Kenneth Hopkins pretty much seems to be a forgotten author, which is a shame, really, as his comic mystery novels featuring the elderly amateur sleuths Dr. William Blow, 81, and Professor Gideon Manciple, 79, are quite witty, fun and nicely-plotted things. The opening of She Died Because... is delightful, as the absent-minded, quotation-loving bachelor Dr. Blow - "his mind...still mainly occupied with the problems of editing the text of the whole works of Samuel Butler, a task upon which he had now been engaged for some fifteen years" - comes to the gradual realization that he's hungry. It's 3 a.m. and he hasn't had his tea, so he goes in search of his housekeeper (whom he calls Mrs. Solihull, even though that's not her real name...Dr. Blow just finds it easier to call all his housekeepers - he's had many over the years - Mrs. Sollihull). After some hesitant poking around, Blow arrives at the door to Mrs. Sollihull's room, and after calling her name several times, tentatively opens the door: Dr. Blow didn't care, yet, to venture in. A man might in emergency open his housekeeper's door. But it was hardly his business to enter, especially if she were not there. At least, she made no answer. It isn't until Blow rouses his good friend and neighbor, Prof. Manciple, to come have a look that the pair discover that Mrs. Sollihull is in actual fact dead, her mouth open and a knife sticking out of her back. The pair do what all respectable British gentlemen would do at such a time - they make themselves some tea, then telephone for the police. But when Inspector Urry arrives on the scene, the murder weapon is no longer there. Soon the elderly duo are nosing around the case, led by the vastly more worldly and capable Manciple. Before they know it, they're up to their necks in a "domestic service" theft ring, prostitution, illicit night clubs, and other criminal enterprises. While the mystery itself is well-enough plotted, what exactly lies behind the death of Mrs. Sollihull, a.k.a. "Flash Elsie," proves less interesting than following the very engaging antics of the bumbling pair of over-age sleuths. Hopkins was obviously an erudite man in real life, for he captures the dry, tweedy donnishness of the scholar's lifestyle and habits quite well. The novel is full of the sort of wry wit that I find irresistible. I was reminded of that wonderful British series Charters & Caldicott that ran on PBS' Mystery! series back in the mid 80s, which also featured a pair of elderly, bickering sleuths, this time cricket fanatics rather than scholars, who perhaps cause more havoc than help in the official murder inquiries. She Died Because... was originally published in 1957. I have the paperback reprint from Perennial Library, first published in 1984, as well as another Blow and Manciple novel, Body Blow (1962), from the same publisher. There's also at least one other caper featuring the pair published in paperback from Perennial, Dead Against My Principles (1960). Hopkins wrote a handful of other mysteries, including a spy novel, Amateur Agent (1955), published under the pseudonym "Christopher Adams." Not a lot seems to be known about Hopkins, but some excellent info can be found here at the interesting blog, Existential Ennui. Judging from this novel, at least, Hopkins deserves to be better known. In Dr. Blow and Prof. Manciple, he created a worthy pair of amateur detectives, and I look forward to catching up with more of their misadventures in the future. My rating: A-
14 Comments
Jeff
8/5/2013 06:12:42 pm
Hey Clayton! Glad you chimed in on this fun little series! As it happens, I'm reading BODY BLOW now, having just discovered it amongst my collection here in Osaka (thought it was still in storage.) Sadly, though, my copy is in deteriorating condition, and the back cover just fell off. :(
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Jim
10/1/2013 11:45:08 am
If you like Charters and Caldicott, you should read the Michael Gilbert stories that inspired the tv series.
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Jeff
12/12/2013 10:35:37 pm
Hey Jim - thanks for the comment! I'm sorry for the late reply. Thanks for the plug for Michael Gilbert. I believe I've read some of the stories to which you are referring, but it was quite a while ago and I need to track them down once of these days.
Veronica Cerny
12/28/2013 06:53:42 am
I have read all three Dr Blow novels, Dead against my principles,She died because and Body blow and love them. I am trying to find if he wrote any more Dr Blow novels. There are some other titles out there by Kenneth Hopkins and I think it is the same author( the publication dates overlap) but they are of a different genre and not nearly as satisfying. If you should find any more of the DrBlow series please let me know. I would be grateful. Thank you.
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Jeff
12/29/2013 08:51:27 pm
Thank you for the comment, Veronica! I have been trying to ascertain the same thing...as far as I can gather, it seems Kenneth Hopkins only wrote 3 Blow and Manciple novels...I hope to discover more at some point, but he is an author about which little seems to be reported, and sadly, seems rather forgotten. If I ever find out more, I'll report it here.
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Paul Roberts
4/17/2014 07:04:10 pm
This year marks the centenary of the birth of Kenneth Hopkins, author of the Blow and Manciple novels. Kenneth was primarily a poet, but he also wrote for Punch magazine and edited the Folio Society magazine for some years. He also published a number of "novelisations" of contemporary films under a variety of names: "Spring in Park Lane", "Miranda", "No Room at the Inn", "Guinea Pig" and "Bond Street". He also published "The Liberace Story" as Anton Burney in 1957. Among his serious literary studies were "Walter de la Mare" (1953), "Portraits in Satire"{ 1958), "English Poetry: A Short History" (1963) and "The Powys Brothers" (1967. His autobiography was "The Corruption of a Poet" (1954). Kenneth's crime novels include: "The Girl Who Died" (1955), "She Died Because" (1957), "The Forty First Passenger" (1958), "Dead Against My Principles" (1960), "Pierce with a Pin" (1960), "Body Blow" (1962), "Campus Corpse"(1963) and "Amateur Agent" (1964). Kenneth also published a large number of small poetry collections at his Warren House Press. Kenneth died in 1988.
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Jeff
4/19/2014 06:46:55 pm
Many thanks, Paul, for your comment, and for including further info re: Kenneth Hopkins and his writings. Much appreciated!
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Brenda Rossini
7/9/2014 04:07:08 am
I knew Kenneth Hopkins, when I was a young coed, and went with him to Fulton MO among other little town stops in the U.S. How wonderful to see
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Jeff
7/16/2014 12:03:12 am
Looks like your comment got caught off there, Brenda, but thank you sincerely for stopping by and leaving a note. I'd love to hear more from you about your experiences with Mr. Hopkins, as so little seems to be reported. Please feel free to write back with further details.
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Brenda Rossini
7/16/2014 06:35:19 am
Prof. Hopkins--loved his scarves...it brought out the flamboyance in him. He was instantly interested in me because no one in southern Illinois (a few miles from where "In the Heat of the Night" was filming) knew beans about the Powys brothers...I did, having been born in Dorset. He always had available jam and toast at his place where I would pop by with my girlfriend Linda. He had a professor friend in St. Louis whom we visited on our trek to Fulton, MO., who had some relic of Pancho Villa and who was a model train nut. We went through all sorts of antique shops and books shops, because in those days, you could find them in all sorts of small town haunts. c'est la vie. Prof. Hopkins also told me that Boris Karloff used to be his neighbor in Norfolk.
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Jeff
10/12/2014 11:12:55 pm
Belated thanks for the fascinating further details about Mr. Hopkins, Brenda!
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Brenda Rossini
6/22/2016 09:02:24 am
Kenneth Hopkins was a friend of mine while he was a visiting professor at Southern Illinois U. We traveled to Fulton, Missouri to visit the site of Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech. Prof. Hopkins was a gentle, learned, generous, witty soul.
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