Tug of War

Barbara Cleverly has created another complicated case for Joe Sandilands of London's Metropolitan Police to solve. As in The Bee's Kiss and The Last Kashmiri Rose, this novel has a complex plot with lots of twists and turns and a murder that was committed during World War I. Joe must determine the identity of a shell-shocked soldier in a French asylum who is being claimed by four different French families, but who may actually be English. Joe is a well-rounded and engaging character, and the background story of the bloody WWI battles fought in Champagne is fascinating. However, in this novel, Joe is traveling with a 14-year old young lady named Dorcas who he is charged with delivering to relations in the south of France. She basically becomes Joe's co-equal in solving the mystery. Her ability to analyze a complex series of events that occurred long before her time and to make character judgments in a nano second are simply not believable. I could have done without Dorcas, but this is still a first-rate mystery.

This is a quiet mystery--no violent moments, no "action" in a Pulp Fiction or a pulp fiction sense--but the characters are well-drawn, the writing is good, and the setting is interesting, so it's ultimately very satisfying. It may seem a bit slow at times, but it's a measured pace. The basic storyline is that in 1926 a former prisoner of war is returned from Germany to Reims in France: the soldier suffers from severe shell shock/amnesia. Identification is a problem: the soldier is probably French, but could be English. A great difficulty is posed by the fact that 350 thousand French soldiers alone went missing in combat in WW I. Commander Joe Sandilands is sent to help the French sort out the identity. A number of families around Reims have claimed the soldier as theirs: relationships and motives vary: pension and back pay are attractive to some. Sandilands and his ward Dorcas visit the families: all seem to have strong claims, and things get complex and confusing, as they should. So the novel centers on people, character, hopes, and motivations. You cannot escape the war, its effects and its aftereffects. If you're new to this series (as I was) you may find yourself thinking "where are the murders? the blood-spattered corpses? Where's old Poirot?" But this is not Agatha Christie. It's quieter, and you'll find youself getting caught up in the story, even though you might have expected something a bit more action-packed. It's richly done, and it's satisfying, and that's what is important. This novel reminds me in ways of Robert Goddard's superb In Pale Battalions, which also has its roots in the battlefields of France, and also deals with questions of identity. We're seeing a number of mysteries set in the aftermath of WW I: Charles Todd, Jacqueline Winspear, and Rennie Airth have written some very fine books. Tug of War is certainly a good addition to this group.

Barbara Cleverly's "Tug of War" opens in the Champagne region of Northern France in 1915. Aline Houdart wonders how her officer husband is faring on the battlefront while she and their five-year old son, Georges, cope with the help of their elderly servants. Aline is maintaining the family chateau and vineyards under difficult circumstances, determined that when her husband returns home he will be proud of all that she has accomplished in his absence. The next scene takes place eleven years later in London. Scotland Yard Commander Joe Sandilands is about to embark on a vacation to the south of France with his fourteen-year-old "honorary" niece, an outspoken, irreverent, and precocious young lady named Dorcas. Before he manages to escape, Joe is summoned by Sir Douglas Redmayne of Military Intelligence. Redmayne tells Sandlilands that he wants him to take part in a sensitive investigation: His task will be to identify a shell-shocked veteran of World War I who is being housed in an asylum in Reims. The soldier's doctor, Patrice Varimont, has given him the name Thibaud for the time being. Sadly, Thibaud can neither speak nor remember his past. What makes this situation even more difficult is the fact that four families have each claimed him. Madame Guy Langlois, a grocer's wife, swears she is his mother; Mademoiselle Mireille Desforges insists that she was his very close friend and perhaps something more; members of the Tellancourt family not only maintain that he is their relative, but they even try to smuggle him out of the institution; finally, Madame Aline Houdart says that the invalid is her husband, Clovis, who was reported missing in 1917. Who is telling the truth? Moreover, why would anyone lie about Thibaud's identity? It turns out that there is an excellent motive for deception: Thibaud will most likely receive "a generous allowance from the state, a sort of war pension, calculated from the time of his vanishing to the present day and beyond." The family that succeeds in verifying its connection to Thibaud stands to receive a great deal of money. Joe is highly qualified to conduct this inquiry. He is a veteran of the war who worked in military intelligence and was awarded the prestigious ribbon of the Legion of Honor. In addition, he is familiar with the French countryside and speaks the language fluently. When he arrives at Inspector Bonnefoye's office, Joe learns that the newspapers have made the unidentified soldier into a cause célèbre. "Every Frenchman and woman is passionate to know the outcome" and there is a great deal of pressure to come up with an acceptable solution. As Joe gets to know each claimant and examines the evidence, he observes the best and worst in human nature and learns of several explosive secrets that will alter the outcome of this complicated and heartbreaking case. Joe receives invaluable assistance from the mature and intelligent Dorcas, who proves to be a promising detective in her own right. Clever

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Best of all B. Cleverly's Joe Sandilands mystery series.

Commander Joe Sandilands is planning to take his 14-year-old niece, Dorcas, to be reunited with her father in the South of France. However, his superior has asked that he stop in Reims. A former soldier, suffering from shell shock, residing at a local sanatorium, is being claimed as the husband of a wealthy owner of a champagne vineyard. The woman's son claims his mother murdered her husband and sealed his body behind a wall. Another complication comes from four other people who also claim the soldier and the patient's doctor who believes the soldier may be English rather than French. With the soldier's considerable pension and well-being involved, it is important the right identity be made. I am a huge fan of Cleverly's books. She really knows how to set the stage and give the reader a sense of physical, emotional and political place. Along with Charles Todd and Anne Perry, she writes about the horror of WWI and its impact on those who fought and lived it. She creates strong, smart, interesting characters, particularly Sandilands and Dorcas, but all her characters have dimension with dialogue that has a natural flow. But the core of it all is a good, solid traditional mystery that kept me turning the pages in the non-stop read. I highly recommend this book and the entire series.