.M.Stewart, an Oxford University Professor. The best of them are the ones in which he incorporates his literary interests into the plot, and this one is an example. The novel starts with a poet - one who Inspector Appleby describes as the 'Cow-and-Gate poet' because his poems are as mild and digestible as baby food - meeting an unexpected death. A chapter or two later we are on a train. A young woman called Sheila Grant, travelling to Scotland, is intrigued by a conversation between two men who are sharing her carriage. The conversation turns to poetry, and before long one of them is quoting a verse from a poem by Swinburne - or is it Swinburne? It certainly sounds like the mellifluous verse of that Victorian poet, but Sheila knows the poem in question and remarks that the verse is misquoted. This turns out to have been a mistake, and she is captured and held prisoner as soon as she gets off the train. There was a secret message in the misquoted passage, and now Sheila knows too much. For this is the beginning of WW2 and the men who capture Sheila turn out to be German spies.
In fact this is really a spy thriller rather than a conventional crime novel, and none the worse for that. It has definite shades of The Thirty-nine Steps, John Buchan's 1915 novel of German spies and chases around the Highlands. Appleby is working for Intelligence, and he knows the enemy has a sinister plot to destroy a vital oil refinery. Most of it takes place in the wilds of Scotland, and there are numerous foreign villains lurking about in unexpected places, lots of fake identities, and a good deal of action in railway trains, rail trucks, and speed boats. Sheila meets up with Appleby to help in the race against time, soon aided by the attractive young man who aided her escape. It must have been written in 1939 as war is on the horizon but has not yet broken out. The misquoted Swinburne, of course, provides an essential clue to the solution of the mystery.
A fascinating historical read then, and so well and intelligently written. It makes me think that readers in 1940 must have been rather better educated than many people today. Or maybe Innes was read by a rather select audience. Anyway this is a rather brief contribution to Simon and Kaggy's 1940 Club, an event I never miss (unless I do). Here's a link to the reviews page on Simon's blog https://www.stuckinabook.com/1940-club-all-your-reviews-1940club/#comment-111321
