J. J. Connington

The Tau Cross Mystery J. J. Connington

"The tenth Clinton Driffield detective novel, 1935's The Tau Cross Mystery . . . moves away from a country house milieu . . . to a well-conveyed setting in an English suburb beset with a multitude of sins. The mystery itself is meticulously clued and compelling and the kicker of a closing paragraph is a classic of its kind, showing a pithily sardonic Sir Clinton to great advantage. Additionally, the author paints some excellent character portraits. . . . I fully agree with the Sunday Times reviewer's enthusiastic assessment of The Tau Cross Mystery: 'Quiet domestic murder, full of the neatest detective points. . . . [T]hese are not the detective's stock figures, but fully realised human beings.' The American humorist and crime fiction reviewer Will Cuppy was similarly discerning in his praise of Tau Cross. Having a keen appreciation for data and material fact, Cuppy was dazzled by the tale's 'abundance of clews and many other aids to armchair sleuthing,' including 'an extra pair of shoes, a handkerchief soaked in gore . . . an overturned paint pot . . . the fact that the corpse wears rubber gloves . . . a small bludgeon, a crumpled piece of brown paper and a little gold ornament in the shape of a Tau cross.' With such fascinating aids at Clinton Driffield's disposal, the delighted Cuppy concluded, 'Sir Clinton can hardly fail.'" (From the Introduction.)